I previously had a problem with mess. Initially, I thought hey! Don't touch my stuff! This is my creative mess. I know where things are!
But oh, how I was wrong. I ended up with days where my stuff is never when I need them.
I'm not actually a true minimalist but took some lesson from it such as keep what I really need and keep my place minimal and clean. Ever since I looked into minimalism and started de-cluttering, I have to say my life have really improved! It's much easier to find my things and I don't lose them so easily. So, here are my tips!
(1) Focus 1 spot a time
When I first wanted to do my spring cleaning/de-cluttering, I was on fire! And so motivated to clean the whole room. My mom too was on fire!!! Furious at my mess...
I had overestimated myself, I took out all my stuff to rearrange them. I ended with a room full of mess on the floor for weeks. Didn't work out for me. So I took things one step at the time.
First, set a place you'd like to clean like your dressing table or your desk. Focus on cleaning that. Once you're done, you can move on to your toilet, etc. This way, you won't get easily demotivated with all the mess you have and feel satisfied after cleaning one place, making you more fired up to do the next one.
(2) Throw, sell, donate or keep
Usually, what I would do is set all my items in a pile and then separated them whether I want to give it away (sell/donate), keep or throw. Initially the throw away part was difficult. I kept putting things back but then I look at it again and asked myself, "When am I going to use this?" If the answer was sometime in the future that I have no idea when. Then, it goes straight to the bin. For example, old cardboard boxes, magazines, cheap CDs, etc.
It takes a while but keep asking yourself, do you really need it and when are you going to use it? If the answer is unsure then you know you don't need it. And if the reason is very menial like oh maybe I might use it for my next art project which is I don't know when or what, it's a total "get rid of it!!!" sign. If not, give it away if you can still use it.
Though there are things that you can keep in your "when I need it" box like I still keep my balloon pump because I know for sure I will use it in the future. Also, I kept some of my Halloween costumes to reuse but I make sure I keep it nicely in a box where I can find it but it's in those areas where I don't usually reach for.
Also, get a plastic bag to keep the items that you wanna sell or give away. Make sure you don't keep it too long though!
(3) Find a place for everything
This is the key to keeping your room clean!
Once you're done sorting, its time to find a place for all your items. This step may take a while because you need to find out and establish what your habits are. Where would be the best place to keep your stuff base on your habits? Where would be the easiest place for you to reach your things when you need it? In simple terms, you need to find a place to keep your things to help make your daily life easier.
What you can do is simulate your daily routine. For example, when I change clothes, I would straight away wear deodorant, so my deodorant is placed nearby my closet. Or, sometimes I forget to wear my body mist, so I would put my body mist nearby my door (where I usually put my work bag) so I can see it and wear it right before I leave. This simulation will help you figure what needs to be where.
Things I use daily are at places I can see and are easy to reach. Things I use once in a while I keep it in my drawer. I always try my best to keep minimal things on top of any table or drawer surface.
Once set a place for everything you need and use daily, you don't need to think twice where your things are. If you realize you still have a problem of forgetting where the things are suppose to be, keep switching until you get it right or try to keep to a certain way of doing things. Soon it'll be a habit and something you do without thinking.
(4) Set a habit to clean up
Make it a habit to always clean up after yourself. This part tend to be the most difficult but pays off tremendously.
Set it in your mind that never let a mess stay for more than 2 days. Just ask yourself "will this take more than 10 minutes?" (which most of the times won't) Then, do it straight away!
If for example, you're too busy or tired or you know will take you more than 15 minutes to clean up, you can either do what you can (set yourself 10 minutes to do this) or set a time when to clean it up or make sure you do it tomorrow. At least, put it in one corner for the moment and don't leave the mess all around your room.
If you keep cleaning after yourself, it will become a force of habit (maybe except those days when absolutely and totally exhausted...). There are even times where I get an itch to find a place to clean or rearrange lol.
So that's how my room became spotless! (Well, most of the time xD) You may tweak the steps according to you. I mean it took me a lot of research till I found my way to de-clutter.
So have fun with your spring cleaning!
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