When faced with the idea of moving, many people realize they have a lot more belongings than they may have originally thought. This can mean greater moving costs or even a greater amount of clutter in the home. Below is a list of tips and tricks that can help to get your home under control.

1. Make Piles

Deciding what to keep, what to donate, and what to throw away can be a daunting task. One way to help make this job easier is to make piles. These piles can be composed of any categories that you decide- whether its piles composed of need, want but don’t need, things that you would like to keep but would be okay with parting with, and things that need to go- having clearly defined pile categories will make sorting your belongings easier.

When you’re decluttering your house, it’s important to realize that sometimes in order to clean up and declutter- you have to make a mess. So if your piles get bigger than expected, don’t worry! It’s a part of the process.

2. Slimming Down Possessions

If one of your problem areas in your house is your closet, there are some tips to help you slim that down. When you have finished making your piles, hang all of your clothes in the closet with the hangers placed backward. As you live your day-to-day life and wear your clothes, when you go to hang them up, put the hanger back the normal way. After a predetermined amount of time, you can go through and see all of the clothes that you have not worn and begin slimming your closet down!

Another way to keep your possessions from getting out of control is by utilizing the one in, one out method. This works exactly the way it sounds. Whenever you get a new item you get rid of an old one. This will keep you from being overwhelmed by the items in your house.

3. Figure out what you want hidden and what you want displayed

It can be tempting to leave small knick-knacks out on display on top of your flat surfaces, but this can be counterproductive as it will make a space feel cluttered. By carefully choosing what you want to display and keep hidden, you can cut down on the amount of clutter and make a space seem bigger simply because it is more organized. When choosing what to keep on display you should focus on items that have some sentimental value or that could be utilized as conversation starters.

Not only can minimizing clutter make your space seem bigger, but it can also make cleaning easier as there are less things to dust around!

4. Storage Options

Once you’ve decided what to display and what to store you can start to look for storage options. If you don’t have a lot of space for storage, there are some creative ways that you can hide your clutter. When there is limited space to store things, you can take your storage vertical by utilizing walls and bookshelves. Hang coats and sweaters on hooks on the back of doors and walls and place board games on bookshelves.

When it comes to hiding your clutter, you can get cube shelves and the accompanying cubes to place things in and tastefully hide your things. You can also utilize cute baskets for a way to hide your clutter in plain sight. Another way to hide objects is by hanging hooks on the inside of your cabinets or by hanging a lower bar in your closet to make more space for clothing.

You should not buy containers and other storage options until after you purge items as this can cause you to have way more containers than you need.

Other tips!

• Use labels: this will make it easier to find things and are quite fun to make!
• Don’t get overwhelmed: Cleaning can be stressful! To avoid getting too stressed, work on one room at a time and set small goals for yourself!
• Make your bed: This sounds silly, but by making your bed your room will seem neater immediately!