DIWALI DECLUTTER TO 'LIGHTEN' YOUR HOME

Step up your Diwali deep cleaning by culling out excess clutter for a more organised home to welcome the festivities

- Aishwarya Patel

As per pre-Diwali tradition, every Indian household must be turned upside down to be cleaned and reorganised. Adding decluttering to this mix can make the task more efficient and productive in the long run. But what is decluttering? Decluttering is the process of removing unnecessary items from your home to create extra space — spatially, physically and mentally. Eliminating the annoyance of excess, messy piles of this-and-that plaguing your place and sanity, decluttering can help you reconquer your home and lighten the stations for the festivities to come.

What stops people from decluttering

The fear of ‘wasting’ occupies many an Indian heart, and the primary reason why people keep holding on to things is, “What if I might need this (thing) someday?” In reality, this reasoning only leads to unrecognised hoarding. A useful decluttering tip to start with is to follow the 90/90 rule — if you haven’t used it in 90 days and won’t use it in the next 90, that item can be removed. When in doubt, think of all you can gain by letting go.

Finding motivation

You won’t be the first and certainly not the last to feel stressed and tired or closing your eyes in the face of all the work that goes into cleaning, decluttering, and reorganising every inch of your home. A great source of motivation can be imagining the end result of your efforts, a visualisation technique that not only helps you plan but allows you to recognise the value of your effort. Further, listening to music or an ebook while doing your tasks can add that much-needed splash of energy to the process, keeping you in the room and the zone.

Optimal decluttering

Here are some strategies and rules of thumb to make your decluttering experience simpler.