UNITED STATES—I did something over the weekend that I thought would never happen. I did a complete purge of my home and it was work people a lot of work, but I am so glad that I did it. When I say a purge, I’m not referring to tossing things in the trash, I am referencing to getting organized and cleaning in a way that I had never done before. Was it a task? Without a doubt, I was exhausted after three long days of cleaning, dumping, organizing and storing things.
Here’s the thing about doing a purge and massive cleaning project. Try not to jump from room to room. Start with one room, get that room in order and then move onto another room. I did not do that and as a result I was a bit all over the place the first day. Taking things out of closets and just placing them wherever I could place them. After doing that for about an hour or two, I completely felt overwhelmed and exhausted staring at the junk that compiled.
After taking a deep breathe, I tackle the junk and it was simple: keep, donate or trash. That is something so many of us grapple with: we want to keep things we don’t actually need or even use. As a result, we continue to stack stuff that becomes so overwhelming we just store it away until we are forced to address it. Clothing wise, I got rid of so much stuff that it was devastating, but relieving at the same time. I was able to give things away to people who can actually use the items.
Things that were no longer of use were tossed to the trash and that clutter that was building started to open my eyes. I have more storage space, things are organized, I can see what I have, what I don’t have, what I need, what I don’t need; I felt like I could breathe for once.
After purging things that were NO LONGER in need, the next task involved tidying things up and cleaning. Yes, the cleaning aspect was a bit massive, but when you have a clean and clean home it just makes you feel better. I started in the basement and worked my way to the top of the home. Why? I believe you should want to start from top and work to the bottom or from the bottom to the top. If you just move all over the place it just creates more stress, dysfunction and chaos in my opinion.
The key is after your purge all that stuff in the home you have to be careful to not over indulge in purchasing items just for the sake of doing it. You need to be careful to not run into a situation where you have to run into another purge because of all the de-cluttering you did you turn around and clutter things back up again. Do not look at a purge as a negative thing; it’s a positive thing you just don’t realize it until after it has been cleaned up.
Written By Zoe Mitchell
