From Clutter to Zen: Decluttering Tips for a Serene Home

Discover effective decluttering tips to create a serene and organized home. Learn simple strategies to minimize mess, maximize space, and maintain a peaceful living environment. Start transforming your space into a tranquil retreat today!

It’s often said, ‘Home is where the heart is’ – and for someone like me who suffers from acute OCD, a decluttered space directly impacts my productivity. Wondering how? – Let me break this down for you.

To begin with, I’m very particular about what I buy, where I keep my stuff, and how I keep them. I like my clothes to be in order, so that when I’m stepping out, I don’t have to browse through heaps of them, and can easily choose my outfit for the day.

The same goes for my books, and my plants, as well as my kitchen. Over the years, I’ve realized that we often accumulate things we don’t need, and it’s better to get rid of unwanted stuff, only to have less baggage on us.

Home is the space where we seek peace, quietness, and calmness. It’s a space where we spend time with ourselves and our loved ones. And often, the physical environment of our home largely impacts our mental health.

For me, a cluttered space makes me anxious, and I can’t focus on my work if there are too many things around me. Truth be told, in this chaotic world, where we are hustling with work, colleagues, traffic, global warming, etc., home is the space that should provide us with a feeling of zen.

Here are 9 decluttering tips that will help you create a serene home and nurture calmness.

Decluttering Tips for a Serene Home:

1. Start with decluttering your bedroom.

This is where you’ll wake up every morning, and thus, this space is of utmost importance. Try to keep minimal furniture in your bedroom, and ensure that there’s ample sunlight pouring in.

Add curtains of pastel shades, that will make the room look spacious. Once you start decluttering the bedroom, try to categorize the items as ‘essential’, ‘optional’, ‘discard’, and ‘donate’.

Make a place where you can store all your electronic devices, and set them away from the bed. This way, you will be able to stay away from scrolling, before bedtime.

2. Focus on your emotions while decluttering.

I watched this beautiful series on Netflix called, ‘Tidying Up with Marie Kondo’, where this world-famous Japanese organizing consultant talks about the emotions attached to decluttering.

One of the most effective ways of decluttering is to focus on the emotions that are sparked by an object. For example, if you see a shirt and feel ‘meh’, it’s time to let go of it. Similarly, if a pen from your childhood brings back joyful memories, you can keep it.

To declutter, pick one thing at a time, and see how you’re feeling about it. If it doesn’t bring happiness, or you don’t feel a sense of usability, it’s time to discard it.

3. Keep the walls clean.

You’ll often see that people tend to clutter the walls with paintings, and hangings, or just get woodwork fitted on the walls. Sometimes, I’ve even noticed that people have cabinets from the ceiling to the floor, which makes the wall invisible!

The wall is like a blank canvas of the room, and it’s important to keep it clean, with minimalist decor. Use lighter shades to the walls, and add one piece of art to make it look aesthetically pleasing.

4. Let go of the pieces of furniture that you no longer use!

Often, we get more furniture than what we require, and that ends up cluttering the space. Think what you need – a bed, sofas, a desk and a chair for your home office, a dining table with chairs, and wardrobes for storage.

If there are extra pieces of furniture that you aren’t using, try to sell it off, or give it to someone who needs it. For storage purposes, try to use ceiling shafts, storage beds, space under the stairs, so on and so forth. This way, you’ll be able to increase space in the house as well.

5. Don’t store empty bottles, cartons, unused bags, etc.

I’ve seen my mother doing this – she used to wash the ketchup bottles once the ketchup was over, and after one point, we had hundreds of empty bottles lying inside a drawer in our kitchen!

Similarly, we tend to keep cartons, plastic bags, gift wraps, etc., thinking we will use them later – but that ‘later’ never comes! We end up cluttering our storage space, and often, forget what we have stored. Hence, it’s best to not store any such that we think might be of use at some point in time.

6. Turn your bathroom into a peaceful haven.

Personally, I love to spend time in my bathroom. Hot showers lift my mood and reduce stress. Try to add bright lights to your bathroom, keep plants to add a touch of nature, and make sure it’s airy inside.

Arrange your towels in a rack, and keep space to stack your clothes. Throw away all those toiletries that you’re not using. Keep a closed dust bin, add a freshener, and better, if you can light an incense inside the bathroom.

7. Make a cleaning and organizing routine.

Decluttering is not a one-time job, rather it’s a practice that should be nurtured. Try to make a cleaning routine to maintain a clutter-free and serene environment in your home.

Allocate time each day or week to declutter surfaces, organize belongings, water the plants, dust and clean your space. With time, you’ll be able to remove most of the things that are not used. Creating a zen environment takes time, and it’s important to embrace the slow change in life.

8. Arrange your workspace.

As I mentioned in the beginning, declutter spaces help in increasing our focus. Try to keep your work desk neat, and better if there are drawers to store notebooks and files, pens and paper, as well as electronics like laptops, iPads, etc.

Add an inspirational quote in your workspace – something that you resonate with. Keep a plant to add a bit of nature, a bottle of water, and coasters (to keep your coffee mug). You can also keep a candle on your desk, as they often help in lifting out spirits.

9. Arrange your bookshelves.

For book lovers, a reading corner is a must – and the aesthetics of a home get doubled when it has a good collection of books. It’s always good to have a corner rack for books or shelves that are closer to the window – this way, your reading corner will get more natural light. Arrange the books according to their sizes, colors, or authors.

Add some minimalist decor to your bookshelves – like a small globe, or something that resonates with your taste. You can also keep plants on the shelves. If there are books that you have read multiple times, you can choose to swap them for another one with a friend or donate them to a library.

While these might sound difficult to imbibe, trust me, once you start the process, you’ll fall in love with it – and eventually, the decluttered space will ignite a sense of joy. Here are 3 amazing decluttering strategies, for those who wish to start now.

KonMarie Process of Decluttering: This is what Marie Kondo takes about, focusing on emotions while decluttering (as I’ve discussed above). In the KonMarie process, you will have to sort your stuff by category (clothes, books, paintings, utensils, toiletries, etc) and then ask yourself, ‘How does it make me feel?’ If it sparks joy, you keep it and if it doesn’t, let go of it.
Remember to keep only those things that make you happy, and remove the rest.

Watch Marie Kondo here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvyeapVBLWY

One-in-One-Out Rule:

This is pretty simple, and the most effective rule. If you plan to buy something new, make sure to replace it with something that’s already there. For example, if you’re buying a pair of jeans, give away an old pair!

The best part of this process is that it’ll make you think twice before spending, and you’ll ask yourself if you need it – or if is it just a temporary fling. In case it’s something that you need, make sure to be strict with yourself and do away with an old possession.

30-Day Declutter Challenge:

How about decluttering one thing at a time? Sounds interesting, right? So take up the challenge and for a month, try to remove one thing from your home, every day.

Give old clothes away for charity, share your unused notebooks and stationery items with underprivileged kids, and ask your colleagues and friends if they would like to take any book from you, so on and so forth. Keep a tab of the things that you are giving away, and by the end of the month, you’ll be free of 30 things!

So what are you waiting for? It’s time to start decluttering and bring zen to your home – and your life!