Ethically Kate: Easy ways to spring clean and clear clutter from your home

Decluttering - do it once and do it right. Photo / Getty

OPINION

For those of us who relate to the cleanliness-obsessed character Monica from Friends, there’s nothing better than a deep spring clean. But this year, instead of dumping everything you don’t want in black plastic sacks, use these tips to reap financial and environmental rewards.

Declutter slowly. I know the idea of getting everything out of your house all at once sounds satisfying, but you’ll end up with a whole lot of waste that doesn’t need to be wasted.

Decluttering slowly could include adopting the method of world-renowned “Minimalists” Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus. Pick a month, perhaps October, and every day remove the amount of items from your home that corresponds to the date. On the 1st, choose one thing to get rid of. On the 11th, 11 things. By the end of the month you will have about 465 less items. This game is lots of fun, especially when you do it with other people in your home.

Slowly rehome items only after the challenge is complete. Store everything in a separate space so you can be thoughtful about sustainably rehoming the items when you’re done. Invite friends and family over to pick things they need. Sell items online. Host a garage sale or donate your unwanted items to second-hand shops. Whatever you do, make sure everything is clean, repaired, and usable before rehoming.

The items you declutter or from a general spring clean that are not suitable for new homes need to be carefully discarded or repurposed. Separate e-waste, batteries, and scrap metal. Your local recycling centre will take these or advise you on who else will recycle them. Donate old magazines to schools for arts and crafts. Cut up old T-shirts into vegetable ties, car washing rags, or reusable paper towels for your kitchen. Get creative.

When you’ve finished, it can feel tempting to refill your home with more stuff. But a clever spring clean means that next year when spring comes around you’re simply cleaning and revamping rather than getting rid of things you spent precious money on and never ended up using.

Practically, this looks like avoiding buying new things by moving your furniture around and painting it different colours. Putting away seasonal clothes so they feel brand new when it’s time to wear them again. Replacing time at the shops with restoration projects and cleaning sessions, visiting second-hand shops or browsing online, buying plants instead of more stuff that you’re guaranteed to declutter next year, making things yourself, and thinking about something for over a month before buying it.

After your thoughtful spring clean this year, I know you’ll be exhausted. The trick to avoiding the process in the future is to carefully consider everything that comes into your home, regardless of what it is. If you do it right this year and truly adopt a sustainable mindset when it comes to “stuff”, a good spring clean in the future will look like a deep vacuum, cleaning walls with baking soda and castile soap (my favourite cleaner), and high fiving yourself for saying “no” to consumerism.