New Year, Clean Home: Why You Should Declutter For The New Year

Why You Should Declutter For The New Year

Is one of your 2023 resolutions to declutter? Many of the world's cultures emphasize decluttering to welcome in the New Year.

Find out the benefits of decluttering for the New Year, why it's important, and how to get started in this article.

Benefits Of Decluttering For The New Year

Productivity & Time Management

With more and more job positions allowing people to work from home; your home is not just your home anymore. It's your office, your restaurant, your gym, and much more.

Any clutter you have in your home can be incredibly distracting when you are “at work”, affecting your performance and impacting your time management.

If you find yourself moving papers around, taking things off your workspace so you have room to work, or even being stopped by the need to clean stuff around your house on the way back to your workspace from the bathroom - you should probably take the time to clean and declutter.

Generally, people focus better when they have a clean work area. Don't let your clutter stop you from achieving your dreams (or your daily tasks)!

The same goes for working at the office. Don't let your desk be a disaster area! According to a study commissioned by Princeton University Neuroscience Institute, being clean and clutter-free generally allows for more productivity.

According to Forbes, procrastination can become a pattern of behavior in your life that prevents you from making decisions about how to declutter, from what to throw away or donate to how to use what you still need.

Want to make decluttering your desk (home or office) easier to do? Put 5 minutes of decluttering on the top of your to-do list every morning to make sure your clutter doesn't stick around!

Also, try to save the trees and skip the paper: keep your documents on your computer when you can. If paper is a must, keep a designated space on your desk for paper and organize that however you like!

Mental Health, Reduced Stress, Sleep & Energy

While being busy is a mostly-valid excuse to let things pile up (both figuratively and literally), there comes a time when we need to make time to declutter.

Cluttered environments affect people as a cycle. They make people more stressed! More stress means less sleep, and less sleep means less energy.

If your schedule is already busy enough, try to take a load off your mind by doing a load of laundry. Cleaning up your bedroom from clutter will improve your quality of sleep, because you don't have to stay up worrying about cleaning your room. Lastly, sleeping better will give you more energy to start the next day off right.

Cluttered environments also affect your mental health. Watching your clutter pile up could make you anxious or depressed about having the time and energy to clean it. A chronically cluttered home environment can even lead to a constant low-grade fight or flight response, taxing mental resources designed for survival.

Decluttering doesn't only clean your space, it cleans your mind!

Start the New Year off right by giving your space (and mind) a good decluttering.

Reduced Risk of Illness and Allergies

Did you know that cleaning your clutter can literally help you breathe easier?

You probably know that clutter is a mess creator. However, did you think about the fact that clutter is actually a dirt disguiser?

You may think your house is messy but not dirty; but, it's hard to clean without disturbing clutter. Decluttering can help reduce dust, mold, and mildew, which may help you by relieving your asthma and allergy symptoms.

In more serious cases of hoarding, decluttering and cleaning often could help prevent insect and other pest infestations in your home, making your home safer.

Decluttering helps you and your home be more healthy, so give it a try this New Year!

House Pride

Lastly, decluttering will help you feel more proud of your house. Clutter often gets in the way and overwhelms a space making it feel like it's just the clutter and not your home.

Decluttering allows you to show off your home the way you want it to look, not the way clutter makes your house look.

Just by decluttering you can give your house a makeover without redecorating (or spending a lot of money) this New Year!

New Year Decluttering Traditions Around The World

Lunar New Year

Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year and celebrated in many countries in Asia, is all for getting clean - but only before the New Year, not on the first day of the new year. On New Year's day, cleaning is believed to clean away the luck of the New Year, so it is important to ensure everything from dishes to bedsheets are spotlessly clean before the Lunar New Year.

Having a clean body is important as well. Showering and washing or cutting hair is normally done a few days before or after the New Year to avoid washing fortune away and dramatically reducing the chances of prosperity in the year ahead.

Khaneh-Tekani

Another tradition of calendar-led cleaning is that of Khaneh-Tekani, a time of cleaning prior to Nowruz, the Iranian new year. This tradition is meant to symbolize the transition into the spring season, and with it a renewal of optimism and energy. During this period of cleaning, everything from the carpets to the cupboards are dusted, scrubbed or gotten rid of.

Another part of this traditional cleaning practice is to bring fresh flowers, especially hyacinths and tube roses, into the house to freshen the air into the home to bring life into it after a long winter season. Also, wearing new clothes when gathering with family, friends and elders follows the traditional cleaning period.

Songkran

In Thailand and other countries that follow the same calendar, New Year's Day falls in the Spring and marks the start of a 2-day festival called Songkran.

During Songkran, people give their houses a deep clean and clean their representations of Buddha. Out in the streets, people participate in parades where water is sprayed at each other in a fun and lively purification ritual.

Ireland

A centuries-old custom, the idea is to start the New Year with a clean slate, which means having a spotlessly clean house. This is also considered the best way to beat the post-Christmas gloom too.

Want even more luck? Enter your house through the front door and leave through the back.

South Africa

All across the country, people celebrate by throwing all kinds of clutter, but most especially furniture and appliances, out their windows. This “out with the old, in with the new” approach helps bring good luck and a fresh start.

But, Don't Sweep Your Luck Away

A common superstition worldwide is to avoid cleaning on New Year's Day, so make sure you get your decluttering done right before, or right after New Year's Day.

Some believe that nothing, not even trash, leaves the house or you will be metaphorically losing things during the upcoming year. These people mean business. They don't even take out the trash or food, and if their trash needs emptying, they do it before midnight or on January 2nd. This also means not washing clothes as well.

Additionally, for the Chinese New Year, all dirt and rubbish should be taken out of the back door because anything taken or swept out of the front door is like sweeping away good fortune and luck for your family.

How To Get Started With New Year Decluttering

Tip 1: Decide What You Want To Do With Your Space

How you want to use your space determines what sort of things will be in it.

Do you want to have a fully functional home office space used solely for work? Then don't have the chair where you throw your laundry in your home office.

Want to have your bedroom be a stress-free oasis sequestered away from the kids and the amazing chaos that they bring? Then don't allow their toys or other items to pile up in your bedroom!

Once you decide how your space is going to be used, you'll have a general idea of what needs to be in the space and what doesn't, and therefore a guideline for what is “clutter” and what is not.

Tip 2: Clean Quickly and Start Small

To start decluttering and avoid feeling overwhelmed, start small. I mean really small, like cleaning your dishes for five minutes. Wow! You just started your decluttering journey.

Set aside some time to address specific areas of your home section by section, room by room. Do this in a timeline that is not only reasonable but realistic.

If you're not actually going to spend an hour or two decluttering your entire living room then don't say that you will! Setting realistic goals for your decluttering journey can keep you from feeling overwhelmed and burnt out when your decluttering gets a bit out of hand.

Tip 3: Get Rid of Those Unwanted Gifts

The holidays are almost over, gifts have stopped trickling in. Take a moment to assemble you gifts and evaluate: Will I use this? Is it truly sentimental?

Don't keep a gift that you won't use, or that has little value to you, it will become clutter!

If you find a number of gifts you will not use, that are not opened, donate them! People in need still need help, even after the holidays.

Rent A Dumpster

Have more clutter than you thought? Or than you can leave on the curb for the garbage?

If you are looking to declutter your home or garage and need to get rid of a large volume of clutter, a dumpster can be a useful option for getting rid of the items you no longer need or want.

Renting a dumpster from Sourgum Waste is a practical solution for anyone looking to declutter their space and dispose of a large volume of items in an efficient, convenient, and environmentally friendly way.

Summary

Decluttering is an important process that can help us organize our physical space, clear our minds, and improve our overall quality of life. By taking the time to declutter, we can free ourselves from the clutter that surrounds us and create a more peaceful, efficient, and sustainable environment.

Whether it's through organizing our closet, purging unnecessary items, or simply getting rid of clutter, the benefits of decluttering are numerous and well worth the effort. Not only can it help us feel more organized and in control, it can also save us time and money in the long run.

So, if you're feeling overwhelmed by clutter, take the time to declutter and experience the benefits for yourself!