You’ve probably heard of Marie Kondo in recent months, even if you’re not exactly sure who she is. She’s a home organization and decluttering guru with books and shows on Netflix and she’s got people motivated to get organized and get rid of the unnecessary, keeping only what brings them joy. If you’re planning on moving into one of the Ladera retirement communities in Dallas TX soon or have just moved in, now is a great time to start putting some of her tips to use so that you don’t find yourself with more stuff than you really need.
First things first, Marie Kondo believes that you shouldn’t keep anything that doesn’’t bring you joy. While that may be easier said than done when it comes to household chores — you’ll probably still need the vacuum and mop — the idea is to really look at each item in your home and see if it’s truly worth keeping. We don’t need as much stuff as we typically have and if you’re downsizing, now is the time to be honest with yourself.
If you’re packing to move, you may be approaching it room by room. However, whether packing or simply trying to get organized, think more about categories than whole rooms. Instead of a room, go through your whole house and focus on a category at a time, such as books, pictures, decorations, and so on. The same goes for items like towels. Gather together all of your towels from around the home and see what can be kept and what needs to be tossed or replaced and make sure everyone knows where to find each type of towel.
When it comes to clothing, your best bet is to start from scratch. Pull everything out and then start going through each item and seeing if it’s something you’ll realistically wear again or if it needs to be repaired or tossed. From suits to socks, carefully consider each item. You’ll be surprised how liberating it is to put more and more items into the donation pile and you’ll love the extra space you have at the end so you can actually see the items in your wardrobe that give you joy.
It’s easy to get nostalgic about items, but rather than putting photos and souvenirs and tickets in a box that you rarely go through, get serious about them and put them into scrapbooks and photo albums that you can easily go through whenever you want. As for paperwork, just about everything can be digitized these days, so scan and make backups and only keep the most important physical documents. You shouldn’t need a file cabinet in this day and age!
Moving into one of the Ladera retirement communities in Dallas TX is a great time to really think about what you want to keep. Do you really want to wrap and pack everything? Think about how much easier life will be without as many items that need to be dusted or that just get stored away and forgotten about again. Now is the perfect point in your life to get organized, downsize, and leave yourself free to focus on the things and activities that truly bring you joy.
