Spring is here, so it’s time to clean. The spring season is often said to be a time of renewal and rebirth, so now is the perfect time to clean up your physical space to feel refreshed and new! 

If you are really looking to deep-clean, you can implement some minimalist practices into your cleaning regime. Minimalism is all about living a simpler life.  It’s not about throwing everything away or wearing the same t-shirt for months.  The key to minimalism is to only keep items in your life that bring you happiness. 

When you are deciding what to keep and what to toss, ask yourself this question: “Does this bring me joy?” If the answer is “yes,” then find a proper place to store that item and keep it.  If the answer is “no,” then trash it, donate it or sell it. If the answer is “I don’t know,” then it probably doesn’t bring happiness into your life, and you should toss it. Focus on quality over quantity. Owning a ton of clothes, household, beauty and tech items seems luxurious at first, but it can quickly start creating clutter, stress and debt in your life. 

This year you can take spring cleaning to a new level by applying some minimalist ideas into your cleaning routine. No, you don’t have to throw all your belongings away to start living minimally. Here are some ways to declutter and recharge your physical space this spring:

1) Throw old items away.  Beauty products that are hardly used, a sweater from high school that’s never worn anymore, and old receipts, letters and notes are useless to keep. These are all things that can be tossed. You don’t have a use for outdated, half-used, expired or damaged items, and no one else will either.

2) Donate to a thrift store.  Someone else might love your gently-used clothing, household items and furniture. Items that are not completely destroyed can be donated to a local thrift store. Corvallis has multiple options for donating to thrift stores. The Heart and Humane Thrift Shop is located in downtown Corvallis. There they have a list of acceptable donations on their website: http://heartlandhumane.org/thrift-shop/. Another thrift shop to donate to is the The Arc Thrift Store. You can even schedule a pick-up time for your used furniture at their website: http://www.arcbenton.org/free-pick-up/. Donating to Goodwill is another option, if the smaller thrift stores can’t accept your items. 

3) Sell to a consignment shop. For more valuable clothing that you don’t want to donate, selling to a consignment store is a great option. Runway Fashion Exchange will purchase your unwanted clothing and reward you in cash or store credit. Even though they keep most of the profit, you can still make more by selling to Runway Fashion Exchange rather than trying to find customers on your own.

4) Sell it yourself.  Any items that are of great quality, such as old prom dresses, an xbox that still works or a bedroom set might be profitable to sell yourself. Apps such as Depop or Poshmark are platforms where users can buy and sell clothing with ease. Just upload a picture with the appropriate tags and hope that someone finds interest in your piece. These third-party platforms also make shipping simple. They do take a percent of your profit, but it might be worth it because you can reach people online that you would have never had the opportunity to sell to without the app. If you want to sell your stuff the old way, host a yard sale. Invite your neighbors to sell with you to minimize the planning effort and maximize the profits. 

5) Host a Clothing Swap.  If you envy our friends’ style, host a clothing swap so you can sort through their unwanted clothes, while getting rid of yours at the same time. A clothing swap is great motivation to get rid of all the clothes that don’t bring you joy anymore because in order to get a new piece, you must swap out an old. Trading with a friend is a great way to ensure that your old pieces get worn again.

Practicing minimalism is a great way to simplify your life, and can help in the spring cleaning process. If you would like more information about the minimalist movement, check out www.theminimalists.com.    

Sources:

Desk photography by Gabriel Beaudry (via unsplash.com)

Minimalist Designer Wardrobe photography by Igor Ovsyannykov (via unsplash.com)