From Hoarding to Minimalism: My Most Ambitious Spring Clean Yet!

It’s that time of the year once more. After a year filled with long days inside my house, it is time to put on my gloves and do my annual spring clean. Over the years, I have found that a spring clean acts as a reset button for myself, like a slingshot after the cold winter into a hard-working summer. As the past year consisted of many days spent inside my house, it is now more important than ever to create an environment that I can work well to the best of my abilities.

Taking inspiration from minimalism, the new lifestyle choice that is taking the world by storm. Its basis is the idea that you only keep items that bring you joy or serve a purpose. I am interested in the ideology minimalism promises, so I am willing to give it a try. I will be going through my home and hopefully remove various items that take up much-needed space. There is also a small open space at the back of my apartment that I wish to turn into a park. As I live in a building with multiple occupants, I hope it serves us all as our private park. This will be the first spring in my new apartment in London, so I am excited to share with you my plans on how I will transform my living space into a work-ethic haven as well as providing a service to my new community!

What is Minimalism?

If you come from an art background as I do, minimalism is already a prominent movement that took the 20th century by storm. The movement influenced many fields within the arts, such as fine art, theatre, and architecture. You can imagine the surprise I had when I found out that minimalism has become a lifestyle that thousands of people worldwide have decided to try out its ideology.

In a simple term, Minimalism is a chance to start over and focus your energy and resources on things that matter. The whole world has become obsessed with the idea of ownership. All the delivery services that can give anyone anything they want by the next day is astonishing. We also see an increase in storage rental services, as people are simply running out of space to keep all of their things!

There are many ways of implementing minimalism into your life, and it all depends on how intense you are going to take the practice. Some dive in the deep end and remove all but necessities, while others tread the waters and begin by removing most of the clutter. However, some find certain items a little hard to part with at first. That is okay, as I am also at the later stage mentioned. I may wish to push further as I go along this journey and will take steps at my own pace, as should you.

Now that even Netflix has released two documentaries on minimalism, I can’t help to think how much this practice could help a content-hungry generation addicted to the idea of having stuff purely because they want it. As I enter adulthood, alongside the clutter and stress that the past year has brought us, I want to give minimalism my best attempt, and I hope to be documenting my process as I go. Let’s begin!

Techniques to Begin

There are a couple of methods that can help you begin decluttering and finding what possessions serve a purpose in your life. Of course, there will be items that bring back fond memories that will prove very difficult to throw away. You’ll be surprised how many little things we buy while travelling that only take up space. Keep only the best memories or find creative ways of merging items. Here are some techniques on how you can begin your minimalistic spring clean right now!

Begin by finding four large, empty boxes and labelling them “Keep”, “Donate”, “Sell”, and “Throw Away”. These boxes will determine what you decide to do with your things as you go through them one by one. There will also be a fifth area outside of the boxes, such as the sofa or bed. Items you do not place in a box are the essential items you want to keep and place in your room. The difference between the “Keep” box and the outside of box items is that the box items can be stored away and not as important. This small exercise will help you detach yourself from a good portion of your possessions and allow you to be critical of what you value most. If the is nothing in the keep box at the end of the exercise, you need to be a little more critical of yourself and try again. Remember, less is more!

When you move through your room, take down everything in an area and only put up what you deem needed back. Analyse what creates the clutter and see if it feels better without it. This is especially helpful on boards, shelves and mantelpiece. This method proves especially useful in cupboards that, over time, can become prime locations for clutter to accumulate. You will be surprised at what items you thought you got rid of a long time ago that you’ve kept locked away. While we are on the topic of finding old, forgotten objects, finding them again does not mean keeping them. You’ve survived without them, so you will continue fine without them. Donate it to someone who can put it to better use or sell it to help you with your bills or savings.

A personal tip for all of you bookworms that do not want to part with your precious books, colour coding solves most of the clutter problems. Find a colour chart that shows you the transition from cold to warm colours and organise your books according to their transition. The effect it has on the bookshelf is fantastic and is bound to make your room bounce with colour. As you sort through your books, see if any books could be sold or donated. There are websites that offer free courier pick-ups that will pay you for your second-hand books. Simply download their app, scan the barcodes, find a box to send it off, and await your collection! Keep this mentality throughout your spring clean, and by the end of the process, you will find yourself with a clean slate, feeling fresh and sitting on a small profit! Who said spring cleans couldn’t pay you along the way?

My Ambitious Plans

When I said that this year’s clean is my most ambitious one to date, I was not kidding. I am working with a lot of things in a smaller environment that I am used to. As I downgraded my space to move to a better location in London, succeeding with the bonus of being a minutes’ walk away from the Thames river, I need to find ways of either smart storing or part ways with lots of possessions. Let me paint you a mental picture of what will happen in the coming weeks, as long as the typical British weather is on our side…

1) Empty Space is Key

In my previous spring cleans, I was very allowing of what I kept out in plain sight. I argued that seeing particular objects inspires me to work and induces fond memories. This is still true; however, I found that if I place things too close to each other in a given space, this connection that I seek is altered. I want to create open space, and, as minimalism teaches in both the artistic movement and lifestyle, a blank space allows us to focus on the things present. The more space and less stuff, the greater the focus. This focus is what I am after.

2) Lincoln Court Park

This is the part of my spring clean that I am most excited about and, unfortunately, is entirely at bay to the regularly bad British weather. My flatmates and I plan to get our hands dirty and clean up a derelict patch of grass behind the building we live in, turning it into a private park for the residents. Currently, there is glass and metal all over the ground, trash and planks with rusty nails pointing out from the wood, and uneven grounding with overgrown weeds that stop anyone from enjoying the space. We want this to change. The wood can be made into a small wooden fence or wall that separates it from the path. It will also prevent people from coming and leaving more trash in the future. I will also be looking into building a table with a couple of benches for people to sit. A bin to keep the rubbish in and a couple of flower beds or maybe even a birdhouse to attract some wildlife. This project could take some time as it depends on how quickly we source our materials when it rains and our speed when it’s sunny. I will post an update on the park shortly, so stay tuned!

3) After Spring Clean Update

My final aim is to share with you all what I achieved at the end of this process. As this is quite a drastic change to my life, I want to provide the most accurate review of what it achieves. I aim to be as harsh as I possibly can and, through this, be as honest as possible for you to understand the ins and outs of minimalism as a lifestyle. Once my review is complete, I hope that if I find the results to be positive, I can take further steps into the practice and shift my focus to things that I love rather than the things I want, or think I want.

Time to begin…

It is time for me to end this post and begin the clean. I am anonymous of the outcome; however, the excitement is ready to motivate me. I will navigate the process across a couple of days and focus on my most cluttered areas first. One by one, I hope to declutter my room and allow myself some time to adapt to my new surroundings. A spring clean acts as a second New Year’s Day if your resolutions did not begin as you originally planned. I don’t know about you, but I am in dire need of a fresh start. I hope that this spring clean will be my best spring clean to date. I will let you know how I get on in a couple of weeks, see you then!