5 Japanese-Inspired Minimalist Spring Cleaning Tips

Source: KonMari

When it comes to spring cleaning and decluttering, Marie Kondo’s KonMari method will surely come to your mind. Her best-selling book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” focuses on decluttering and organising your home in a way that sparks joy. If you haven’t got to cleaning before the new year, it’s time to get started with our 5 Japanese-inspired minimalist spring cleaning tips to help you spark joy in your home. Read on to discover how you can renew your space and refresh your mind through thoughtful home organisation, decluttering, and cleaning.

(1) Decluttering

Before you start decluttering, take some time to visualize your ideal lifestyle. What does your ideal home look like? Focus on the things that bring you joy and let go of the things that don’t. Think about what “sparks joy” for you and what doesn’t.

To begin, address each category of items, determine what you want to keep, and by default, what you do not. Tidy by category, not by location. In this way, you can grasp the overall volume of your belongings, hence helping you make better decisions about what to keep. Also, this is more efficient as you avoid repeating the same work in different locations.

Consider tidying your belongings in this order – clothes, books, papers, komono (miscellaneous items), and sentimental items. This has been proven to be the most efficient and effective sequence as you will be tackling the easiest to hardest decision making processes.

Declutter room by room by placing boxes in all rooms for items which are no longer needed. Donate, recycle, or dispose these items.

(2) Home Organisation

After decluttering/removing unnecessary items, more open spaces will be freed up in your house. Incorporate negative space by creating intervals between objects to allow the eye to rest. Achieve spatial balance by arranging furniture thoughtfully and avoiding overcrowding. In other words, leave enough open areas and open pathways to create a sense of flow.

Create functional zones in a space. 

Japanese homes often maximise vertical storage space as space is a luxury in small homes. Utilising vertical space efficiently organises any space without creating visual clutter. Consider how to incorporate wall shelves, hanging racks, and tall storage units to save space while adding an interesting visual element to your home.

(3) Cleaning

In Japanese tradition, 大掃除 Oosouji refers to major spring cleaning at the end of year, to welcome the New Year with a fresh start. It not only cleans the home but also the mind, achieving mental order through physical order and the therapeutic act of cleaning. 

Identify areas of your home that require attention, and plan tasks in order of importance and urgency. Deep clean, paying special attention to hard-to-reach and often neglected areas. Focus on removing all stains from furniture and homeware.

Clean from top to bottom, dust off the top of your cupboards, tables, and other furniture, the dust falls to the floor. To sweep the dust, start from the furthest points in the room and work towards the entrance.

(4) Repurpose

Whenever possible, repurpose things that you already have at home rather than buying new things. For example, if you have a few shoeboxes at hand, you can turn them into additional storage space such as organisers for cables, random trinkets, keys etc.

(5) Cultivate the minimalist game

Now that you have followed the above tips and refreshed your living space, it is time to standardise and sustain these good habits. Figure out easy ways to keep each living space organised long-term. This can be done by establishing standardised processes and procedures for maintaining an ordered space.

Practise discipline and stick to these habits until they feel normal, hence sustaining efficient organising and cleaning in the long term.

We hope the sbove tips and methods offer you a holistic and mindful approach to organising, cleaning, and promoting a balanced lifestyle. While completing these tasks may be a tiring process, you will reap your fruit of your hard work in renewing and reinvigorating spaces, leading to a positive impact on your mental wellness.

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