4 Easy Ways to Declutter Your Life.

Even though it's summertime and the living should be easy, sometimes it isn't. I get caught up in stupid stuff, I get caught up in important stuff...on the whole, I just get caught up. Much like how it's necessary to take time to myself to simply relax, I think it's equally as necessary to take time to 'defluff the excess' in your life when things get just a little too hectic. In the words of Ing from Uptown Girls, "Downsize, Molly. Purify. Streamline, find your center." (If you don't get that reference, you should probably get on that). As of late, I've been trying my best to do just that. Whenever my head is in a spin for one reason or another, I take these three small steps declutter my mind. Trivial as they may seem, I feel strangely refreshed after completing each task!

| one| Streamline any and all social media. The other night I noticed that my Facebook "friend" count was just over 1,100 people. Um, what? I hardly have a group of 10 people that I hang out with regularly, let alone share my life with via social media. Scrolling through, I realized that I hadn't spoken to more than half the people on my friends list in more than a year, sometimes two years, often three or more. I try to actively do this with Instagram as well; if it's getting to the point where I don't even enjoy taking the time to scroll through my feed a couple times throughout the day, it's time to streamline my list of following. And Pinterest? If I don't see myself ever making it or eating it, it's gawwwwn gawn. Okay, mostly gone. Kind of.

| two | Donate. Not just money, but belongings. As a teenager, I was never allowed to sell my gently worn (or just straight up used) clothing to secondhand shops like Plato's Closet. My mom always made me donate the clothes I didn't wear anymore to Goodwill or other local charities, and it's a habit I've never been able to break no matter how old I get. So at the start of every season, I take a couple hours to root through my closet, try on items I haven't worn in awhile, and decide whether or not they'll get the boot. Not ready to part ways just yet? Stash your unworn clothes under the bed or some place you won't notice them for six months. If after six months you haven't even thought twice about that old sequined top you weren't ready to let go of just yet, donate it!

| three | Clear out your computer. Okay, I mostly started doing this because good ol' Maxwell the Macbook kept telling me that I was almost out of storage. I've been carrying over old items with every change of laptop over the last 13 years of my life, so you can only imagine what kind of files I had stored. Old AOL instant messenger conversations, pictures of ex-boyfriends I haven't seen since I was 15, class notes from every single college class I ever took. So unnecessary! So after a few quick trips down memory lane, I 'emptied the trash,' if you will. And voila! So much room for activities.

| four | Bring your room 'back to ready.' This is more of a preemptive step, but there is nothing I love more than walking into a clean room after a long day or trip. Make your bed every morning (or most mornings, in my case), throw away clothing tags as soon as you cut them off (oh, thats just me?), put away remotes you aren't using and clothes you're not wearing. I'm not a perfectionist by any means, but a decluttered (not necessarily clean, but decluttered) living space leads to a decluttered mind.

What do you do when you need to "declutter?" Let me know in the comments. I'm always down for new tips and tricks!