It’s officially spring and the Bluebonnets are in full bloom here in the beautiful Texas Hill Country! Spring is by far my favorite Texas season; the gorgeous flowers are out, the smell of spring and new growth is in the air, and the temperature is divine. It also means it’s time for spring cleaning and de-cluttering.

Living tiny means prioritizing and only keeping items that are truly essential. Here’s a quick 4 step process you can put into place in your current life to de-clutter and free up space:

1. Pick whatever space will serve as your starting point (closet, junk drawer, pantry, etc.) and completely empty it. Put the items on your counter, bedroom floor, or bed.
2. Sort through the items and determine whether you use them daily or not – place the items you use at least once a week in a pile and the rest in a separate pile.
3. Go through the less used pile and determine whether each item is crucial to your daily life – place items you feel are truly necessary in a 6-month box and donate/trash the rest.
4. Put everything back where it belongs and appreciate the feeling of accomplishment.

The idea behind the 6-month box is this: if you don’t search for any of the items in the box or even notice they’re no longer accessible then they should also be removed. They obviously aren’t important enough in your daily life that you’ve noticed their absence and are only taking up space.

This whole process is a small snapshot of some of the things we did when preparing to go tiny. We also had to weigh factors such as where precisely we’d put each item, how could we downsize and maybe find items that were space-saving. For example, we sold our furniture and instead purchased some smaller items as well as furniture that could be easily stored. Our table is a folding table – we simply pull it out when we’re ready to eat.