Do you long for an organised, tidy and clutter free home? The first step to achieving an organised home is to declutter your space. Read on for essential decluttering tips to help you declutter your house the easy way.
Table Of Contents
Know Why You Want To Declutter
The only way that you are going to successfully start decluttering, get through the overwhelm then actually complete the declutter is by knowing your “why”.
Some Reasons You May Want To Declutter
Do you want to declutter your home because you are sick of the mess?
Is it because creating physical space around you will help to improve your mental health?
Do you need to make space because you are having a new baby?
Are you due to move house?
Is Christmas or a child’s birthday just around the corner and you need to make room for gifts that they may receive?
Whatever your reason for wanting to declutter, you need to keep this in mind throughout the entire project. Picture how your life will be in your decluttered new home or with your new baby. Think about that magical Christmas when you are not stressed out by too much “stuff”.
Picture your reason in your mind as vividly as possible, as this will be your motivation to propel you through.
What Is Your Clutter Really Costing You?
Your current clutter may be having more of a burden, either financially or emotionally than you realise.
If you cleared out your spare room, maybe you could use it to generate money from Air BnB?
Do you pay for external storage for things that you don’t even need any more?
What impact is having “stuff” everywhere and never feeling on top of your home, having on your mental health?
So as well as keeping in mind the desired outcome that you are working towards, it is important to acknowledge the reasons why simply sticking with the status quo and living with your clutter isn’t an option.
Get Decluttering Inspiration
Get some decluttering motivation! This could be in the form of upbeat music that lifts you up, or decluttering videos like the ones above where you can declutter along with someone else. This is a great way to get tips and motivation at the same time.
Choose How You Will Declutter
How will you declutter? Will it be category by category? Or area by area?
Declutter By Category
The decluttering by room method is great because it makes you face up to what you really have. For this method, take one category of item such as cushions, scarves or shoes. Find every item of this type in your entire house and put them in one place, such as in the middle of your living room floor or on your bed.
Benefits OF Decluttering By Category
- You can see the reality of what you own which may inspire you to be more ruthless
- You are more likely to effectively declutter that type of item and complete the project.
Downsides Of Decluttering By Category
- You won’t necessarily see a huge improvement in any one area of your home after any one category is complete and may lose momentum.
- You have to search all over your home bringing everything to one room before you can even begin.
Declutter By Location
Using the declutter by location method is exactly as it sounds. Pick a location, be it a drawer, a cupboard or a whole room, and declutter everything in it. Keep going until everything in your chosen area is decluttered, clean and organised.
Benefits Of Decluttering By Area
- You are more likely to feel a sense of accomplishment having completed that area, which should spur you on to continue with more areas.
- While decluttering the area you have chosen will create more mess initially, you can leave the rest of your home undisturbed.
- You do not have to visit every room looking for things to declutter.
- This method is often easier when you have small children (like I do) as you can shut yourself away in the selected area to get on with it while someone else watches your children.
Downsides Of Decluttering By Area
- You may fail to see the bigger picture when it comes to certain items, especially if you keep certain categories of items in different rooms. This may, in turn, lead to you being less ruthless and having to re-declutter certain things.
Make A Mess
If you have watched my decluttering videos, you will know that the only way I can get myself to keep going with decluttering is to make a mess. I tip everything out in that area (my preferred method of the two options).
Why do I do this?
Quite simply, it’s to force myself through it. If I haven’t made a huge mess, it’s oh-so tempting just to walk away and find an excuse to give up. My making a mess, there is only one way to sort it – by decluttering.
Create Urgency
Be honest, how many times have you had a deadline to work to, only to complete the project at the 11th hour?
Most of us work far better when we have a deadline to work to, and better again if there are consequences to missing that deadline.
Some Ways To Create Urgency To Declutter
- Book a collection from a local charity, that way you will have to declutter and organise your donations by that date.
- Arrange to throw a party in your home and send out invitations.
- Book house guests to come and visit on a certain date.
- Order new furniture to be delivered on a chosen date.
- Book an estate agent to come and value your home.
All of these ways are perfect motivations for you to get your home decluttered and organised by a certain point in time. Make sure that you put the date on your calendar and get going!
Do You Love It Or Need It?
Are you pick up each item, consider if you love or need that thing. It is not necessary to both love and need something, but if you neither love nor need it, then it is probably time to part with it.
Sort Into 5 Categories
Sort everything you come across during your decluttering session into one of the following categories;
- Keep – things you need, love or both can be kept providing you have the room (see below).
- Store – toys that your children will play with, but nit yet. Maybe they are hand-me-down toys or maybe for toy rotation. Keepsakes and special things for memory boxes will fall into this category too.
- Sell – generate some extra cash from anything worth selling.
- Donate – to friends, charity or your child’s school.
- Recycle – things to be recycled.
- Bin – non-recyclable things that are not worth keeping or donating.
Be Honest With Yourself
Sometime we are all a little guilty of being a little less than truthful with ourselves. Sure, you loved that hot pink mini skirt when you were younger and have some fabulous memories of strutting around in it in your younger years.
But will you really wear it now that you are a Mum in your 30’s? Really? If the answer is “yeah, probably not”, it has to go. Letting go of things that we no longer need from our past is the only way to make space for new things and memories in our present.
Turn Hangers Around Each Time You Wear Something
Turn all of your hangers in your wardrobe around the wrong way. Now each time that you wear an item, turn the hanger around the right way again.
After an agreed period of time, look at exactly what you have really worn. Chances are that a large percentage of your clothing will still be on hangers that are facing the wrong way and have not been worn. These clothes should be decluttered regularly.
Have A Donate ASAP Box
When you are going about your day to day life and you come across something that you realise that you no longer need, you need to run with that impulse and take it out of circulation. If you don’t know where to put it until you have accumilated enough to make a donation, there is every cance that you will put it back where you found it and forget about it.
The answer is to create a “donate asap” box. This can be a basket, box or drawer that is reserved for the sole purpose of storing things that are on their way to the charity shop. As soon as the donate ASAP box becomes full, drop off your items.
Create A “Donate Later” Box
For items that you think you may not need but are just not sure about, create a “donate later” box. Fill this box with your “I don’t know what to do with it but I might need it” type items. Close the box and write the date 6 months from now on the box. Set a reminder to go off on your phone for that date 6 months from now.
If, when the reminder goes off in 6 months, you have not missed the contents of the box at all, it all needs donating.
Make Your Stuff Fit Your Space
Allow the space that you have dictate how much stuff you own and not the other way around.
If your wardrobe is full, you are not allowed to buy any new clothes until you have decluttered some unworn items.
If your kitchen cupboards re crammed, do not allow yourself to buy another gadget until you have created some space.
You get the idea.
Stop Procrastinating
This is the biggest tip for decluttering! If you take away one decluttering trick from all of this, make it start now.
There will always be excuses that we can find to put off doing the things that we would rather avoid, and decluttering is no exception.
Personally, I do not enjoy decluttering. Oh no. It is a tedious and daunting task. So why do it?
We need to declutter because of the joy and tranquility that we can feel when we have an organised and clutter free living space.
So just get started! Pick an area or pick a category and just start. Whether you start with a whole room or just one room, just get going, you’ll be glad you did.
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