Clutter is unnecessary and causes us to be unproductive. However, the good news is that you can easily manage the clutter in your home or life. Follow our tips on clearing clutter and you will be well on your way to a clutter free home and life.
Tips On Clearing Clutter
Tips on Clearing Clutter
When you want to get organised and clear clutter in your wardrobe, kitchen, home office or house in general start by asking yourself:
- Do I love this item?
- Have I used or wore it in the past year?
- Is it really garbage?
- Do I have another one that is in better condition?
- Should I really keep two of them?
- Does it have sentimental value that causes me to love it?
- Or does it give me guilt and make me sad when I see the item?
Tips on Clearing the Clutter
My key tips to help you start clearing your clutter are:
- Pick one room first (don’t worry about the rest of the house)
- Start small. It is often quite overwhelming when you look at the whole house or a room so only look at one area first i.e. one shelve in one cupboard first. Clear that space and then move on.
- If you don’t have a whole day to spend clearing the clutter, set aside 15 minutes every day. Don’t get sidetracked, just focus on the job.
- Set a timer and don’t stop until you are finished.
- Create piles or categories for sorting items. i.e. keep, donate, rubbish, repair.
- Get a rubbish bag and fill it with rubbish or items to donate. If you did that every day, seven bags of rubbish would be cleared in a week. Now, that’s a great start.
I have also listed below some of my key tips to help you work through the process of actually clearing the clutter.
Sentimental Items
Be sentimental but selective. Choose a beautiful box in which to keep sentimental items. For example, keep a few cherished baby clothes and give the rest to someone who will use them. Put photos into albums only keeping the best ones and let the others go.
Broken things
Give yourself a deadline by which broken items must be fixed by. If they are not fixed by then, they need to be recycled or thrown out.
Presents
Ask yourself, can I re-gift or give them to someone else who will use them?
Paper
Be ruthless with paper. Put junk mail straight in the recycling bin and decide how long you will keep other newspapers and documents for. Use your recycling bin and ask yourself; When will I really have time to sit down and read that pile of papers or junk mail ?
Clothes
Ask yourself when was the last time I wore it and did it make me feel amazing?
Kitchen items
Again, ask yourself when was the last time I used it. Do I really need two of them?
How does it feel when you clear the clutter?
As you put things in the bin or charity shop bag, you may feel good and even feel a huge sense of relief. Or you may feel guilty that you are wasting money by throwing things away. You may also feel guilty that you are letting go of unwanted presents or baby clothes.
Many of my clients come from families where hoarding is a common problem. Often people have lots of clutter because that’s what they were taught and brought up with. You need to identify this and take action to change those behaviours.
I take the approach – “one in, one out”. Remember, you can only use one vacuum cleaner at a time.
Helping you decide what to declutter
If you really feel panicky about letting go of something then store it for three months.
Put a date on it before you store it away. If you haven’t used it in three months then give it away, knowing that it has not been used.
The benefits of clearing the clutter
There are massive benefits for you to get motivated, clear the clutter and become more organised. You will:
- Have a more relaxed and organised home
- Feel more organised and in control of your live
- Find that getting dressed and ready for work in the morning will be so much easier when you know exactly what is in your wardrobe.
There are massive benefits physiologically as well. I know myself; if I have a messy desk then my mind feels cluttered. I am not as productive when I sit down to work because I am surrounded with papers. A clear, uncluttered desk helps me think straight.
If you don’t have lots of clutter in your pantry, you won’t go and buy extra grocery items, thinking you need them. Often because of the clutter and lack of systems, clients will end up buying duplicate packets of food because they cannot find them in the pantry. They don’t have a set stop to store certain foods. It all just gets put in the pantry on different shelves and it starts to build up after a while.
With an organised wardrobe you will have a much better idea of what you actually need when you go shopping.
Good luck with clearing your clutter. Remember, be focused and have a plan of attack. If you find you need some assistance, then one of our clutter experts is only a phone call away. A free, no-obligation chat with us may be the first step you need to help you clear the clutter in your home and life.
