How does decluttering improve your life?

Decluttering is good for your health and well-being in many positive ways.

It can reduce dust, prevent mould, thereby mitigating asthma and allergy triggers, and prevent pests.

According to psychologists, decluttering has mental health benefits as well: confidence about your decision-making skills, reduction in anxiety by creating order and potentially less stress (if you’ve ever madly hunted for keys when you’re already running late, you know the feeling).

It’s all about minimising chaos and creating more time and energy for yourself in your day-to-day life.

How do you declutter without being overwhelmed?

Taking on a project like this can feel overwhelming, particularly if you’ve never decluttered before. These are a few ways to make it a little easier:

One room at a time. Depending on how much time you have, you may just want to tackle one room a week, to avoid taking on too much.

Delegate. Get your partner or children involved in the process. Make it fun. Doing things like playing music, or your favourite podcast while you work, will make the time fly.

How to Declutter Your Home in 5 Steps

1. Plan

Set aside some time. Be realistic about what you can achieve, even if it is just picking two or three rooms in the house to focus on.

Sit in each room for a couple of minutes, visualising how you want it to look and getting a rough idea of how much you’re going to be throwing out, or storing. You’ll need to have a plan for how you’re going to be moving things out of the house.

If storing, you may need to rethink your storage set-up at home. That may mean purchasing storage boxes or cubes or repurposing other cupboards and shelves in your home.

2. Clear spaces

Clear everything (within reason) out of cupboards, pantries, and shelves then place them in the middle of the room.

For a kitchen, this may be the fridge and pantry; for the living area, bookshelves, and television unit; and for the bedrooms, cupboards, or bedside shelves.

Take this opportunity to give surfaces a dust and wipe them down.

Keep in mind that decluttering in one room may lead to projects in other rooms.

3. Clear that clutter

How to sort items when decluttering

Keep – While Marie Kondo says to hold onto anything that ‘sparks joy’, our advice is a little more helpful. If you haven’t used it in four seasons, it may be time to let it go. Likewise, if it’s something that doesn’t fit your lifestyle anymore (do you really still need 10 pairs of high heels?). When it comes to getting rid of things, do it as ethically as possible – sell, repurpose, give to a friend or donate. Steer clear of donating ripped or dirty clothing and manchester, or broken household goods.

Throw out – Recycle where you can, but your best bet is to give your local council a call and ask their advice on how best to dispose of your unwanted or broken household items.

Once you’ve worked out what you’re keeping, sort into piles. Categories, categorise, categorise! This may be standard, or it may be customised to suit your family or the time of year.

How to Declutter Your Pantry

Split into cereals, canned food, snacks, baking ingredients, condiments etc, placing things where they most make sense for your home. As a young family with a constantly hungry 1-year-old who has recently started to stand and helping herself to snacks/foods at the table.

How to Declutter Your Wardrobe

Sort your clothes into categories that work for your life and the season. Separate into types of clothing (skirts, blouses, pants etc) or if you’d prefer, into wear categories. For example, workwear, activewear, going out clothes etc. Store the clothes you will not be wearing in the next few months elsewhere to give yourself extra room.

4. Be sensible about storage

When putting items back, put a little bit of thought into where you’re placing things.

There’s a rule about home organisation that states that everything in your home should have a place. It’s called the fork theory – if you find a fork around the house, you immediately know where it needs to go. It should be the same with every item in your home.

Do some research before you start your decluttering around which storage options best suit your home and the items you have.

5. Organise a decluttering command centre

Organising experts call the area of your home where you basically put everything when you come in the door/are heading out the door, the Command Centre.

Think of items like keys, letters, school bags and handbags, and even calendars to keep your schedule on track. Storage cubes are a great option, for all the above items, and for even storing things like shoes.

Unfortunately, this area can become a bit of a dumping ground and is usually the first place where clutter gathers.

If you don’t have a command centre, you should create one! Having a central point to keep everything neat and ready to grab before you leave the house will make you feel extremely organised.

Happy Decluttering this Year.