Clutter can easily build up in our homes, and it’s often just as easy for us to ignore it, too. For most of us though, we get to a point when we start to feel trapped and hemmed in by the amount of clutter in our homes, and we start asking ourselves how we should go about solving the problem.
Below are five top tips to help you declutter your home and give yourself some breathing space:
1. Tackle one room at a time
If your house is a haven for clutter, it could take you more than a day or two to even make a dent in it, so focus on one room or space at a time. Failure to do this could result in you simply feeling defeated and unenthusiastic about continuing the task the next day. Not only that, but most busy people don’t have the time or energy to devote hour after hour to decluttering, so stagger the workload to keep yourself motivated.
2. Have a clear idea of how you want each room/space to look
Decluttering is all well and good, but if you don’t know what you want the end result to look like, then how will you know what to discard and what to keep? To avoid wasting your precious time and energy, quickly scan each room before you begin working on it, and try to determine which objects you think will contribute positively to the room, and which will need to go. Creating a vision of how you want the completed room to look, will also provide you with some much needed motivation.
3. Begin by emptying cupboards, drawers and shelves
Clutter isn’t just the items that are visible as soon as you walk into a room, clutter can be taking up space in wardrobes, under beds or in storage boxes, and the best way to properly assess what you own, is by emptying every space all at once. Pile it up, root through it and be ruthless!
4. Be firm with your choices of what stays and what goes
You may find that once you’ve turfed everything out onto the floor, you feel as if you want to keep everything… well that’s clearly not possible or you wouldn’t be in this position in the first place! So, be honest about what you think you’ll get good use out of and what you think you can dispose of. Not everything that you no longer have a use or liking for has to go into the garbage bin, remember; you can gift items to friends and family or donate to a local charity. But if you’re not ruthless in your selections, you’ll simply end up having to declutter again before you know it.
5. Get the kids involved!
Let’s face it, our kids are probably one of the greatest contributors of clutter any household can have, so if they’re part of the problem, why not make them part of the solution, too? If tidying away and decluttering is fun, then your kids are far more likely to get involved, and nobody would judge you for offering the odd incentive if it helps.
Getting your kids to put things away after they’ve finished playing with them, is the simplest way that they can help keep your home clutter free, and encouraging them to make good use of the toys and other items that they own, before they ask for others, is another great way of reducing the risk of clutter.