Whether you’re trying to organise your home, create more space, downsize, or you’re trying to make things in your lifestyle simpler, decluttering your home can be a big task. The easiest way to declutter your home is by doing it in stages or room by room, and not trying to quickly organise everything in one go. Focus on one room in one area to organise at a time, for example, the kitchen pantry. Completely declutter the space before moving on to the next one.
Before you start, you may want to label bags or boxes, put them away, fix, recycle, trash and donate.
Label ideas to put on your boxes or bags for decluttering:
Label 1 – Put away: This is for items that have been displaced and should be put back into their designated areas.
Label 2 – Fix: These are the items that need to be repaired or fixed before they can be put away, for example, the button on your jeans.
Label 3 – Trash: The items that are broken beyond repair or simply have no use in your home. Throw away these items to prevent clutter throughout the house.
Label 4 – Donate: Items that are still in good working condition but no longer serve you with any purpose, these items will happily be taken in at your local charity store for others to enjoy.
1. The Bathroom
You will want to begin with the medicine cabinet in your bathroom. Remove all the items and throw away outdated medication, makeup and skincare products. Put everything you want to keep immediately back into the cabinet, storing items you use the most at eye level.
Next, move on to cabinet drawers. Remove everything and evaluate the items you will be keeping and what’s being thrown away. Put items back into the drawer that you want to keep, and items you use the most can be kept on top of drawers.
You can move on to doing the same thing with your shower enclosure or bathtub. Lastly, remove everything from under the bathroom sink, and declutter.
Everything that was not placed into a home can be placed into the right category box for its purpose.
2. The Bedroom
When decluttering your bedroom, the first thing you should do is make the bed. It can be hard to clean the rest of your room when the bed is a mess.
Next, move onto your bedside tables or tops of drawers. Remove anything that doesn’t need to be left on them and place them into a bin or box. This may include books already read, pens, paper and documents.
Throw away items such as empty tissue boxes, electronics that no longer work, and pens that are out of ink.
Go through your closets and drawers and pull out everything that is no longer worn or needed; put it in your donation bin. Fold and store clothing you want to keep, with the rest going into a donation bin.
If you keep a desk or vanity table next to your bed, handle that next. Resist the urge to just shove things back into the desk. Instead, throw them away into boxes or bins. Toss or recycle garbage or whatever hasn’t been used within the last 6 months.
Place items back into their designated areas, and don’t forget to fold or hang and store away clothing.
3. Closet And Clothing
It is now time to declutter your closet. The simplest way to declutter your closet is by clothing type. That means shoes, boots, dresses, shirts, denim etc.
It’s much easier to throw away or keep a pair of jeans if you’re looking at your entire pair of jeans at once. Start deciding what clothing items you’d like to keep and which you’d like to get rid of.
Don’t forget to put away clothing items that are in the wrong place, and put socks that ended up in your closet, back into the drawer. Place dirty laundry into the laundry basket or take it to the laundry room. Anything that needs to be repaired should go to a tailor or dry cleaner, and lastly, if you have clothes that you no longer want or need, take them to a charity shop or donation centre.
4. The Kitchen
It can be difficult to keep the kitchen clutter free as several different activities take place there, including cooking, eating and socialising. This means there are many different types of items stored in the kitchen. You can declutter the kitchen by focusing on a category of items at a time such as glassware, utensils and bakeware, or by area through every part of the kitchen.
First, you’ll want to empty each space and place items back where they should be. Begin with the biggest storage spaces like the pantry and high-up cabinets. Then go onto the lower cabinets, drawers, and the area underneath the sink.
Then, focus on the countertops. Move as many items as you can from the countertops and into storage spaces. You only need to keep items used every day on the countertops. Lastly, with your different bins, place items back into their rightful storage spaces in your home.
5. The Living Room
The living room can be challenging to keep neat and tidy daily. That’s due to all the use, and the lack of storage spaces. You may have a bookcase or TV console, but they may not offer much space.
For the living room, you’ll want to decide on permanent storage spaces for commonly used items, like the remote, magazines and books. And, you should declutter these spaces regularly.
Start with bookcases, consoles and side tables, followed by the coffee table and entertainment centre. Empty these areas, look at the items that will be stored there, and then return them to their designated storage areas. Put away books, minimise the paper clutter, place remote controls back into their places, and fold blankets.
Next, you can move on to electronics. Remove everything that is not connected to your TV, and store items like chargers and gaming equipment back to where they are usually used.
Finally, tackle any toys that are laying around, and check if they are worn and torn. Recycle or store each toy.
Grab your put-away box or bin, and return all the toys that belong elsewhere to their correct storage space.
Home Organising Mistakes To Avoid
1. Sentimental Value Over Necessity
One of the main reasons clutter builds up is from the many items of sentimental value. But keeping things that take up unnecessary space and don’t serve a purpose only ends up creating more clutter.
If someone else can enjoy an item, best you sell it or give it away.
2. Mail Or Paperwork
You can prevent mail and other forms of paperwork from coming into your home. To deal with piles of paper, digitise as many as possible so you have copies on your iPhone or computer hard drive, or in a cloud. That way you can also pay bills online, scan receipts you need, and subscribe to digital versions of your regular publications.
Place a recycling bin near your desk or where you usually place mail and paperwork, and get rid of junk mail and brochures as they come.
3. Buying Things That You Already Have
Decluttering your home lets you see that you don’t need as much as you think. You’ll find that you probably have more than one of the same item. Next time you go shopping, you should ask yourself whether you already have that thing or not. If you don’t know for sure, the chances are you have something like it already, perhaps you just can’t find it.
Try to get rid of old items before getting a new one, otherwise you will end up overcrowding kitchen cabinets with the same small appliances.
If you’re tired of going through lots of junk before finding what you’re looking for, it’s best to declutter as much as you can when you have the time. Get rid of the chaos in your home and create some space in your rooms. If you have difficulty cleaning clutter or are not able to find the time to take on the task, try looking for home organising pros in your area to help you out. And if you need help cleaning once you’ve decluttered, contact SweepSout for a range of unmatched cleaning services.
