Top 3 decluttering tips

 

I am in no way an expert on decluttering. I guess, before kids, I never had a need to do it. Everything had a place and everything was valued and cared for. Since the kids arrived, there’s been way too much stuff coming into our home, at an alarming rate, that you just can’t keep on top of it. I’ve been trying to declutter for the last couple of years but last week, I felt like I’d finally made a great ‘dent’ in it and these are a couple things I found worked for me.

Previously, I’d declutter, say, the kid’s toys. I’d drag them all to one area, start sorting them; donate, sell, keep, throw and I’d get side tracked or disturbed and by the time I got back to it, the kids had been through them again, mixed them all up and I was back to square one.

 

1.  Only handle the clutter once

If you have been sidetracked, ‘donate’, ‘throw’ or ‘sell’ straight away those things you’ve already decluttered. For example, take those donated items to the car straight away or put the throw aways in the bin. I’ve got a box of things ready to list on ebay that are in a hidden spot so the kids can’t get to them. I’m only handling the clutter once now. My time is too precious to me to keep going back over these things anymore.

Source: oprah.com via Anne on Pinterest

2.  It’s going to be tough but persevere

Decluttering after a break up or death is always going to be very difficult. It’s going to be tough. Even going through kid’s baby toys once they’ve grown up will bring the memories flooding back and you’ll find it hard to part with some of those things. Work through the pain, tuck the memory in your heart and move on. Taking a photo of those items your parting with and getting them printed in a photo book will take up a lot less space and give you peace of mind. You will always have the memories but you won’t be surrounded by clutter. Once you’ve finished you’ll be amazed at how wonderful you really feel.

 

Ice cube trays are a perfect organising solution for jewellry

3.  Break the job up into small, manageable sections

Every time I got in the mood for decluttering, I’d get that overwhelming feeling first, then I’d not even start and then I’d look for chocolate! Thinking about decluttering your whole house is quite a daunting thought. Believe me. I’ve been doing it for the last 3 years! Breaking the jobs up into smaller, manageable sections will give you a head start and help you to deal with the clutter straight away (refer tip # 1). Instead of deciding on the main bedroom as the place you’ll start to declutter, break it up into your jewellry box or your underwear drawer. Allow about 10 minutes per job. I always used to think these jobs would take so long but honestly, they don’t. Ten minutes for small, manageable sections of decluttering and you will achieve a lot more and you’ll want to keep continuing.

 

Week 1 - Organise & Clean Your Home

Being an organised and tidy person by nature, it’s taken me such a long time to want to get my home back in order since my children were born, since my marriage breakdown in January this year and the death of my mother back in March. I had just started writing a list of jobs to complete, room by room and started a 4 week challenge to organise and clean my home.

Day 1 – Kitchen

• window and screen cleaned
• curtain washed
• blind removed
• cupboards cleaned
• light shade cleaned & teapots etc cleaned and moved from on top of cupboards
• fridge wiped down and magnets etc decluttered
• bench tops decluttered
• walls washed
• sink polished

I’d also only recently cleaned and decluttered under my sink so decided to give my spices a good clean out and decanted into a cheap $12 spice carousel I recently purchased. I also had to pick up a few groceries on this day and the white ceramic hand soap pump bottle was marked down to $3 at the dollar store. It was meant to be mine.

Day 2 – Main Bedroom

• decluttered
• furniture dusted and polished
• walls washed
• sheets washed and changed, bed made
• mattress vacuumed and flipped
• laundry folded and packed away
• vacuumed

I forgot to take a before picture of the top drawer in my bedside table but it was full of books like “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” so that gives you an indication of when it was last cleaned out. There were heaps of pens, puzzle books and old cough lozenges so this makes a big improvement.

And, on this day, we were supposed to wipe over our kitchen chairs (which I’d also done just recently) so I decided to declutter the ‘junk’ drawer. I just used old boxes and plastic containers without lids as drawer organisers.

Day 3 – Laundry

My laundry is another job that I’d made a start on a couple weeks ago. It just need a bit of a wipe down, sweep and provision of a bin for rubbish and making sure I cover the machine with the cover I made some time ago.

Day 4 – Lounge Room

• wash rugs
• vacuum couches
• remove rug and will get steam cleaned
• declutter furniture surfaces and polish
• dust all electrical equipment
• (didn’t touch home office area or knick knacks in wall unit *)
• The windows were another job I had recently done too

I didn’t have a magazine collection to go through either. I only have 3 magazines waiting to be read. I don’t normally buy them but I had the urge a couple weeks ago. Also, I’ve been living with unpolished, bare timber floors in the living room, dining room and kitchen areas for the last 12 months and it’s driving me crazy. I did have a rug in the living room but it was cream and a very unpractical colour for a home with 2 small children and 2 small dogs.

Day 5 – Clean Floors and Organise Pantry

For someone who loves to cook as much as I do, I’ve got the worst pantry in the world. Not enough room to store everything in one cupboard and the main cupboard has high, deep shelves. I make do with baskets and change things around occasionally. Maybe one day I’ll come up with a system that really works or move to a house with a great pantry.

I’ve really been dilligent this week in keeping on top of the dishes in the kitchen, putting things back where they belong and making the bed every day. The kids have been in on the act as well, washing up every evening and keeping their belongings in the appropriate areas.

(*) There are many areas of my home that will remain untouched, ie like the knick knacks, DVD’s, books etc as I’m in the process of deciding whether I want to remain in this house or buy another one. I’d like to make a fresh start and I think my current home needs a bit of work plus it has a lot of bad memories. I’m in the process of sourcing some packing cartons and I’m going to pack up a lot of these personal belongings as I go through each room. I’ve still got quite a lot of my Nanna’s and Mother’s belongings to bring into my home so they’ll all need a place.