10 Ways On How To Deal With Clutter
It is surprising how simple it is for clutter to end up in our homes! Unfortunately, this means we all need to deal with clutter on a regular basis, to prevent it from building up and taking over.
How you deal with clutter will depend on your version of clutter and how effective you are at removing it from your home. But with these decluttering tips for the home, you will be an expert in no time at all.
Following these 10 simple and easy-to-follow tips for decluttering your home, you will have the perfect starting point for getting your home decluttered and starting to feel more manageable than before.
Dealing With Clutter
The most important thing to remember when dealing with the clutter in your home is to understand that it’s no longer something you use or need in your life right now.
So, it has to go, where it goes is another matter but you need to get it out of your home. Don’t just dump it in a storage unit or in the basement or attic so someone else has to deal with it.
Make a plan and stick to it.
You have a choice on what to do with it:
- Dump it
- Recycle it
- Sell it
Those are the only choices you have, you’ve already decided that it’s clutter now you need to take action and get it out of your home.
Related article: Simple And Easy Home Management Tips
What Is Clutter?
Let’s refresh our minds on what clutter is. It’s something we no longer like, want or use.
It’s not something we want in our homes so it needs to go.
We aren’t talking about the items that we are keeping, we are talking about the things in our homes that we don’t want to stay.
They have served their purpose and now it’s time for them to move on to pastures new.
10 Top Decluttering Tips
These simple ideas will change how you see a declutter session and make it so much easier for you:
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- Don’t declutter items that aren’t yours. This is something you shouldn’t do because it can cause problems in the family.
- Plan a decluttering session, these take time and you might end up with a bigger mess than you started with, so be prepared.
- Create a plan, one that allows you to think through the process of what is being dumped and what is being sold.
- Ask family and friends if they want the items, but never force these items onto someone else. You don’t want your clutter to become their clutter.
- Duplicates are no good, keep the best one and get rid of the rest.
- Create rules for selling items, if it hasn’t sold within a set period of time it has to go! Either dump it or give it to charity.
- Don’t buy more storage items, get rid of the stuff you aren’t using to make more space.
- Don’t empty out the whole room in one go, take it in stages and go slow.
- Decluttering can be an emotional time so give yourself the grace to process those emotions.
- Don’t do it alone, decluttering is best done with others.
Resources: Decluttering Advice book.
Why You Shouldn’t Declutter Other People’s Stuff
When it comes to the items we have the simple things might have a great value to someone else.
This is why it’s important that you don’t get rid of someone else’s things because they might be important to them.
Let them choose what they keep and what they choose to get rid of. Yes, you can help them with the process, but ultimately it’s their choice.
Why Schedule Decluttering With Family
If you are planning a decluttering session, it is going to take longer than you thought. Every item needs a decision and sometimes that can pull at our heartstrings.
Sharing this with family is a good place to start, they can help us with the process.
- Finding time when you can ask for help from others is a good idea. It can mean help with looking after children while you declutter or it can mean them helping you with the decluttering process!
- Choosing a time when you are able to look through the items and make a decision based on facts rather than rushing and ending up throwing out something you needed to keep.
Timing For Decluttering
When you have the time for a quick declutter that is different from a longer more difficult declutter session.
Knowing the difference is going to mean the difference from creating a complete mess and total chaos to getting a few items decluttered and sorted in a quick 10-minute session.
You might surprise yourself at how much you can get done in just 5 or 10 minutes, try setting yourself a 10-minute declutter session.
Setting a timer and seeing how much you can get done is good for the mind and the room you are decluttering.
Letting Go Of The Clutter
However, you let go of clutter it is difficult, it pulls on our emotions, it can bring back memories and you can also have that feeling of what if I need it later down the road.
Knowing what you are going to keep is just part of the battle, making those decisions to let go are tough. Remember that you can’t keep everything so have categories set up at the beginning with rules you must follow.
Save only the best! This is great advice, it can make you think twice about an item that you have kept that isn’t the best, perhaps donate it to charity instead.
Duplicates are no good to anyone. If you have multiple items the same, get rid of the duplicates. You don’t need them.
How To Organize Your Clutter So It Goes
Have storage boxes where you can store all the smaller items to keep them off the floor and ready to go to their new home. Whether it’s the recycling plant, donating to charity, or selling. Keeping things organized will help the process. Remember to label everything.
Even using a pop-up laundry basket to store items is a great way to ensure that the items don’t slip back into your home.
It might seem weird to some, but keeping what needs to go organized and prepared makes the task so much easier than trying to remember which pile is which, and having those piles spilling out and mixing isn’t fun.
Make Money Off Your Clutter
Just because you no longer what something, it is possible that it still has value to others.
Selling your clutter is a great way to make some extra money and at the same time get rid of your clutter.
Create rules for selling items, if they don’t sell quickly then they are taking up space and you might just end up keeping the item.
Have a date that an item needs selling by, if it doesn’t go by this date consider donating it to charity. Label the item with the date it needs to be sold, this will help to stop you from changing the date.
Realistic pricing helps to sell items quickly. Don’t put a value on an item far greater than it is worth.
If a price is too high it could indicate you are not prepared to let it go.
This is called self-sabotage you are not fully convinced you to need to get rid of the item and when this happens you need to look carefully at those thoughts that are popping into your head.
Working through those emotions is an important part of the process and it might help you to take the steps needed to sell the item.
Create Goals For Clutter
It might sound odd that you need to create goals to help you declutter, but without thinking through the process how else are you going to make it happen?
Setting goals and deadlines for ourselves can help to maintain your focus on a task, especially if you have included a reward for reaching your goals.
Where you want to start your decluttering from is a great place to plan, if it is a communal space take note of what other people own. It’s about thinking about the end goal and working towards that. Plan yourself rewards along the way, it will help you stay motivated.
Decluttering Resources To Help You
It’s all about the process and how far you have to go to get your home decluttered and feel like it’s a space you love.
But it’s not a one-time task, it’s something that you will have to repeat on multiple occasions.
