Top Tips for Decluttering Your Home and Life
Well, out of the myriad of miscellaneous skills I've accumulated over the years, boxing and unboxing is pretty high on the list.
This will be the 21st move in 34 years around the sun and I'd like to think that I followed Marie Kondo's rules long before her name turned into a hashtag.
While I am over the moon to be moving in with my beloved, it kind of feels like on Friends when Monica leaves Rachel to go live with Chandler.
I mean, I get it, we're all adulting now, but I live with Lesbians, home cooked meals, puppies who double as backyard workout buddies and a beautiful baby girl - that's a tough act to follow. (Jake, if you're reading this, I promise I'm stoked!).
And if you missed my awkward IGTV explanation of how we came to that decision, it still exists on the internet for your viewing pleasure.
Whether you are packing for a big move or just want to clean out the cobwebs with Spring Cleaning right around the corner, here are my tips on how to declutter your home and your life…
Decluttering Your Home
Go For Small, Quick Wins
Think of decluttering as a work in progress. Sure, you want everything to be streamlined and organized but it doesn’t have to happen today. Focus on small wins that you can tackle each day. Over time, they add up to a less cluttered, calmer and more organized home and life. Adopting this mindset can be super important for making decluttering a big part of your life going forwards and creating a life that is calmer and less chaotic.
Bin the Trash
Some of what looks like clutter is actually trash that no one has gotten around to throwing away or recycling yet. If you move around your home looking for items that fall into this category, you’ll probably be surprised to see how quickly you fill a trash bag.
Once your home is clear of trash, you can swap this tip to filling a trash bag full of items that can be recycled or donated.
Set Up a Central Communications Point
In a cluttered home, lots of things can slip through the cracks and get lost. Prime candidates? Important bits of paperwork that you can never seem to find amongst general clutter.
Keeping paperwork together in a central place that can be a game changer for keeping stress to a minimum. When you know you need to access this kind of paperwork, just head for the place you’ve chosen to store it. This can be as simple as a basket or collapsible folder.
Store Clutter in Hampers
Not got enough storage in your home for bed linen, blankets, toys and other items that just seem to take over? Store them in hampers.
Do the 12-12-12 Challenge
For every 36 items you come across, aim to throw out 12 of them, donate 12 of them and put the other 12 where they “should” live in your home. Not sure what should fall into each category? Think about how much you really love and need a particular item. What do you actually gain for keeping it in your life and would it make any difference to your life if you parted with it? Asking these kind of questions can help you to see if you’re holding onto items because of past attachments or because of genuine need.
Another trick is to think about how much you’d be willing to pay if you were you bought that same item today.
This challenge has been known to add a very competitive element to decluttering and you can even get the rest of the family involved to get organized in super quick time!
Decluttering Your Life
Your home may be the main thing that springs to mind when you think about decluttering but what about streamlining the rest of your life too? Decluttering your life is another smart move for keeping chaos to a minimum.
Reducing your non-essential commitments:
Struggling to get any free time with a super hectic social diary? Take a step back and think about how many of your social commitments are actually essential. Do they all bring you happiness or do you find some of them stressful? Streamline your commitments to ones that are either essential or pleasurable. Anything else can go!
Decluttering your day-to-day routine:
When it comes to the average day, how much of a structure do you tend to have? Lots of people tackle their to-do list at random and this can affect how productive you are. It’s also a surefire way to add more stress and uncertainty. Having more structure around your to-do list can make a huge amount of difference. Write down everything you need to do during the week and allocate it to specific windows in your schedule. This way, you know everything will be done and that can bring a sense of calmness in itself.
Decluttering your friendships:
Even your friendships can be decluttered, especially if you feel that there are people in your life who are draining you, rather than providing positive energy and support. It can sometimes feel like any type of friendship is better than nothing but toxic friendships can be hugely stressful. Decluttering your friendships can be super liberating and free up unnecessary stress and negativity from your life.