Do you look around your home and think that a life clear of clutter would be a wonderful, but impossible dream? Get some help from our top tips for clearing your clutter and you can start to make progress towards achieving that dream.
If you desire to live a more minimalistic life, keep a cleaner and more organised home and to free yourself of all the ‘stuff’ that you seem to possess, de-cluttering is a worthwhile process that can help you get your life back to where you want it to be. You may look around your home and think that a life clear of clutter is an impossible mountain to scale, but with some help from our top tips for clearing your clutter, you can start to make progress up that mountain, one day at a time.
- Little and often. Nobody relishes the prospect of an entire day of clutter sorting, but if you set aside just 15 minutes each day you will be surprised at how quickly you start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
- Stop bringing it in. There is a reason you have a cluttered house right now, and that is a habit you are going to have to break. Your home is like a sinking ship – you can bail the water out as quickly as you like, but if you don’t fix the leak you’ll end up right back where you started.
- Be charitable. Your clutter is not just junk. In fact it may be of great value to someone else. Donate your cleared out items to a charity shop, or give them away locally to achieve a sense of empowerment and pride.
- One in, two out. If you want to bring something new into the home, you have to get rid of two things that are already there. To start with you will probably cheat, throwing out some papers or a dead house plant, but soon you will need to move on to bigger and more challenging stuff.
- Make a ‘one year’ box. Anything you think you will miss if you throw out, but don’t have a specific use for right now, put inside the box and seal it. Date the box, and one year from the date you have made it, if the box is unopened, donate it. You probably won’t remember what was inside that box anyway.
- Cluttering clothes. Anything you haven’t worn for 6 months, unless it is seasonal clothing or footwear, should be sold or donated.
- Get help. Get a trusted friend or relative to help you go through things. This will help sort the wheat from the chaff with a fresh pair of eyes.
- One room at a time. Aim to de-clutter one room entirely, including all cupboards, drawers and shelves. Spending time in this minimal and refreshing space will be so good you’ll be inspired to continue with the other rooms in the house.
- Remember, it’s just ‘stuff’. Work on your self-esteem to believe that you are worth more than just the sum of your ‘stuff’, and share your belongings through donations and gifts.
- Store sentimental items. Everyone has a ‘treasure box’ or a collection of things that they could never bear to part with. Things like children’s artwork, old photos and other treasured memories don’t necessarily need to be thrown away. Cheap self storage can be a good way to put aside a couple of boxes you probably don’t need access to on a regular basis, but without the need to actually bin them (compare storage prices here).