There are zero positive sides of clutter and mess. It makes it hard for you to find anything, it increases stress and it makes your entire place seem incredibly dirty. However, dealing with clutter is not an easy task, so here are seven tips to do it as easy and as effective as possible.
Visualize
Before you start decluttering, take a good look at the entire room and think about exactly how you want it to look. What are the essential pieces? What belongs there, and what doesn’t? What is on the floor (note that only rugs and furniture should be there), and what is on the shelves? Once you have a clear vision of how you want the room to look when you are done with decluttering it, as well as figured out the essential pieces; get rid of all the rest.
Walls also need some space
Have you ever looked at your walls and thought: “Wow, that’s a lot of stuff”? Simply, we tend to hang a lot there – from photos and paintings all the way to shelves filled with a bunch of unnecessary stuff. By limiting your wall décor to just a few pieces, you will make the entire space feel much cleaner and open. Also, consider coordinating colors and frame types – unless you are trying to create a gallery wall.
Closet hanger experiment
This method even has a name, and that name is nothing less than Oprah Winfrey – even though it is not her original idea. Basically, our main goal is to determine which wardrobe pieces should be thrown out. You will do so by hanging the clothes and the hangers in reverse direction. After wearing a particular garment, return it to the closet but this time facing the right direction. After approximately six months, you will have a clear picture of which items belong in the trash.
This can also be applied to toys, cleaners, linens, tools and craft items.
Empty the drawers
Literally. Take a drawer out of a cabinet and empty it on the table. Next, sort your drawer into three piles: the first one is the pile of stuff that really belongs in the drawer, the second one is the pile of stuff that belongs somewhere else, and the third one is the pile of the stuff that you have no idea why is there and should be gone not just from your drawer, but from your home. Clean the drawer out, put just the first pile inside (neatly) and deal with the other two right away. Finally, do your best not to throw anything unnecessary in there just because you are too lazy to put it in its real place.
Clear out the medicine cabinet
Whether you have just one spot for medicine or not – create one now. Put all the medicine from your home on one pile and simplify it to the essentials. This means throwing out all the outdated medicine, dirty bandages, old creams and ointments (no matter how much you paid for them, if you haven’t been using them – they just don’t work). After doing so, place all the good medicine into one place and keep it there.
Four-box method
Probably one of the oldest tricks in the book. Place four big boxes into every single room. Their names are: Trash, Give away, Keep and Relocate. Their names say it all. However, make sure you don’t skip any item in the room – each and every one of them has a place in one of the boxes. This may take hours, or even days, but the principle is always the same. And if you don’t know where to keep your ‘relocate’ boxes, consider hiring a storage company as they definitely have enough space.
Organizing comes first, buying comes second
Just because you decided to declutter your home, doesn’t mean you should go to the nearest container store and buy tons of storage supplies before even starting to sort out the things in your home. Yes, those pretty boxes and bins make us all really excited, but if they don’t fit the space (under your bed, on the shelf, in the back of your closet) – they are just a waste of money. Clean out first, and then buy the bins.
As you can see, the hardest part of decluttering is actually determining where to start. If you have any great tips you would like to see on this list, post it in the comment section below.