Tips For Decluttering Your Home
While we all try to keep a clean house, it doesn’t take long for the year’s clutter to grow. But, don’t worry, you’re certainly not alone when September comes around, and it’s time to start spring cleaning. While it can feel like a daunting task to get rid of unwanted items, keeping things as they are means you’ll not only struggle to find what you’re looking for but become more stressed as bits and pieces continue to pile up.
Why this clutter builds often comes down to organisation and not having a dedicated space for things. So even if you’re the sentimental type, we’ve got a few home cluttering tips to get your spring cleaning started off on the right foot.
Common Types of Household Clutter and How to Manage Them
Sentimental Items:
To start with the trickiest items to discard first, we have objects that hold emotional and nostalgic value to us. And as we all know, their importance makes these items so hard for many of us to donate or throw away.
The best way to reduce sentimental clutter is to consider the value against its condition, size and functionality. By looking at these objects more logically, you may find it’s easier to let them go. In sorting through these items, you may even find the reason you once held onto it no longer servers you, and that’s why our advice is to just start with sentimental items, even if you go in planning, not to get rid of anything.
Promotional Items You Never Needed:
We all seem to collect many promotional items from events or even handed out on the street – especially when they’re a freebie! However, we seem to let these items pile up in the back of our cupboards and closets, forgetting we even had them in the first place.
If the free item can be used by others, like a tote bag or water bottle, why not consider donating them to charities or op shops. However, if they’re not in great condition, don’t hesitate to put them in the trash pile!
Broken or Outdated Electronics
Old electronic appliances we often lay around the house for ages before we get around to donating or reselling them. A good place to start is to sort these items into a resell/donate, salvage, recycle and waste pile. Reducing electronic clutter is a great place to start when tackling a household clean as you’ll be able to recycle a lot of e-waste in one area, such as Officeworks.
Donate Unwanted Toiletries
There’s an area in everyone’s bathroom filled with either sample toiletries, products we didn’t use/are half used and even extras we purchased thinking we’d run out! The best way to tackle this area is to bring everything out and sort any empty products that need to be recycled, extras of products that can be combined, and any unused toiletries that can be donated.
Then, with what’s left, organise your bathroom in a way you can see each item and make a note when you’re running low or not using a certain product.
Use of Colour
Disorganised containers, shelves, and even walls can potentially add to the stress of the clutter. Of course, this tip is completely subjective, but for those wanting a minimalist approach to home living, you may invest in some paint for those shelves and walls to create a more muted and neutral environment.
For others, it may be purchasing uniform storage furniture for the laundry or pantry.
7 Home Decluttering Ideas
1.Try a Challenge
One of the main issues with decluttering is just how big of a task it is. So we’d recommend dividing the task into smaller ones you can tackle each day and focus on one area at a time. There are tons of 30-day challenges out there that help break down this process, so you’ve tidied the whole house by the end of the month!
We’d also suggest not to start decluttering the storage areas until you’ve finished tidying up the rest of the house or vice versa. Trying to clean both your storage space and your living spaces at the same time only becomes a stressful task, with many items having no place to go.
2.Maximise Vertical Space
With free-standing storage, your floor space is occupied, leading to smaller and busier looking interiors. The best way to free up the area is to use vertical storage by installing wall-mounted shelves and compartments.
3.Detangle Your Cords and Wires
We can all admit that the mess of jumbled up wires around our computer and other electronic devices is an eyesore. To rid yourself of this visual clutter (and often potential tripping hazard), we’d suggest using cord clips available at most retailers. These clips will help store cables as well as secure them to walls and furniture.
4.Avoid Open-Shelving
While open shelving can work for some, even the most well-organised space can still look cluttered if you have any mismatched items or boxes filled with stuff. Not to mention all the dust that gathers!
That’s why we recommend using closed shelving for your non-decorative items, such as pantries, bedding and misc objects. You can even install mirrors on the doors to make the space look more open and tidier.
5.Organise Bedding, Towels and Decorative Pillows
While we might feel that having more bedding and towels for guests is crucial, there are likely sheets sitting in the closet that are well past their expiry date. The same goes for our throws and pillows that begin to pile up on beds or sofas, making the furniture seem messy and busy.
That’s why we’d suggest throwing out any linen with holes, stains or wear as well as any pillows or throws that are damaged or no longer fit your decor. Then, once you reduce the number of items, you can sort the excess by seasonal, guest and just the extra pillows you’d like to have on hand.
6.Include Plenty of Natural Light
Lack of proper sunlight or ventilation can make your space feel smaller and messier than it is. An abundance of light is the key to creating a cleaner space. Our tips for letting in the light include using mirrors or other reflective panels, changing any the dark shaded curtains to lighter colours or blinds and rearranging any heavier furniture so they don’t block your light sources.
7.Repaint Walls with Fresh Coats of Bright Colours
Continuing from our last tip, our interior wall colours are also partially responsible for setting a particular mood for the room. Dark painted walls with deeper hues make the space feel smaller and cosier, while neutral and lighter colours open up the space and make the room appear brighter. Wallpapers utilising patterns or prints can also create a lot of visual noise. So if you’ve decluttered and your rooms still feel busy, considering giving the walls a makeover.
A Dulux accredited painting service can help you pick the right colour scheme with coordinate colour palettes to make your house interior feel fresh and wide again.
Final Words
As we previously mentioned, decluttering your home may feel like a daunting task, but hopefully, with our tips, you can begin working towards a clutter-free household! Not only does decluttering mean a less stressful environment, but the act itself can become quite therapeutic. As part of the process, we also discussed how the space and future affect our decluttering efforts.
