10 Easy Ways to Declutter Your Home

Now that most of us are spending much of our day at home you might begin to notice that things feel a little cramped. Laptops, toys and everything else are taking over your kitchen which is doubling as a home office. We’re sharing some simple decluttering tips to reduce stress in your home and increase space. Let’s get started:

1. Categorise Your Clutter

Before you start to declutter your life you will need 5 large storage containers to categorise your clutter. Label each container with one of the following:

• Rubbish: Items that for the rubbish bin that cannot be recycled
  
  
• Recycling bin: Items that for the rubbish bin that can be recycled
  
  
• Needs repairing: Items that need to be fixed such as shoes that need to be resoled
  
  
• Donations: Items that you no longer need or use but could be used by someone else
  
  
• To be put away: Items that don’t belong in the room that you are cleaning such as runners that are left in the kitchen, cups in bedrooms etc

Everything else that doesn’t belong in any of these containers should have a rightful place in the room that you are decluttering. 

2. Make The Most of Your Kitchen Storage Spaces 

How? By adding things like spice racks to the back of your cupboard doors, rotating units and expanding rails to make the most of the space inside your presses. Have your bins installed in the press under your sink and only leave everyday objects such as the kettle and toaster on the kitchen counter. 

To truly declutter your kitchen you will have to part ways with any appliances that you haven’t used in over year, donate any excess dishes etc, clean out your fridge and throw out those unidentified spices that have been at the back of your shelf since 1998. 

3. Convert The Space Under Your Stairs into Storage

This can be done in a number of ways depending on the size of your under stairs area and whether you already have a downstairs bathroom there. Drawers can be installed in the actual steps of your stairs or shelving units can be built into the side underneath the stairs to store shoes, sports kits, hats, coats, gloves, dog leads, umbrellas, hoover, mop and, well, anything else. 

4. Optimise Your Wall Space

Use your walls for storage where you can. Mount a rack for pots and pans in the kitchen, mount a toiletries cabinet in the bathroom, stick hooks to the wall in the hallway for coats and bags and add shoe racks to walls. Be careful that you don’t store too much stuff on your walls as it may make your home look more cluttered than before. Remember to use your five storage boxes to categorise your belongings first. 

5. Spend Time Keeping Your Bathroom Clutter Free

It takes just 20 minutes every couple months to keep your bathroom free of clutter. Search through your bathroom shelves, shower basin, window sill and everywhere else and remove any products that you haven’t used in ages or ever. Let it be a lesson to you that you do not need as many products or toiletries as you think. Consider letting your friends and family members know that you are no longer accepting bath sets as Christmas presents to maintain your clutter free bathroom.

6. Add a “No Junk Mail” Sign to Your Letter Box 

Stop junk from entering your home in the first place with a “No Junk Mail” sign. Those takeaway menus, politician leaflets and supermarket catalogues all end up in a pile in your living room and take up space in your recycling bin. Stop them from getting into your home and use find your takeaway menus online. 

7. Make Your Office Space Paperless

Spend time going through the pages, documents, letters and print outs that are hanging around your home office. Shred any documents that you no longer need - including bank statements that are more than 6 months old as they are obsolete for proof of address - and file the remaining documents into a drawer where they can be easily accessed. Try to avoid printing things as much as possible. You’ll be helping the environment while keeping your office space clean. 

See our guide to creating your home office space and tips for working from home here. 

8. Track the Pieces of Clothing That You Wear 

Over a period of months, track which items of clothing you wear by hanging them up with the hanger hook turned the opposite way. After some time, remove the items that remained unturned and review them. These garments haven’t been worn in months, can you remember the last time you wore them? Do you think you will wear them again? Try to be honest with yourself and donate anything that you no longer need.

9. Watch ‘Tidying with Marie Kondo’ for Inspiration and Motivation 

Marie Kondo will help you to discover the magic of tidying up, how to check if an object sparks joy or not and how to give everything its rightful place. She will guide you through decluttering each room in your home with the Konmari method that focuses on categorising items. Her tips are practical and can be incorporated into your daily routine easily. 

See more Marie Kondo Spring Cleaning Tips here.

10. Take Inspiration from The Minimalist Lifestyle

Once you’ve decluttered your home you’ll notice that you had way too much stuff to begin with. Be mindful when shopping and try to only purchase items that you really need. Junk and clutter can’t get into your home if you don’t bring it in. 

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