Decluttering has become fashionable ever since Marie Kondo burst onto the scene with the KonMarie method. However, there are tons of other, less glamorous but nevertheless effective, methods that you can follow if you are set on clearing out junk from your home.
Take the Four Box Method, for instance. It’s as simple as it gets. Take four boxes, label them ‘put away’, ‘give away’, ‘throw away’, and ‘undecided’, and get cracking!
If your wardrobe is what’s giving you a headache, then try the Closet Hanger method popularised by Oprah. Hang all your clothes with the hanger facing the wrong way and when an item is worn hang it facing the right way. After a couple of months, it will become clear to you that there are some pieces of clothing that you haven’t touched at all.
There are many methods you can try but trying to arrive at a suitable one can be overwhelming with you not knowing where to start. Let us help.
Here are our top five tips to get you started with de-junking your home.
One item at a time
A lot of mess piles up because we see it as a big chore, which we don’t have time for. We also make the mistake of keeping aside one day to attack this task, which can be mentally and physically exhausting.
But how about if we break it up into smaller tasks?
Focusing on one section and one item at a time makes it seem so much more simpler. Does the kitchen seem like it’s closing in on you? Are the children’s toys threatening to pop out of that storage cabinet any minute? Tackle them one by one, and break it down further.
Take one toy a day that your children have outgrown out of the cabinet, and put it in a box for giving away. Take one set of plates out of your kitchen shelf and consider its usage. If you don’t use the stack every day, why not box them up and put it away in the attic? Doing these tasks every day for a few weeks will show you immediate results, which will encourage you to keep going.
Expand and utilise where possible
Ok, so you have organised your ‘throw’ items into multiple boxes and are left with only the ones to keep. But your kitchen still seems to be in disarray and your wardrobes too crowded. That’s probably because you still haven’t utilised all the space you have.
Consider wall space. For example, you cannot do away with big pots and pans in your kitchen completely, and they are notorious for being space-hungry.
The best way to free up some of that precious cabinet space is to hang big pots and pans on your walls. A simple rod with S-hooks will work wonders in your kitchen.
Use other empty spaces like the side of a fridge or the insides of doors to store small items in hanging cloth organisers or plastic trays. They may not be the best looking items, but they get the job done, and overall the area will look cleaner and more pleasing to the eye.
Asking key questions of yourself
As you begin sorting through your stuff, keep asking yourself some key questions. Distinguish between need and want, sentiment and function.
Do you really need that third pair of tongs? Do you want to hold on to a threadbare t-shirt because it reminds you of good times in college? It’s difficult to parse through memories and make a rational decision to throw much-loved items but asking the need vs want question will help immensely.
The new comes in only when the old goes out
Temptation comes in many forms, and one of the strongest is a sale. Who can resist getting a pair of the lightest Nikes for half the regular price? Well, resist you must for the sake of your already groaning shoe rack.
One of the thumb rules that must be set at the beginning of the decluttering process is that nothing new will come in until much of the old goes out. Ancient jeans that rest at the back of the closet in the hope of snugly fitting your waist again, faded shirts that are too short or too large now, and footwear that has been stowed away but hardly used are all prime candidates for the ‘give away’ or ‘throw away’ boxes.
The ample white space they leave behind will surely bring you peace. And the promise of new ones to come.
Deal with the task at hand completely
Very quickly into the process, we find ourselves sifting things into another pile, thinking, “I will deal with this later.” They could be books borrowed from friends, photos that need to be framed or appliances that need to be repaired.
Don’t sideline these tasks. Instead, deal with them instantly. Return the books to the friend the very same day or if that’s no longer a possibility donate them to the local library. Keep reminders to finish off the tail end of the de-junking process so that all tasks are done end-to-end and don’t need attention any more. This clears not just the physical space but your mindspace as well.
Successfully finished organising your house? Well done! Take a few moments to revel in that sense of accomplishment but also keep in mind that this is not a one-time job. What you did now is put a system in place, which will make periodical decluttering easier, and hopefully, less time consuming than before.
