Quick Tips to Declutter Your Home

If you’re overwhelmed with mess at home, it might be time to do some decluttering.

Children having a pillow fight

The idea of living simply might sound appealing, but the reality is that to get to ‘simple’, you have to make some big changes.

Those changes don’t have to be scary; rather, learning how to declutter your home – and your life – should be a rewarding, refreshing experience that will make you feel happy to come home every day.

If you’re struggling to enjoy your home because it’s always messy, this could be a sign that you have too many possessions.

Do you really need everything in your home?

Would you miss certain items if they were gone?

Here are our top tips to streamline your decluttering efforts.

Why should I declutter my home?

There are many advantages to clearing out your home and choosing to live with fewer possessions.

For example:

You’ll have less mess to clean;
Everything in your home will have a place;
You will be less stressed (about the mess!); and
You could even make some money selling your surplus items.

So, how do you go about decluttering your home?

Here are some tips to get you started.

Take before and after photos

To help keep you motivated, start by taking before shots of your home as it is.

To properly declutter your home, it may take a long time, so having before-and-after photos will help you to keep the project moving forward.

Start small and slow

You’re decluttering to make your life better – so it shouldn’t be a painful experience for you.

If you’re new to decluttering, start slowly with just five minutes a day. Definitely don’t expect to have it all done in an hour.

Give one item away each day

Again, we’re starting small and slow.

Instead of pulling out the contents of entire wardrobes and drawers, just find one thing every day to get rid of.

It could be the griddle frying pan that you swore you would use … three years ago!

It might be an old cardigan that doesn’t suit you anymore.

Just think, if you get rid of one item every day for a year, that’s 365 useless possessions gone in a year – that’s an incredible achievement!

Fill an entire garbage bag

If you’re feeling a little more motivated and confident about decluttering, take one large garbage bag and fill it to the brim with items that you no longer need or want.

If these items are still in good condition, take them straight to your local op shop so that you can’t change your mind.

Otherwise, it’s a good idea to do this the day you put out the wheelie bins for collection, so that it’ll be gone the next morning and you won’t have a chance to rethink your decisions.

Folding clothes

Donate clothes you never wear

Turn your decluttering spree into a good cause to keep you feeling good.

You can take your old clothes to an op shop or hand them over to family and friends.

To help you decide which clothes to remove, try and remember the last time you wore each item.

If it’s been more than a year, it’s time to go!

View your home as a first-time visitor

When you live with clutter for so long, it’s easy to stop seeing the mess and to grow accustomed to your spaces.

Try to look at your home from an outsider’s point of view to see the items that don’t belong or that could be culled.

Ask a friend for help

It can be hard to let go of items that have been in your home for a long time.

Find a friend who knows you well to go through your house and make suggestions about things you might no longer need.

This might help you to see things from another perspective.

Put it in storage

You may be having a hard time letting go of certain items in your home, whether for sentimental or practical reasons.

If you start feeling overwhelmed by all the changes, that can be a significant deterrent in continuing with the decluttering process, so it may be time to take the pressure off yourself.

Instead of throwing items away, put them in storage for a while.

Go through each room carefully and box up anything not essential to your decor and daily life.

Take these boxes away to a storage facility, so they’re out of the house but not lost to you.

Over the next few months, you’ll start to see what you genuinely miss having in your life and what you can easily do without.

When you’re ready, those are the items you can either donate or throw away.

Go all out

Maybe you’re ready to really get into decluttering. That’s great!

In that case, hire a skip bin and make a weekend of it.

Spend two days focusing all your energy on removing everything unwanted from your home, throwing useless items in the skip bin and donating the rest to charity.

By doing it all in one go, you’ll be able to start fresh in no time at all.

Reward yourself

If you’ve lived with clutter for years, coming to the finishing line (no matter how long it took you) is a considerable achievement.

You’ve earned a reward for all your hard work!

Take a day off and organise for a cleaning crew to come through and scrub your newly decluttered home to a shine!

Get your carpets professionally steam cleaned to release years of trapped dust and grime, and get a window cleaner in to remove the cobwebs and debris.

By the end of the day, your home will be like new, and you’ll be motivated to keep clutter out of your home for good.

No matter where you start, the most critical step is the first one – getting started.

It may take you a long time to completely declutter your home, but you’ll soon come to realise how much simpler life is when you can come home every day to a clean house where everything has a purpose and a place.

Are you ready to start decluttering your home?

If you would like a free quote on any cleaning services listed above, contact Jim’s Group on 13 15 46.

To enquire about skip bin hire, visit Jim’s Skip Bins for more information.