I am currently de-cluttering my newly renovated home? Is there a easy way to declutter?

Question

I have been going through a box each day and deciding what to keep & what to discard. I can see small progress. Is there a simpler way???

Answer 1

This is an excellent way. This is nibbling it away, as opposed to a full on blitz of the space which can be overwhelming and tear up the rest of the house in the meantime. Remember life doesn't come with a team of helpers like they do on the TV shows. It seems more realistic to nibble because people only have so much time to devote to it.

Some strategies for nibbling:

It can be any limited area, not just a box. It could be a drawer, a storage piece, a shelf, a closet, a section of room, a pile...

If you know where most of your clutter collections are, that is the stuff that accumulates fast, you can choose to declutter those first instead of a certain place in the house. Collections tend to be in pockets of space but also sprinkled around everything else. SO gather them up, ignoring everything else, then weed it out, remove the clutter from the space. Clean up an area for the collection to go, and from now on the only thing that lives there is that collection. You might do this for media, books, computer gear, games, kitchen gear, toys, clothing, and such. This can make a big dent fast.

Like collections, there also tend to be clutter hotspots in the house and often reflect your traffic patterns and daily habits where things just dump there because you are passing by and it is available place to put stuff. You can either break the habit, go with the habit, or some combination of the two (my personal fav). The reason I say that, is because many times the reason a hotspot is a hotspot is because it is handy. WHY can't organizing be easy? All you have to do is set up systems to keep the clutter flowing through the space instead of landing there to live.

What to do with the stuff you have gotten through? Well, when you clear a space, you need to treat that space differently than you used to, or else it will be messed up again as you focus somewhere else. Commit to the places you have cleaned out by keeping things there ONLY if you have decided it is a logical home. It may also be that you don't have see long term results for a while. If it is stuff that isn't used everyday but keeping, maybe just box it up and stack boxes in a corner while you keep going through it. (because the home you have in mind may not be ready to accept it yet, and you don't want to set up a series of distractions where you never finish anything).

What you do want to remember is that to solve surface clutter problems, you have to free up space to put away. So just clearing the surfaces will not help. It will re-accumulate because it is just human nature that we drop stuff when we are done with it...meaning that surface clutter is often the daily used items and NOT the problem. The real culprit is the stuff hidden behind doors and cabinets that is buried and not used. SO most of your items that leave the house will be in deeper recesses of storage. As these places get unveiled, you have more places to put the daily used items, giving you back a clear surface.

Answer 2

How much do you have? If there's a lot, I would do a room a day, but don't bring stuff from a room you didn't do into one you're finished with unless your 100% sure you want to keep it! If there is a reasonable amount, I would do it all in one day. Like this you are not tempted to spread it over such a long time period, that you will just get new clutter! I would look at everything and think if I had used it in a while or what value it has to me. If you can't think of anything: bin it! If it's important to you, keep it! Like this you can probably get rid of many things. I recently got rid of a load that my friends and family bought me for birthdays and Christmases. Just little things that nobody ever uses. You won't believe how much rubbish I had within a few hours! Good luck anyway! liz

Answer 3

De-cluttering can be tedious, boring and time consuming and how long the process takes depends on how easy or hard it is for you to get rid of times that add no real value or function to you or your home. If you have a reason for why you are holding a broken item instead of tossing it than it will be harder for you than someone who can make a decision within seconds upon looking at an item. I always recommend that yiu start small and work up your way up to ensure you don't get burned out fast or overwhelmed. Sometimes it's more helpful to hire an Orgsnzizer who can come in and hold you accountable during the process.
www.getorganized.info

Answer 4

Here's the universal truth: most of the stuff we hold on to is junk which we'll never miss. Instead of sweating over each item, pick out a few things that you definitely want to keep then throw out all the rest of the stuff. It will be liberating! If you want more information go to www.napo.com to learn more. You can do it and change you're life!!

best answer please!

Answer 5

Most house cleaning shows say : if it isnt used within 6 months, get rid of it.
I understand how hard it is to get rid of stuff, y hate to throw it out or sell it, then like a month or weeks down the road it turns out y need it.
When i moved from a rental place to my current home, i gave away ( set out front for free) a whole bunch of stuff- and within a month or so after moving, turns out i couldve used a few of those things i gave away.

Answer 6

Is it useful or nice to look at?Those are the only two questions to ask. If you end up with too many ornaments, say, then you then decide which you are going to keep - put the remainder in storage or sell them on e-bay.

Answer 7

Whatever you need because you won't be able to survive without it, keep it. Everything else, discard.

Answer 8

From a tv show I watched...

Take EVERYTHING out of the room.

Put back only what you have to.