Handy tips for decluttering your home – by Sonia Bostock
Feeling overwhelmed by the constant mess and needing to spend all weekend cleaning, I decided I needed to make a change. Knowing I had time off when changing jobs, I committed to myself that I was going to do a deep dive, all in, nothing is safe, declutter of our entire house.
It has been the absolute best investment of my time and money. I have noticed improvements with my mental health, patience with my children, and an increase in my ability to relax and enjoy my home. After all, our homes are meant to be our safe havens, not the cause of ongoing stress, due to physical and mental clutter. Keep reading for my top tips on decluttering and how I achieved (and maintained) my goal!
- Accept the process – I knew realistically I needed to accept the mess associated with the process and that it was going to get worse before it got better. Breathe through it and remind yourself it is worth it in the end. Come up with your own mantra if you need to. Dory’s “just keep swimming” works a treat!
- One step at a time – I committed to one area at a time and allowed myself enough time to get it done before moving on to the next area.
- Labelling – I reused storage containers I had around the house from my previous organisation attempts, and purchased more containers so everything is “contained” in a specific spot. EVERYTHING (almost) is LABELLED – the front of containers, the spots in clothes draws for the different items, etc. I highly recommend investing in a labeller from office works (but post-it-notes and sticky tape will do the job!). Labelling keeps us accountable to putting things back in the right spot, and lessens the cognitive load when putting things away. Bonus tip for kid’s toys – if they can’t read, put pictures on the front of the container e.g., picture of Bluey for the Bluey figurines.
- Sentimental items – Only keep things you don’t use that are of extreme sentimental value. This can be tricky for some people so consider having someone support you through the process if needed. Often, we are the ones best placed to make the decisions though.
- Piles – Create “keep”, “donate”, “throw out” piles – label them too so you don’t get confused and need to re-sort. I also used different coloured bags e.g., black garbage bags for rubbish and yellow/white garbage bags for donations. Put the stuff from the “throw out pile” out of sight (especially from children, they are like little seagulls – “that’s mine, mine, mine” when it comes to the random broken Kinder Surprise toy on top of the bag). I used the side of my house, that way I couldn’t go back and change my mind walking past it and didn’t have the kids rifling through it.
- Cull until it fits – When trying to narrow items down, my weakness was my mugs. My trick was to do a quick sort without thinking too much to weed out the ones that I was confident about getting rid of. Then I put aside the ones I was 100% confident I wanted to keep. After that, I asked myself the value and meaning of each item in the remaining pile, and culled them until they fit nicely on the shelf. I went from two full shelves stacked 2 high of mugs to one shelf, no stacking and I don’t miss any of them 10 months on!
- Memory boxes – Aside from how visually pleasing my spaces look, my absolute favourite part was creating memory boxes for my kids (and for myself and my husband), for things that no longer needed to be in their bedrooms or on display. Each child has 1 huge plastic tub for the sentimental items, leaving space for the developmentally appropriate items and toys. Going through the boxes and talking about all the things in them with my kids was super fun and they love knowing all their precious memories are safe in one spot.
- Share with others – I have lost both of my parents so over time I had accumulated a lot of stuff, some sentimental and some not. Rather than keeping every sentimental item, I chose the ones I 100% wanted for myself, that I was willing to have on display or put into my memory boxes. Then I made little piles of things that I thought suited family members and posted them off. I didn’t ask them if they wanted them – I just sent them for them to keep, or discard if they didn’t want them. All packages were well received, however this might not be something that works for everyone. I also asked my aunty to make a quilt with clothing fabric, it’s beautiful and now a treasured memory. Of the 10+ reading glasses that I had, I kept 2 pairs and these sit on the corner of the photo frames in my childrens bedrooms to remember my mother’s love of books. Having these sentimental touches around my house allowed me to get rid of the other “stuff” that I just didn’t need.
- Professional assistance – I was fortunate enough to be able to hire professional help for some of the process. I highly recommend it if you can – it’s definitely worth the investment. You become so much more conscious about what you are bringing into your home. I didn’t buy clothes for months and when I did it was for a change of season – and because I was now aware of how much my children had in their current sizes. Professionals will give you great tips to get you started and show you what is needed to make your decluttering sustainable, provide accountability and support during the highs and lows that can come with deep dive decluttering. They also know where to donate certain goods for sustainability for the planet and some will even take away your donations so you don’t have to do it. Winning!!
- Be kind to yourself – I recommend you take the time to admire your work and give yourself praise for your efforts. Allow yourself grace for when you don’t get as much done as you wanted, know that 5 minutes here and there adds up. Doing a single drawer is still productive and worthwhile. Take before and after photos! These serve as reminders of what you don’t want to go back to and shows you your results and what you need to do to reset down the track.
- Regular resets – To maintain my hard work I do regular resets to help me stay on top of decluttering long term. When the season changed, I whipped through my clothing again, it was so much faster and I was able to get rid of some items I had kept but realised I wasn’t wearing. I reset high priority areas that can more easily drop in standard like the pantry and kids toys – labelling REALLY helps reduce the need for this though and I am talking literally 3-5 minutes to reset my pantry for example.
We cannot wait for the motivation to come along to declutter. We just need to start. Begin with 5 minutes and you might surprise yourself. There were many times I didn’t feel like doing it, but I decided where to start and off I went, even in my PJ’s sometimes. Of all the stuff that is now gone from my house, there is not one thing that I miss or have regretted. I did find 26.5 pairs of scissors though, yes, I was keeping a pair with no handles! I wonder how many pairs of scissors you will find in your house?
If you believe you may be suffering from an undiagnosed hoarding disorder I recommend seeking psychological assistance. Seeking support from a psychologist can also be useful for addressing any other underlying issues that may be contributing such as depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, burnout or a general sense of overwhelm.
Read more about Sonia Bostock here.
You can make an appointment to see Sonia by clicking here or calling us on 0738801649.
(Blog by Sonia Bostock; Psychologist at Scarborough Physio and Health)