DIY “Sort your life out”?

[DeclutteringNewbie]

“Stuff” has taken over our home. Have been watching Sort your life out (the Stacey Solomon show) with DH and DC, who are keen to do something like this.

Probably not feasible to hire a warehouse and removals but wondering if anyone has successfully broken it down into a workable DIY approach? Not sure whether to do it room
by room or item type (eg clothes, toys, bedding etc). Where to do it etc. I feel like once stuff is laid out it will be easy to sort, but the practicality of the clear space needed to look at stuff is challenging me. We have a decent sized living room so I guess we could move furniture out of the way and use that?

Grateful for any ideas/experiences.

Some rooms will be easier than others - some have become dumping grounds with doom boxes etc. Any thoughts on that?

Some rooms will be easier than others - some have become dumping grounds with doom boxes etc. Any thoughts on that?

Be brave and just bin the boxes without looking in them. If you don't know what is in them then it is not stuff that you need or that is important.

Maybe do it by room first and then go back around and then you can do a rough inventory of stuff, removing the duplicates across rooms.

For the doom boxes you could take them all out into the garden on a nice day, have a beer as you do it!

If you want to do the lay it out and look approach can you do a room at a time and lay it in the garden (if you have one) otherwise a skip.

I’ve done a room at a time and break it into sections

I have a new born and I’ve been slowly tackling it - I stick him in the sling and do a drawer at a time or a shelf at a time or a cupboard at a time

i empty the whole thing out and go through it have a charity bag, recycle bag and bin bag ready !

yesterday I managed to get my whole wardrobe done and I have an empty bottom drawer now I’ve got rid of so much!!

I think it would be quite fun to clear a space and spread out the room of doom!

We did this a few years ago! You need to do it by type not by room, in my experience.

What we did was pack things into boxes by type. Then we got each type of thing out and went through it. It meant living with boxes and looking like we were moving, but it made it loads easier to figure it all out.

Sounds abit daunting though!

I tend to break it down to drawers and cupboards which is better as I dont drive and have to load up my shopping trolley to take things to the charity shops!

It is very cathartic though to go through the house every couple of years and have a clear out.

My late husband was a hoarder. I had to sort out all of his stuff which had taken over every room in the house. I did it room by room. 1 because I found it easier rather than running around the house, and 2 because when I saw a room that had been cleared it gave me the impetus to carry on.

One room at a time works , though I did have an unused room (long story) to decant into. Wasn't as effective of course but predated the show.

Moving and downsizing was more effective!

Know what you are going to do with the stuff before you start. I have a declutter on a day/weekend I know I can go to the tip.
tip stuff - put it straight into bin bags/supermarket bags straight into the car.
charity shop stuff the same as above (we have a charity shop at the tip.
Vinted stuff I have a space in my living room for a couple of boxes.

if you don’t have a plan for where the stuff will go it’ll end up as a doom box and will still be clutter and add to stress.

I would start with either toys or clothes or I would do the easiest room or the living room (so you have a nice clear space).

good luck!

I have also given myself a time frame of by Christmas and try to break it down to a tip run/charity shop run every month. So it’s not too overwhelming

Have you read Marie Kondo? Decide on what is happening to each item, being undecided or not having a home for something is why we ask have so much clutter.

Start small. A drawer. Then the rest of the drawers. A cupboard. But just one. You need to feel successful and not just that you've made everything worse!!

Have a look at the charity collection called 'I collect clothes'. They pick up from your home and take more than just clothes including books, toys etc

Don't think you will sell stuff unless it's big like good quality furniture. Put a photo on Facebook marketplace and it either sells within a couple of days and someone collects and pays cash, or it goes to charity.

I’m a fan of the marie kondo approach- categories not room. The first one is clothes which you can all do individually- but gather everything from around the house. This is so you don’t go ‘I’ve got 3 coats which is fine’ because that’s what’s in your wardrobe but you’ve actually got another 2 in the car, one in the hall, one by back door etc.

What do you have a lot of? Books? Gather them all in living room and go through them together. Definitely have a plan for where they will go- boxes for donate and tip. And tidy up/put away after each category so you don’t end up in chaos worse than you started!

I would go and buy lots of boxes from a storage depot (same sizes so they stack) and empty out one room first (eg entire contents of one bedroom into another). Have 3 boxes running at one - charity, keep, dispose
Then put all the charity boxes straight into the car and take. Take the rubbish to the recycle depot. Then do the next room.

I'm trying to sort my house out too and love SYLO.
I'm focussing on systems. What do you use/ want where.

I'm also doing things by category. Gathered together all stationery- I was a bit shocked at how much!
And all diy stuff- so many screwdrivers sets! I must've been buying then as I could t find the previous set.

What's your biggest clutter problem? Toys might be good if your dc will be involved.

We had a teddy bear cull a while ago. I found that harder than the dc!

I would do:

Clothes - everyone who wears clothes and is old enough does their own clothes, coats, shoes and then they get put into their allocated spaces

Books - as above

Take clothes to clothing bank , you won't ebay, charity shops are a pita, just get rid

Books - find a local book bank

Then room by room. Start with the bathroom and downstairs loo then give them a good clean.

Start with the Room of Doom. Go through it and allocate where the stuff in it needs to go - give, keep, dump. Just sort through it like that. Don't worry about where the keep stuff is going, just leave it in the keep box.

Get rid of the dump and give boxes as they fill, so physically remove them from the house.

Do this for every room. When you get to the end, make sure that there is only one home for everything, so that when you put the things in the keep boxes away, there is no duplication or confusion where things go.

Set timers whilst you are doing it and have a cuppa or break regularly.

Use the same system for clutter / mess going forward, so have a quick whip round once a week picking up any strays. Better still is make sure everyone puts stuff away once they've used it. Bring in a one in, one out policy so that the level of stuff remains manageable.

I break down into bits within a room. So one unit/cupboard/drawer at a time. And have an exit strategy for everything you don’t want. So recycling bin, tip, charity shop. I like to do a quick clear in the morning then get rid in the afternoon etc so it’s gone straight away otherwise it doesn’t happen!

I usually set up zones and clear to those zones so for example dining room table for paperwork . Spare bed for clothes , floor in spare room toys , tools go on bench in utility and once things are in their sections sort out or chuck

I did. I was inspired and sorted out my wardrobe, donating a ton of clothes that a year later I realised I needed and I had to pay to replace.

And then she had children and reported her method was a load of rubbish for families and I donated the book. 😂

Marie kondo recommended similar by type - so not the whole house but all clothes into one room and tackle that, like their sections. Issue with that is you’d have to search rooms for the category.

id do a room at a time to start with but so important to know your exits!! Decide what’s going out of the house and immediately do it.