Your best decluttering tips?

[ladycarlotta]

My house is an absolute disgrace but not actually bad enough for Sort Your Life Out to be interested. So I have two options: sort my own life out, or fully give up until it becomes TV-worthy.

I can absolutely see that we have too much stuff, and that our home is never going to be clutter-free until the volume of stuff fits in the volume of storage we have. I want a house I can tidy and clean quickly each day, but the amount of crap we have makes it so hard - instead we end up doing a gigantic panicked full-house tidy every 2 weeks or so during which the crap just gets shoved into cupboards and not dealt with.

The penny recently dropped for me that there's no personal belonging I value over having a nice usable home for my family... I just don't know how to tackle it all. I've kicked the family out today so I can throw out DD's 7000 beanie babies make a start unmolested.

Please. Tidy people. Or people learning to be tidy. What's your best decluttering/organisational tip for me? I need some motivation!

Fab keep us updated

Start listening to A Slob Comes Clean podcast, a woman who floundered for years with too much stuff. Really helped me

When it comes to shoes, keep only wellies, flip-flops and walking boots. Jettison everything else.

A pp said have two bags - one for rubbish and the other for the charity shop. I recommend a third to go for recycling. As soon as a bag is full, put it in the bin or in your car, which gets it out of the house.

Don't you have trainers and going out shoes?

I work in Art Events and don't think any of these would be appropriate if I want to keep my job. 😆

Three bags/boxes - give away, throw away, put away. Be ruthless. I love getting rid of stuff but I also like having stuff, I just make sure I really like it. I must know where things are and can lay my hands on them if I want them, everything must have a place. For example, If I don’t know where the spare wrapping paper is and just buy more, I need to rethink that, get it all together and put it in one place.

I always find having adult company helps me not get overwhelmed when I'm cleaning or decluttering.

Also: see through storage, whether it's bags or plastic boxes makes locating your stuff and maintaining the system SO much easier.

If you've got time read Marie Kondo. She really gets the emotions that can be caught up in stuff. She also recommends starting with clothes which is the easiest stuff to sort through.

They mean for the next kid! I've just put a load of (good condition) trainers and jellies out on the wall, I'm not keeping those for 5 years.

I love to declutter!

Children's clothes - like others have said, assign a space/container (I would say plastic boxes with lids if you're putting them in the loft) and only keep expensive-to-buy stuff. Nothing improves over its time in storage, so be ruthless with the less than good condition stuff.

Your own stuff - assign a space for it, so a wardrobe and 4 drawers for all your clothes. Get rid of everything that doesn't fit in that space. Then operate a one in, one out system.

And to start, just ... start! When there's a whole house to do, it's so easy to procrastinate, trying to decide where to start. Go to a drawer, get everything out, and sort through it. Clutterbug on YouTube has some body doubling decluttering videos, which might be good to watch while you're doing it. Or have you got a friend who will come round and help?

It won't be done overnight, but everything that leaves your house is progress. Good luck!

You can't clean if it's not tidy.
If you haven't used it in 12 months then it can go.
When you open a cupboard, take absolutely everything out and don't put it back in unless you really want or need it.
If it's torn, dirty, missing parts etc then just bin it.

A tip for the 'should I keep this in case I need it sometime' stuff. Ask yourself:
if I needed this a year from now would I know I already had it? Would I know where to look for it? Could I easily replace it for less than £20?
I find this makes it much easier to decide what to keep.

There's a long standing decluttering thread on here which helps with motivation / accountability.
Some of us keep running totals of the number of things we get rid of. That helps me. I wanted to get rid of 2025 things this year. I'm at about 1700 so far

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/housekeeping/5210227-is-anyone-just-starting-to-declutter-or-hasnt-yet?page=18&reply=148064176

For beginners

It's overwhelming isn't it? Your home must feel like a warehouse.

I moved 3 times in 4 years and decluttered each time and I've still got too much stuff! It's a process which involves sorting out what you have and not bringing more in.

Too much stuff makes me anxious and all I want, like you, is an easy to clean home.

Eventually I'm having 2 cupboards with stuff in in the shower room and garage. So I've got a lot including all the stuff for renovations to go through.

Do you have a friend who could help? My friends and I try to help each other because we're not emotionally attached to the others possessions.

You can do it!

I used to really struggle with ‘just in case’ stuff, closely linked to ‘it was so expensive, I can’t be so wasteful as to get rid of it’ stuff.

I read something (probably on MN) that pointed out that the money has already been spent - so it’s either money I’ve spent on something that’s now going to charity, or it’s money I’ve spent on something that’s now cluttering my house. Either way, the money’s gone. If the thing is just expensive clutter now, then that’s a triple insult - not only did I spend money on something I don’t want/need, but now I’m forcing myself to look at it/trip over it/feel guilty about it every day, AND I’m not allowing someone else to use/love it. I can’t take back the fact that I spent the money! But I don’t have to torture myself by keeping the damn thing.

My other moment of clarity recently was that after I’ve decluttered an area, eg throwing out rubbish, charity shopping stuff I don’t use anymore, enjoying a bit of space - a couple of weeks later if I go back to the same area, I WILL discover more stuff that I actually don’t want or need. So do it all twice! The second time around is even more satisfying. Eg when I first did the cutlery drawer, I got rid of old candles, used-too-many-times bag ties, BBQ skewers that I knew I’d never use. When I went back to it, I was able to see that I didn’t really need 37 teaspoons 🫠🤣

I use the same process for each area of the house. Get three bin bags, I like clear so I can see what is inside:

1. vinted - make time separately to list everything- I made £200 recently from stuff I would usually send to charity
2. charity - put anything knackered or high streety in here
3. dump/bin - all absolute rubbish, toys with missing bits, broken electrical - drive them to the dump as soon as your done - drop charity bag off on your way.

Best to do it in chunks rather than challenge yourself to an entire house, if the house is large it will fell unmanageable. Use the process to analyse where you need additional storage and shop and purchase this as you do each room. Good luck OP!

Incomplete sets - so only three matching glasses - often appear in charity shops. That’s helped me make decisions this week.

Thanks so much for this! I'll check it out on my next break.

Thanks everyone for your support. I'm going great guns, have cleared 2 Corners of Doom and chucked out a bag of stuff left over from DD's 5th birthday, so it's been sat there doing nothing for 18 months.

Streamlined the kids' play kitchen as it's full of bizarre crap and half of them are choking hazards for my 1yo who's really the only one who plays with it now. I've stashed some of the good play cookware in the loft for when she's bigger.

Next I'm taking a bin bag to the bathroom and chucking out all the old toiletries I don't use.

Delete Mumsnet and just get started!

Pick a room, work for 20 mins. Go in with a black sack and a recycling bag and be prepared to lose 50 percent of stuff in area you are working in. Do this in same room everyday for a week. You will have cleared 1 room. I have a 1 in 1 out policy. If I buy a new baking tray for example 1 has to go. That way I only replace if I need to.

Can I just add if you start too many areas at once you won’t finish and it will cause more stress. Dp is v irritating this way I have to carrel him. So I will agree to pull everything out from the under stairs cupboards and declutter and clean and put it back. Half way through I will not agree to a chat about the junk in the dining room. It’s one project at a time!!

secondly getting the junk out of the house and to the tip/chazza is almost more important than the sorting - you have to track back from there - so before you start when are you going to the tip? Google the opening times and decide when you are going. Ideally in the next 24 hours! You don’t want bags by the door that people will start poking through again!!

alao plan what you are having for tea and whet time you need to stop for the day.

I use Anglo Doorstep Collections.
They pick up from your porch or doorstep and you don't even have to be in. They are very reliable and they take lots of things that chazza shops no longer want. They even take half used toiletries.

I’ve been decluttering for about a year in advance of downsizing, and I have gone through things again and got rid of more the second time around.

I have become far less sentimental and I’d give something away if it was going to be used rather than keep it just in case I might use it or I might get a few pounds for it on ebay or fb.

I love decluttering!

I set myself a timer: 6 or 12 mins depending on task (6mins for a drawer, 12 mins for a wardrobe) and tell myself I’ll do as much as possible in that time. Then I’m allowed a same length break. It keeps pressure on, keeps me motivated and genuinely I don’t think it slows the process.

unless you’re financially strapped taking the “I can obtain this again in the future” is the best model, bin or donate everything that is not in active use. Keeping stuff to sell/give away to specific people inevitably slows down process.

good luck!

Well done OP.

With the DC clothes I’d get of anything with a character on it - unlikely your younger DC will be into the same stuff in 5 years.

Some easy wins are the linen cupboard, bathroom and kitchen. Once they are decluttered and easy to keep tidy then you will have more time up your sleeve. I work on the kitchen while I am cooking dinner. Just keep a box handy to pop the stuff you never use into.

Also focus on reducing the amount of stuff that comes into the house. Christmas is coming up. Start thinking about who you buy for and who buys for your family. Maybe talk to them about stopping a present exchange. Reduce the amount you buy for your DC. Less plastic tat for stockings. No stockings for adults. Or else just consumables that will be used up in 6 months. Ask for vouchers to family activities not stuff.