Your top, ruthless decluttering tips

[december2020]

We're currently planning to renovate the upstairs bedrooms and having a bit of a full house decluttering purge (probably due to expecting our first child so full nesting mode has been activated).

Please help me with your best tips and tricks to make it "bite sized", manageable and to be absolutely ruthless,

I keep staring at it all and need to kick my arse into gear now!

I spent a few hours watching Marie Kondo on Netflix last week (which was my way of avoiding doing any work) and then felt suitably motivated to tackle the mountains of shite upstairs rooms.
She is slightly bonkers but she made me feel better about chucking away stuff that I had bought and not really worn or used. The guilt often made chucking stuff difficult and her methods really worked for me.

Don't think about whether it cost money so you feel you should keep it. If you don't use it then get rid. It's taking up space.

Also if you're unsure about whether to keep something just in case because you need it occasionally then get rid of it if you can easily source another should the need arrive.

Don’t look at your stuff and decide what to get rid of, look it and decide what to keep.

Put 30 mins on your timer and just focus on one corner. Have a break and repeat. Bite size is more manageable.

If you decide you need to get rid of something but feel you have an emotional attachment to it, take a photo of it so that you have a visual memory of it.

YY to watching a few episodes of Marie Kondo!
Ironically I bought her book and haven't read it, so it's now cluttering up my bookshelf

Excellent idea to declutter before first baby arrives, btw. We did a bit but nowhere near enough. And didn't learn our lesson, either... we are now trying to declutter before DC2 arrives while I'm heavily pregnant and we have a 3yo wanting to "help"! 🤦🏻‍♀️

Anything you think you don't want, put it in a box. At the end of the year, if you never took it out the box, throw it.

Personally I find it less overwhelming in bite size chunks, not just one room at a time but even one piece of furniture at a time (ie clear out one cupboard or chest of drawers or shelving unit).

Investigate Marie Kondo method

Get some of those big blue ikea bags. Go into 1 room and empty everything onto the bed / floor.
1 bag for the tip, 1 for charity shops, 1 for keeping. If it’s a bedroom, rehang all the keeping clothes immediately. If you can’t remember when you last wore something, get rid. Put charity/tip bags in car immediately. Clean and tidy that room.
Repeat in other rooms in turn.

The outbox system works really well if you have a garage/attic or similar where you can leave stuff out of sight. I used to have a weird basement room off my garden which had no real function which I used to store bags and boxes of stuff to donate, I’d wait a month or two and then clear it all. Now I’m much more ruthless and just chuck stuff as I’ve realised even if I miss it I can usually buy another one, and actually I’ve never missed anything much, probably out of 40-50 bags to charity I’ve missed 3 or 4 items (usually books!) which were easily picked up again.

This is amazing!! Thank you everyone! I'm actually getting super excited now just to purge all the crap that's been sitting around the house! Corner by corner, room by room!

Also any recommendations for storage containers of different sizes for things you need to keep but organise? Things like plug adaptors, paper work, stationary, sunglasses,etc?

I've spent ages looking for "storage boxes" and everything looks a bit crap like it'll fall apart (like the gamble of amazon) or really impractical ?

Yeah, decide what to keep. This is how I did it when we had a downsizing house move.

Imagine you are kitting out a new house and select only the things you need - 3 towel sets that match, 3 sets bedlinen, 4 pillows, 8 plates, 2 casserole dishes etc. 10 tea towels. 8 bags for life. Choose the best/favourite of each.

Everything else is surplus. Doesn't matter how nice/expensive/sentimental/useful they are. You Don't Need Them. You Already Have Enough. Someone Else Can Use Them.

Allow yourself one archive type box for sentimental bits and papers but dispose of the rest.

Can't beat Ikea for storage. Have yourself some storage areas in the hall/kitchen etc for those miscellaneous things. An ikea office type (Alex) drawer unit is useful for stationery and paperwork. But still apply the keep only what is necessary rule.

Another tip, based on your last post,
Don't buy storage containers until you have finished decluttering, otherwise you will still have clutter that is just more organised in boxes! Get rid first, then you may not need as many organisers.
Personally, I like the shop 'The Range' for larger clear plastic boxes, or smaller prettier coloured ones, they do a lot of different types.

(In store rather than online though)

Lakeland and John Lewis have good quality storage stuff.

This is amazing! Thank you everyone! I'm already deciding my first item to tackle and declutter today after work!

🥳🥳
Yes, this genuinely makes me happy!

My best tip is to move country every couple of years! Bit unfeasible for most...
Before we move we ask ourselves is it worth the money to move it.
Sometimes stuff slips through the cracks and we do a second round when unpacking.

Listen to this book whilst you do it.

You are forbidden from buying storage containers until you have got rid of (as in gone in bin or to charity shop) 6 bags of stuff

Ok so a really ruthless tip is to get rid of the storage as well. Our playroom has a 5x5 Kallax and 2 lots of 4x2. We have got rid of one of the 4 x 2 and we are now paring down to get rid of the 5x5.

I think I've even managed to get my husband (the hoarder of us two) exciting for a bit of purging!
This is a first!

Start with something manageable, like your sock drawer or the airing cupboard.

Do not buy any storage, although I like those foldable drawer boxes from ikea - skubb.

Have a place for everything to go.

Agree with others - storage can be your friend but also your enemy! I used to think I needed some really great storage solutions.. actually I just needed to get rid of 50% of what I owned!

I do have a couple of little baskets and pots for miscellaneous items. But the miscellaneous things all have a purpose and a place. We did a lot of decluttering before our baby arrived. He's now almost 2 and I've never really stopped. It makes life so much easier, the less crap you have!