Need a decluttering plan - please help!

[mindandsensespurified]

Every room of my house has clutter. Some rooms are worse than others - eg the garage and box room (aka junk room). But honestly it feels as though every shelf/drawer/cupboard is bursting at the seams and needs sorting through. From bent cutlery, to old toys, to unpaired socks, to old make up etc etc. I feel totally overwhelmed and don't know where to start.

I've been waiting for that mythical free block of time to blitz it but I've realised that - with limited annual leave and 2 young DC - that's basically never going to happen. I have 1 day a week off work with no kids and, amongst other commitments, I think I could do a 3h block of decluttering each week. Is that long enough to make a dent and if so where on earth should I start? I'm a huge procrastinator so could very easily waste the time if I'm not disciplined!

Thanks for any advice

I am in exactly the same boat. I'm trying to do 10 minutes decluttering a day.

For me, any big task has to be broken down into very small tasks. One drawer at a time type thing. Otherwise it's just completely overwhelming.

I am in the same position and have just bought the organised mum book to try and help me. I am about halfway through the book and need to do a 'de-cluttering boot camp'. I've decided to start and do one drawer at a time along with a usual clean of the room and see how I go. I'm then hoping I'll be able to see the wood for the trees and crack on with the bigger jobs. It is very overwhelming and I sympathise.

Yes this is doable.

We found a professional declutterer to motivate and manage the process, and she came once a month to help get the overwhelming tasks started, and she would set us "homework" of manageable bite-sized tasks to tackle on the weekends she wasn't with us. Gradually one room at a time over the last year the house has got better. It's not perfect yey but it's a lot better than it was.

You need Dana K White, AKA a slob comes clean. She has good books and a podcast. Made a huge difference to ours house and our lives. Good luck!

Ooh, 3 hours a week sans work and children is LOADS.

I am a ruthless declutterer – or about to be again, after a pregnancy/maternity leave buildup where it’s all gone chaotic.

Frankly, forget the methods and the Kondo and the Slob Comes Clean and the this and that. Just tip those drawers and cupboards into bin bags and pile it all in a skip. Find your passports and keys first, then just ditch everything.

If you’re not that brutal, the best thing is to decide what you want to keep: empty a cupboard and only put back what you want to keep. Waaaaaay better than trying to decide what to throw.

It's doable, but it won't be quick.
I do a thorough clean of the house once a week. Since the start of this year, I have added on that I go through one (yes, only one!) kitchen cupboard each time. It doesn't take long to deal with just one cupboard. Getting them all done won't happen any time soon (there's a utility room as well).
Empty everything out, decide what's staying and what's going (ie in the bin). It's not quick, but I am starting to feel more in control. What's left in the cupboards is much tidier and more accessible. I hate the cleaning, but am starting to look forward to sorting out just one cupboard each week!
We're vaguely hoping to move house later in the year/next year, and for me this way is preferable to doing a big blitz under pressure - I think I can only cope with so many decisions at a time.
Good luck.

My method is competitive decluttering. Hire a skip and race your neighbours to fill it up. 😀

Deadlines are, joking aside, your friend. Book a house clearing collection or hire man with van/ van for a few weeks hence. Now you either hit your target or waste your money. Treat housework like a job like any other and part of that is having a valuation of your own time. Also with 2 DC you NEED a strategy for removing decluttered items from house before they are reclaimed. I was hamstrung for years by the belief that I could or should give my kids outgrown stuff to charity. My youngest is now 10 and this is how long it’s taken me to get that charity shops don’t want the stuff and will actively throw barriers in the way of being given stuff until I take it away/ leave it in the car long enough for the kids to notice and reclaim it. If you don’t know someone to hand it on to, tip. Sounds harsh but the myth of re-use / repurposing is oddly no friend to budgeting or eco-politics, whichever your bag is. Finally ask yourself, if you are keeping things for‘memories’ is there a way of keeping the memories w
lumping the thing about? Eg sentimental clothes- memory quilt, photograph bulky toys, etc.
sometimes I wish someone would just attach a giant hoover to my house, suck everything out and I could start again so I sympathise

I like clutterbug and minimal mom on YouTube, follow the ADHD tips even if you don't have ADHD I find them useful for getting results when you have a young family.

Mine is a work in progress around toddlers and work, but I'm being diligent with it because the clutter adds to my mental load.

The minimal mom has a video about the power of 5 minutes.

But with what you've listed, seriously just get a bin bag and start throwing stuff away. Start with a drawer in your kitchen - anything broken, bent, unused goes in the bag.

If you really have got that much clutter then filling a bin bag a day won't involve too many difficult decisions for a while.

Then use the 3 hour chunks of time to tackle e.g. clothes.

Assuming your done with babies I'd start in the youngest child's room.

Start in the wardrobe, clearing out clothes , toys and and baby stuff you no longer need.

From bent cutlery, to old toys, to unpaired socks, to old make up etc etc. I feel totally overwhelmed and don't know where to start.

You just listed where to start, so do it. Anything broken, old and used, just get rid of it and stop overthinking. You haven't used it in years, you aren't ever going to use it again. Once you're rid of the stuff that's obvious rubbish, you can then tackle the rest.

Another one here to say you need "A Slob Comes Clean." Start with her podcasts, her YouTube lives, or her books. She has an amazing "no mess" decluttering method that REALLY helps when you don't have those big chunks of time.

It will get worse if you don't put 3 hours/week into it.
Most the methods mentioned here don't work for me, I hate to see stuff go to waste, so "put it all in the bin" horrifies me. I couldn't get motivated at all.

I'm better at thinking that "progress is better than regress" and just do what I can.

Whatever method you adopt, just crack on.

As a physicist, I approach this from the point of view of the 2nd law of thermodynamics - any system or process will descend towards chaos unless work is done to counter it.

IIt's not just about a finishable task of decluttering. A decluttered house rapidly becomes cluttered again if the family living there isn't working against that decay. Remember it's not your job to do this work, it needs to be ingrained in the default behaviour for every member of the family. You aren't their servant.

Yes

I have come to the realisation that the time will never come and I have to do what I can, when I can. Perfectionism is strong in me!

That's a really interesting perspective!

Unlike some others on here I have found taking things to charity shops helpful. I go almost every week with something, especially kids stuff. I’ve received letters telling me how much the shops made from my things - about £80 last year so not worthless to them.

I go on foot so just take a bag or two at a time, but with steadily doing that regularly it helps stay on top of things. I also sell heavy things on Facebook marketplace so people pick them up, or give them away on Freecycle. In three hours I’m sure you can get loads done!

One area at a time works best for me, so a cupboard or set of drawers. It might take a couple of days to do one whole room.
I have to mean it otherwise i end up with a "might need it one day" pile.
I also have to do it first thing because i lose momentum quickly.
Bin bag, charity shop bag/vinted and keep pile. Everything I keep needs a place to stay otherwise it becomes clutter very easily.
The bags then need to leave the house otherwise the contents will be pulled back into the clutter.

I'm going to check out the no mess declutter method too.

Call the british heart foundation house clearance service and book a collection. They take most things in good condition such as furniture.

Donate books & toys to your local playgroup. Put things at the end of your driveway for people to take for free. Bin anything broken or out of date or rubbish.

Come and join us - https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/housekeeping/5007135-decluttering-thread-7-as-the-days-lengthen-well-feel-more-motivated-to-declutter?page=1

The thread helps to keep me motivated.

Edited to add - just realised this is an old thread so you are probably already on there.

Yes 3 hours a week should make a decent dent, quickly.

For context, I started decluttering 6 years ago when we were about to move house. And I'm still going - and there's just 2 of us in a house that has never looked messy. It's insane how much 'stuff' you accumulate without realising.

I started with getting rid of cheap old clothes we'd been karting around since we were at Uni. I drove literally car loads of them to the tip/charity. Then DVDs and CDs, which I sold in bulk for about £10 for the lot 😭 Then books - I got rid of any crap chick lit novels, novelty books that you get as Christmas presents and so on. I halved our cookery book collection, just keeping the best ones which we actually use.

Then in the kitchen, I got rid of anything which doesn't work for our lifestyle. I'm never serving afternoon tea, so got rid of the tea pot, cake stand, cake plate, sugar bowl and so on. I'm never poaching a whole salmon, so out went the poaching tin. I kept one short vase and one tall vase - there's no need for any others.

Then you get on to focusing on a single cupboard in a weekend - such as the bathroom cupboard. You need to be brutal in thinking 'Will I ever use 6 different kinds of scented body lotion that I've received in Christmas gift sets?' If not, bin the lot.

It never ends. I now operate a one in one out policy. I get a new pair of shoes, I bin/donate an old pair. I own one scented candle and don't buy the next one until its gone and so on and so on.

3 hours is plenty each week. Start with a corner of a room or a few cupboards and drawers. Empty completely into a spare space (assuming you have a clear space somewhere in your house.)

I emptied my wardrobe yesterday on to our bed to sort out summer/winter clothes. I vacuum pack winter clothes in May (leave out a few pairs of jeans/trousers and just keep one fleece/hoodie and a couple of light jumpers) I send stuff I don't wear or doesn't fit to charity shops and am quite brutal if it hasn't been worn in the last six months. Summer clothes get vacuum packed in November after our winter holiday if we have one.

Yes, 3 hours a week is definitely enough to make a real dent, as long as you stay consistent and start small. Begin with a manageable area like one drawer or shelf, not the garage or junk room. Focus on sorting into keep, donate, recycle, and trash, and finish each session by clearing the space completely. Use a timer (like 25-minute blocks) to stay focused, and link your decluttering time to a regular routine so it becomes a habit. Don’t aim for perfection just progress. Small wins build momentum, and over time, even a cluttered home becomes manageable.