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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Decluttering drive

2 replies

Upsideyourhead · 18/02/2026 12:33

I've been decluttering for a couple of weeks now, and sometimes I look at a part of my house that's clear and just feel a burst of happiness. Does anyone else get this?

Things I've done that bring me a ton of joy:

  1. I completely cleared the kitchen counters. I started with the pile of papers that were left out so I'd deal with them, but instead they merged together so I barely dealt with any of them. I slowely dealt with all of it, then never left it rebuild (I deal with things on a daily basis now). Then I became a bit hooked! I've since cleared our "junk" drawer, and then put all the wooden/serving spoons, etc, from the counters into that drawer. I put the olive oil, salt & pepper, etc, in a drawer right by the oven. Donated all but four of our most used pans. The only things on the counter now are a utensil caddy (the dishrack has gone!) and the kettle. The toaster has even been put in a drawer on a tray, so it's very easy to pull out (I had to demonstrate this for dh, to get him on board, and it took 8 seconds).
  2. Chucked a load of condimonts in our fridge (things like quince jelly!). There are now just a few in our door and there's a whole half a shelf that has been freed up. It looks so much clearer and cleaner - and indeed is so much easier to clean.
  3. Moved my dishes to drawers and food to cupboards. This makes so much sense, I can't believe I didn't do it sooner: taking plates from drawers is much easier than high cupboards, and having our pasta jars, etc, in wall cupboards makes them much easier to see and stock up on.

Interested to know of other things people have decluttered!

I realise this isn't for everyone (I have some maximalist friends who I can't mention this stuff too without them recoiling 😅), so if it's not your bag please just move on. I was hoping there'd be a minimalist board on here, but couldn't find one... although, with young kids, I'm a long way off that.

OP posts:
LifeIsGreatForUnicorns · 18/02/2026 15:48

This is my dream … but I just never seem to find the time 😢

TadpolesInPool · 18/02/2026 16:25

I started decluttering on and off in 2016. What made the biggest difference from 2021 was not decluttering but aiming for minimalism.

It made life SO much simpler when I wasn't constantly impulse buying a solution, which in reality just gave me more work: time spent looking up the best XYZ, then ordering it, then collecting the parcel. Leaving the parcel lying around for days until I found time to open it. Having to get rid of the box and packaging. Then finding somewhere to store the new item. Or worse, sending the item back and all the associated work.

I just stopped buying. And continued decluttering. It's amazing how little you actually need.

We haven't gone for minimalist decoration. But we only buy paintings or put up photos that we both love.

I have gone for minimalist clothes for myself and the DC and it's great. They get to choose clothes they love and enjoy wearing and their drawers aren't crammed full of things they never wear.

I've pared down the kitchen to things we use every week. My mum visited over Christmas and said she loved how easy it was to get plates and saucepans out cos they werent in massive piles or under other things.

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