Declutter Your Space in 5 Simple Steps

Don’t let your decluttering deadline sneak up on you. Use these five simple steps to get a jumpstart on your journey to an organized home. Knowing where to start is key in this process, so you can prepare to toss out your excuses along with the clutter. This is what we think is the best strategy to prepare yourself for widespread decluttering.  Now, you can prepare to declutter your space!

How to Declutter Your Space

Plan

This is the first step to any large project and is paramount to success. That being said, it’s important to start early and give yourself plenty of time. Use the planning stage to go through each room, set a realistic deadline for the space and make sure to work around other obligations in your life. It will likely take you a couple weeks to a month to properly declutter and downsize your house, especially if you are planning on moving to a smaller home. If you aren’t rushed, you’ll find downsizing to be much less stressful.

Make a List of Things You’ll Need

Before you begin, you will want to make sure you have all the supplies you’ll need to start decluttering your home.

• Boxes of different sizes for storing what you no longer need.
• Packing tape and regular tape for putting boxes together.
• Newspaper or bubble wrap for storing items.
• Large strong trash bags for clothes or throwing things away.
• Post-it notes for designating to whom the boxes are going.
• Blank paper (ruled paper is good to have – think lists)
• Good markers (like a Sharpie) for labeling if necessary. 

Deal With Other People’s Stuff First

Do you still have belongings from your adult children taking up space in your home? Deal with that first. As it turns out, liberating yourself of other people’s things is a lot easier than going through your own first. So, call the kids and ask them if they are interested in picking up their stuff or if they don’t mind if you discard it. Set a date if they choose to pick it up and let them clear out some space for you. If you want to make the process a little faster, you can pack their things up in boxes. If they’re ok with you discarding them, then box them up and take them to a donation center. The goal is to avoid spending too much time sorting through these items. Get them out of your house as fast as possible.

Declutter Your Most Dreaded Spaces

There is probably an area of your home that always collects clutter, more than most spaces. Focus on the gratification you’ll feel when you’ve conquered this space and use that momentum to carry you through. Plan for the required amount of time (a day or maybe five, however much you need).

Maximize Vertical Space

This seems like an obvious solution once you think of it, but you would be surprised how often people leave their vertical spaces barren. The most obvious use of this space is shelving because, let’s be honest, you will need the storage. A simple solution is to install floor-to-ceiling shelves and keep the items easy to access and don’t tuck things behind other items. Then, you can use baskets and bins for extra organization using bins or containers to keep things neat and organized.

Now that you know how to tackle your cluttered spaces, it’s time to get cleaning! For a complete guide to Unlock the Power to Declutter, click here.