Step One: Analyse The Clutter
Begin by looking and assessing each room - one at a time. This can be daunting if you are surrounded by clutter, but persevere. It can help if you can understand the reasons *why* you are experiencing a clutter problem. This can be due to many factors such as family, time, over shopping, the list is endless - you need to see where the problems are and work on fixing them.
To start this exercise, use a notebook and write down the problem areas in each room. For instance, if your wardrobe and clothes drawers are overflowing - perhaps you need to reassess your wardrobe all together; you have magazines piled high under the coffee table - why are you holding onto these?. While you are doing this exercise, it is important not to forget areas such as the garage, the dreaded junk drawer, and any areas that are out of sight.
Step Two: Create A Plan
Once you have discovered where the main areas are that so cluttered, it is time to find solutions for each area. Address each area separately and create a plan that will help you tackle sorting through the clutter (what to keep and what should go), cleaning the space, what tools or storage items you will need, reorganising the space and most importantly - how to keep that space clean and organised. Solutions are easy - you can donate unwanted items to charity, sell them on ebay or dispose and you can purchase additional perhaps more efficient storage solutions.
Plan how you are going to store things - do you need containers, hooks, shelves, labels? Most importantly - are these storage systems going to be practical. If you are finding this difficult - a Professional Organiser can always assist you.
Find the best solution to the clutter/organising problems that annoy you the most. Research on the internet, ask friends about their suggestions - the most important system to implement however, is a system that is going to work for you and the people who use it.
Step Three: Put your plan into action!
Unless you have a very large amount of time spare, de-cluttering and reorganising is going to take time! The best way to tackle this is to perhaps allocate a few hours a day if you can spare it, or even a week to work on getting rid of the clutter and reorganising your spaces.
You might even like to plan a weekend where you can enlist the help of your family - more hands, less work.
With any big task however, it is advisable to break that task into smaller chunks - you will get through it quicker and retain your motivation.
Step Four: Maintenance
Once you have de-cluttered and reorganised your home - allocate an amount of time per day/week to maintain it. Taking five or ten minutes a day to put things away, quickly dust, wipe down surfaces will leave you more time on the weekend to enjoy your life instead of being bogged down with household chores. Now is the time to develop good habits when it comes to clutter - be ruthless.
You may find that certain systems/storage ideas don't in fact work - now is a fantastic time to change this to something that does work.
Good luck!
We would love to hear from you - share your experiences with de-cluttering, what worked for you and what didn't...
Posts
