How to declutter your home in a day
Four professional organisers share their secrets for decluttering your home in hours, not weeks.
A thorough declutter is the best way to instantly refresh your home, so to help make the process easier, we’ve pulled together our essential guide on how to declutter your home in a day.
Do you ever look around your home and feel totally overwhelmed by the clutter surrounding you? Are you guilty of stashing said clutter away, promising yourself you’ll tackle it another day?
Knowing where to start can be the hardest part of decluttering and organising your home. To help inspire you, we called on four professional organisers to share their top tips for getting sorted in a matter of hours, not weeks (or months!).
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Pre-game plan
- Have an exit strategy: know how you’re going to move stuff out of the house, and where it’s going. Set up a box or basket for each destination to streamline the end process. If you’re choosing to donate preloved items to charity, make sure the items are in reasonable shape to be sold on.
- Allow yourself a moment to sit in the middle of each room and visualise the finished look.
- Take stock of available storage – how you can best use what you already have and whether you need extra.
- Have one “maybe” box for items you’re torn over – a single tub to sort later is better than hours of indecision.
- You won’t finish every room, but these are things our experts say make the biggest difference in a short time.
- Reconsider the layout, styling and colour choices in your home. Sometime the [design of your home](https://www.homestolove.com.au/8-design-mistakes-that-make-your-home-look-cluttered-6610https://www.homestolove.com.au/8-design-mistakes-that-make-your-home-look-cluttered-6610 can contribute to the cluttered feeling.
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KITCHEN
- When organising your kitchen, start with cupboards and drawers. You don’t need that chipped crockery. No. You don’t.
- Apply the six-month rule to gadgets and tools: have you used it in the last six months? Will you use it in the next six?
- Clear the benches, apply the same six-month rule and either store items immediately, or discard.
- To tackle the “plastics” drawer – breathe – and slot them all into each other. Try using a saucepan lid organiser (Ikea has one) to keep lids stacked. This also works for chopping boards and breadboards.
- Random tea towel problem? Add hooks to the side of a cupboard.
- In the pantry, check use-by dates, wipe shelves, use containers or trays to group like items, restock containers and arrange them and cans so labels face forward – if you can’t see it, it won’t get used.
- Create a dedicated zone for all your life admin, like an organisational board or file for bills, school notes and other bits of paper. You’ll need it!
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Living Room
- Identify your “worst offender” – the one you just can’t contain. Whether it’s books, knick-knacks or games, edit and cull ruthlessly.
- Assign an amount of space to your problem item and, once you’ve filled it with your favourites, dispose of the rest.
- Get rid of outdated technology, broken remote controls, games missing bits etc.
- Have a cord kit, or some pull ties, on hand to tidy and restrain electrical cords. Find a nice bowl in which to corral remote controls.
- Strip stained or shabby cushions; if the covers can’t be refreshed with a wash, you’re better off without them.
- Keep magazines and extra throws tidy but visible in a lovely basket.
- Messy shelves? Neaten up the contents of any display units for an instant and big difference.
- Add the finishing touch – fragrant fresh flowers or a diffuser.
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Wardrobes
- Clothes everywhere… nothing to wear? Organise your wardrobe by breaking it down into segments – work, exercise, sleep, etc – and keep your favourite outfits for each most visible.
- If it doesn’t fit /suit you, or you never wear it, bin it (unless it’s your wedding dress). If you don’t feel good when you put it on, it’s out.
- If it’s stained, torn or hopelessly worn, it’s toast. Be ruthless.
- Put never-worn and high-quality items to one side to sell.
- Check the pockets of anything you’re chucking before you bag it.
- Assess if you need dividers or other inserts before you declutter drawers. They’ll help to keep you on the straight and narrow. Or try organising guru Marie Kondo’s rolling method.
- Attach hooks or racks inside doors for jewellery, scarves and hats. If you have extra shelf space, its worth investing in storage containers to keep your jewellery organised.
- If you are bursting at the seams consider under-bed storage – there are so many affordable options.
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Bathroom
- Go through cupboards and drawers for old products – hotel sachets circa 2000 need to go, now. Old make-up and scents also go off. So make sure you get rid of them while you’re organising your vanity.
- Put any brushes in a cleaning solution to soak when you start the room, then rinse and leave to dry when you’re done.
- If your drawers have bottles, tins and dried-up mascara wands rolling around in them, cull and re-store in shallow baskets.
- Your favourite shampoo may be on special, but do you really have room for 10 of them?
- Old medications are a common clutter culprit; never argue with an expiry date or broken blister pack. Dispose of according to the label.
- Seriously short on bathroom storage? Buy a small tiered trolley or stand.
- If you do nothing else, fold or roll your towels up… nicely.
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Home office
- If you need storage for your home office, make it separate to daily life admin.
- Don’t operate on instinct; before you tackle paperwork, check how long you actually have to keep it, as you may find you can cull years’ worth (for tax return documents it’s five years).
- Bin all broken items, from tech to pens. Check your local council website for e-waste disposal guidelines and collection dates.
- Kids’ art and memorabilia tends to congregate here; fill one box or file per child, close your eyes and chuck the rest.
- Have one basket for unopened mail, one for bills to be paid and one for filing.
- Colour-code your children! Have one coloured folder per child for useful info – everything from birth certificates to sports rosters.
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Linen Cupboard
- Take everything out, dust and wipe the shelves.
- Keep sheet sets and pillowcases together. Either store sheets and doona covers inside one pillowcase or tie the whole set up inside one sheet with a ribbon.
- For stable piles, stack like items – towels with towels, facecloths with facecloths – and use dividers.
- For a neat finish, fold like you work in a homewares shop, with folded edges facing out. Or roll them.
- Don’t keep too many “extra” sets. Do you really need them? Especially that yellowing “white” set. Old sheets can become drop cloths.
- Separate winter and summer linens, cotton and wool blankets.
- Use scented liners to make the cupboard fragrant.
- Vacuum-bag spare doonas.
- Use baskets for any random smaller items you keep in there.
Acknowledgement: 3:37pm AEST 12/11/2022 : https://www.homestolove.com.au/professional-tips-for-decluttering-your-home-5804
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