How to Declutter

When we try to remove clutter, our first instinct is to start looking for clutter to pick up and take away.

WRONG!

You may have noticed that TV shows about decluttering never work this way.   They approach the problem in a way we would regard as back-to-front, but there’s a good reason for that.

It’s because we chose the clutter in the first place! We didn’t think it was clutter when we bought it, so we often don’t recognise it as clutter once it’s in our house. So in order to DEclutter, we need to look at things from a different angle – then we’ll be able to see what’s right in front of our noses.

The TV program approach is to move everything out of the house into the yard, then ask the owner to choose which things to put back in, and which to get rid of. You may not have the manpower to do all that heavy lifting, but you can still apply the method.

You’ll need a writing pad and a pen. Designate a spot in the house to collect all your clutter once you’ve identified it. Work room by room.

Look at the room you’re in. If you can move everything into one corner or even outside, that will make things much easier, but if you can’t, don’t worry. Divide your page into two columns – “Essential” and “Loved”.

Now ask yourself, “what are the basic essentials in this room?” By this I mean, if it’s the lounge room, you absolutely need some chairs. You probably also need a television and sound system, and something for them to sit on. Write them down in your “Essentials” column. Don’t include anything that’s not TOTALLY essential to using the room. For instance, don’t include Grandma’s china cabinet, even if you adore it, because the china isn’t used in that room.

Now ask yourself, “what are the things that aren’t essential, but I can’t bear to live without?” Write these things down in the “Loved” column (now you can add Grandma’s china cabinet!)

Now put down your pen and paper down. Going around the room, pick up and remove everything that you haven’t written down – and I mean everything. No second thoughts allowed at this point (you’ll get a chance to review later). Take all these items to your collection point.

Now try rearranging the furniture in your room, with the clutter gone. When you are happy with it, move on to the next room and repeat the process. And so on, until the whole house is done.

If some rooms still feel a bit crowded, have another look at your “loved” items. You know you want to keep these things, but maybe they don’t have to stay in the room they’re in: see if you can move them around to make better use of the space.

Ideally, if you have enough room to store your “clutter” pile for a while, you should live in the house for at least a month in its new layout. That will give you time to get used to not having the clutter around, and you’re less likely to yield to the temptation to put things back (note: if you can, store the clutter pile somewhere that can be locked up, so your family don’t sneak things back either!)

During the trial period, you may realise you left some essential things off your list – in that case, you are allowed to go and retrieve them from the clutter pile. But you are not allowed to go and retrieve things just because you miss seeing them around!

When you come to review your clutter pile, consider each item in turn. If you are tempted to keep something, ask yourself (a) is it useful? and (b) do I love it? If the answer is no in both cases, what’s the point of keeping it?

We often have all kinds of silly reasons for keeping things. One of the most common is, “It’s too good to throw away” or “It’s too expensive to throw away”. Remember, no matter how much it may have cost originally, if it’s not adding any value to your life, it’s not valuable. It could be valuable if it is passed on to someone else, though: so think about selling the item on eBay or giving it to charity, where it can be of some value to others.

There are four ways to dispose of clutter: sell, give to family/friends, give to charity, or throw out.

Depending on where you live, you could have a number of options for selling. You could hold a garage sale or yard sale; go to a car boot sale; hire a stall at a market for a day; or sell on eBay (there are agents who will sell on eBay for you, if you don’t have time). If you have high-value items you could ask an auction house to sell them for you, but bear in mind their commissions are very high.

If you’re going to have a garage sale or yard sale, you may want to include everything in the pile in the sale (sometimes the things that sell will surprise you!). Then you’ll only need to dispose of what’s left.

Otherwise, divide your pile up according to the different categories, and take action to dispose of all the categories as soon after making your decision as you can.

Now, stand back and congratulate yourself on your new, clutter-free life!

Photo courtesy of sindesign on Flickr