Decluttering your house is not an easy task. It is a big ass project. And it can take you weeks to declutter your entire house.
And honestly it can be quite intimidating. I’d totally understand if you are feeling overwhelmed by even the mere thought of decluttering your entire house. Because I have been there.
When I first started working a corporate job and was working long hours, my house turned into a mess slowly. And I had no idea how to declutter and organise and where to begin. The mere thought of organising everything used to overwhelm me. Also, I had convinced myself that I just don’t have the time. Because by the end of the work day, I used to be so tired. And on the weekends I felt like it’s not a priority.
If only I knew what good it’d do me to just declutter the house and to get everything organised.
And I know you are busy too. That’s why I have come up with this simple step by step decluttering process, which is going to help you declutter your entire house. This step by step decluttering guide will take you through the decluttering process in steps that aren’t overwhelming. And this step by step breakdown allows you to declutter at your own pace.
If you have never done a spring clean or a major declutter, here is how to get started with declutter.
And if you have no idea what items to get rid of in your decluttering process, here are questions you need to ask yourself. Also, here is a room by room guide to declutter and 66 things to get rid of during declutter that you won’t miss.
Now that you are ready to declutter, let me show you how to declutter step by step and tips that will help you keep your house clutter free in the future as well.
KNOW WHAT TO THROW AWAY:
While decluttering, deciding what items to throw away and what items to keep can be tricky. And that’s why I wrote this post that takes you through questions you need to ask yourself while decluttering. Answer these questions to make the decluttering process easier.
How to make decluttering process easy:
MAKE RULES:
One of the best tips while decluttering is to make clear rules for yourself and stick to these rules no matter what. So, let’s say, one of the rules is to get rid of anything that you haven’t used in a year, then stick to this rule.
KNOW WHEN TO MAKE EXCEPTIONS:
Of course there will be cases when you will have to make exceptions simply because something brings you so much joy that you can’t let it go. And that’s completely okay. But make sure you are not making the exception for every other thing.
Another thing that you will have to exception for is seasonal items like Christmas decorations, fine china, and cutlery etc, that you bring out once in a while. Just make sure you have a list of all such items that you have stored somewhere, so that you don’t end up buying more of similar things when you need.
STEP BY STEP: HOW TO DECLUTTER
IDENTIFY WHERE TO BEGIN:
The Decluttering process is overwhelming because you are looking at your entire house as a whole. So, instead look at it room by room. I’d say, start with a room that you or your family uses most often like bedroom, kitchen or living room.
Because when the place that you use most often is cluttered and you are living in that cluttered space everyday, it can become a cause for anxiety. So, it’s best to tackle it first, so that you get a sense of accomplishment and you will be even more motivated to declutter the entire house.
We usually begin in the living room or kitchen, because these are two spaces where we spend most of our time.
DIVIDE THE ROOM IN SECTIONS:
Now that you have identified where you need to begin, you need to divide the entire room in smaller sections that you can tackle in a day.
Let’s say you have started with your bedroom, so divide it in smaller sections. One day you are going to declutter your bedside tables, so that’s section 1. Next day, you are going to declutter a chest, so that’s section 2 and so on.
When it comes to closets, DIVIDE BY CATEGORY. So, one day declutter all the pants and bottoms, next day tops and t-shirts and then one day dresses and so on.
The whole idea is to have small enough sections that are easy of tackle, so you don’t feel like giving up half way through the decluttering process. And get one section done every day. It isn’t so OVERWHELMING now, is it?
And when you are done with one room, move on to the next.
HAVE A DECLUTTER PROCESS FOR EACH ROOM/SECTION:
When tackling a section, have a decluttering process in place. I have a set process which helps me declutter a space faster:
STEP 1: QUICK SCAN
Whenever decluttering a section, the first thing I like doing is take a quick scan and see the things that don’t belong in that section. And then collect these things and put them in their right place.
Now of course, for this to work, you also need to have defined places for everything. Everything in your house should have a home. This will help you stay organised in the future and keep things in place.
STEP 2: DEFINE WHAT THE SPACE IS USED FOR
Next step is to define what you want to use the space for. So if a space is used for personal care items like your night stand, then remove everything that doesn’t belong to that category.
Now think about the purpose.If you are using your night stand for skin care routine or night routine in general, then keep all things that you need for your night routine in one place.
STEP 3: SEE WHAT MAKES SENSE:
When thinking about where to put things, see where the things usually end up. And maybe think about whether you need to change their home. Let me explain. For me, the nail cutter and filer always end up in my bed side table, no matter what I do. So I decided to make space for it there. Now it’s always there and it is not cluttering or disorganised.
Have a plan going forward:
Now that you have spent hours and days in the entire decluttering process, it’s time to make a plan going forward. So that next time decluttering doesn’t take you this long. This will help you declutter a little bit everyday, so that the house doesn’t get very messy.
And once you have a clean and clutter free home, it becomes even important to set these systems in place. One of these systems could be:
1.Never leave a room empty handed:
Whenever leaving a room, chances are there are mugs/water bottles/cups lying around. never leave any room empty handed. there is always something that you can put away. Maybe there is something that you can put in the trash can.
2.Keep surfaces clutter free:
This is one of the best tips and systems that we have in place. Keep all the surfaces in your home clutter free. Horizontal surfaces tend to get cluttered very easily and it is important that you take extra steps to keep them clean. In fact, if you feel like one of the rooms or kitchen is quite cluttered, try cleaning horizontal surfaces. It makes quite a difference. And it doesn’t have to take that long too.
3. Make 15 minute SPEED declutter a habit:
Make a list of things that you need to do everyday to keep your house decluttered. And then do this everyday. Sounds pretty simple right? And it is in fact really simple too. When you do this 15 minute declutter everyday, you get rid of the major clutter and put things back in their places. Having a list of things you can get done when you just have 15 minutes in a day is also quite helpful.
If you want to refer, here are easy decluttering tasks you can get done in 10-15 minutes.
4. Do not add more clutter:
This should be fairly simple, right? But it mostly is not. So be very mindful of the stuff you buy or bring into the house. Be intentional about your purchases and only buy things that you really need instead of just adding more to the clutter.
There you have it. My step by step process for decluttering your entire house. Hope this post inspires you to declutter your home. I can’t even put into words how transformational it is to have a clutter-free home. You need to give it a try and explore the benefits that come with it.
Happy Decluttering! 🙂
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