The expert guide on how to declutter for a more organised home
Does the idea of living a more simple life without clutter sound like a pipe dream? Make reorganising your home easy with tips from decluttering expert Peter Walsh.
Does the idea of living a more simple life without clutter sound like a pipe dream? Make reorganising your home easy with tips from decluttering expert Peter Walsh.
“The only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.”
Taking a very different approach to other professional organisers, Peter believes clutter is anything that stands in the way of people living their best lives.
And there’s no doubt that our ‘stuff’ has power and that there are certain triggers that can have us holding on, including:
Due to the pandemic, most of us spent the majority of the last few years at home. From quick room cleanouts to whole house renovations, we all understand the feeling of wanting to make our home a sanctuary.
Or maybe you’ve made a New Year’s resolution to declutter and live a more minimalist lifestyle? If you’re like most people however, it’s probably faded away a few weeks in as life gets busy with work, family life, or other resolutions to [run a half-marathon; learn to crochet… you get the idea] compete for your attention.
Even with the best intentions though, these cleanouts are, more often than not, short-lived and unsustained. This isn’t from a lack of trying but often from trying to do too much at once.
Hiring a professional cleaner can help to beat back stress and give you back time.
To help you get back on track with your decluttering and home organisation goals Peter recommends you keep the following top of mind.
We can all feel time poor and everyone feels overwhelmed at some stage, and the cleaning and organisational demands of our homes are often top of the list when it comes to this.
Respect your physical limits. Instead, shift your focus away from achieving the look of a picture-perfect magazine shoot to creating a space that feels like their own private oasis.
Hiring a professional cleaner or professional organiser is a simple way to do this. Plus, it will help to beat back stress and help make sure the changes remain practical for your lifestyle.
Taking on too much can easily lead to frustration and giving up. Instead of overwhelming yourself with cleaning and clearing your whole house, try one room in your home, one drawer or cupboard, or just one category of items at a time.
Whether it’s just organising your wardrobe or cleaning out your pantry, start small when you start decluttering. Achieving these small victories will bring swift results, help you build motivation and bring your mojo back.
Understanding what type of clutter you have is key. Ask yourself, is this memory clutter, the stuff that reminds you of the past or ‘I-might-need-it-one-day' clutter, which keeps you constantly out of the present.
Start with items that won’t come with an emotional hit. For example, you start decluttering your kitchen. Target containers without lids, old take-away menus or out-of-date herbs and spices. Items you no longer use but are still in good nick, like cookware, containers (with lids) and cutlery can be donated to charity.
If you’re still struggling to clean up, declutter or get organised, it’s a great idea to hire a professional to help you with this.
Keep flat surfaces clear and fit for purpose.
It’s a simple trick that will work wonders when you’re trying to declutter your bathroom/living room/laundry room etc. and, it’s a stopgap from you accumulating more clutter.
The bedside table, kitchen bench, dining room table – it’s easy to fall into the trap of using these spaces for storage, and harder to use them for their intended purpose.
Use wall hooks for smaller items like keys and kitchen tools. Keep dedicated space for the items that need to be there, like small appliances in the kitchen and a lamp on your bedside table.
Instead of just putting your items down in the first place you see, put them away. Use drawer dividers to keep things organised and have dedicated storage spaces in the family room.
Bins and baskets for ‘once-worn’ clothes are a simple hack to keep these items off the floor when you just can’t bring yourself to hang them up at the end of the day.
It turns out that putting off the clean-up will in fact, only lead to more clutter. Sorting through that pile of stuff that you’ve been meaning to tackle takes time right, so you put it off. It’s here especially that Peter’s second tip comes into play. Start small – drawer by drawer, room by room.
Plus, your wellbeing will thank you for it, with research showing a link between the level of clutter and the level of stress we feel.
We all know the rush of finding a great bargain. Before you snatch it up though, take a minute to stop and think. Do you have a real need for it, do you already have similar items at home, or is it just the price that’s tempting you to take it home?
Remember you don’t have to achieve these goals on your own. Asking for help from a friend or a professional is a sign of strength, not weakness.
Jump onto hipages and find top rated cleaners near you to help you make sense of your clutter. All you have to do is take the first step and reach out.
