Decluttering Made SimplE
The key to decluttering is following a few simple rules. These tricks will keep things in their proper place, and help you determine where that place is.
First off, decide what the main purpose of the room you’re working on is. If it’s a family room, then of course you want to make space for friends to gather, watch TV or perhaps play a board game. This is where it gets tricky. If your family hangs out in the den and never uses the family room at all, then you’re free to evaluate the contents of the room and decide from there. If the space is filled with a card table, your scrapbooking supplies, and not much else, face it. You don’t have a family room, you have a craft room waiting to happen! If the room isn’t being used for it’s intended purpose, assign a new one that better suits your needs.
Second, make a list of the things you need to utilize the room for it’s purpose. For example, your folding clothes rack and laundry sorter belong in the laundry room, along with the iron, ironing board, detergent, fabric softener, spray starch, and Dryel kit. If any of these items is in another room because the space is taken up by things unrelated to laundry, those things have to go. Laundry room closets are often jam-packed with items that don’t belong, such as seasonal clothing and sports equipment. Winter coats can be vacuumed packed and stored under their owner’s bed for easy retrieval come fall. Sports equipment should be sorted into what still gets used and what doesn’t, then stored or donated/sold accordingly.
Now it’s time to get down to it. You will need 3 boxes, marked: Stays, Goes, and Not Here. Things that belong in the room go in the Stays box, donations go in the Goes box, and Not Here is for the items you want to keep that don’t belong in the room. Examples of Not Here include stray papers from your home office that made their way to the living room, kids’ toys, and anything else that doesn’t make using the space more pleasant. Begin by clearing any table tops and then sort what’s on the floor. Those cardboard boxes don’t really belong in the corner, do they? If you have items you haven’t used in the last year, they should be donated unless they have a lot of sentimental value. That Learn to Speak Spanish kit that’s been unopened for 2 years belongs on eBay- perhaps it would be more effective to use the money you make selling the kit to take a class with a live instructor. This is the time to be brutally honest with yourself about what possessions are the ones that bring you joy. If you’re a movie buff, by all means keep that huge collection of DVDs.
A special note about clothing: if it doesn’t fit, you haven’t worn it in over a year, have owned it for more than 6 months and it still has the tags on it, or it has needed repair for more than 3 months, get rid of it. Hanging on to clothing that clearly doesn’t speak to you is one of the worst things for your self esteem. Remember, looking good is not about size, it’s about style. Even if you did get back into those size 6 pants from ten years ago, you’ll still be ten years out of style! Celebrate your new body by investing in new clothes that fit and feel great.
Once you have things sorted out, take the boxes marked Goes and Not Here out of the room. Those items are henceforth forbidden from coming back in. If you’re working on a family room that you intend to use for real family time, make sure you include any paperwork from the home office in this category. There are few things that derail togetherness like hearing “just let me finish this one article/offer/invoice.” Make your family feel like they are your priority by keeping work out of their space.
Look around the room. What sorts of storage options do you have? Bookshelves? An entertainment unit with space for movies and games? How much storage do you need for the items you want to use in the room? Sit down in the spot you usually use. Are the things you need most close at hand? If you have to cross the room to get your most-used item, chances are good you’re not going to put it away every time. Can the item be stored closer? Can the furniture be re-arranged to make access easier? The rule of thumb is that the items you use on a daily basis should be in arm’s reach of your seat, with less used items further away in concentric circles of importance. In a home office, your computer would be front and centre as you use it daily, your calculator, envelopes, stamps and bill-paying gear go in the top drawer of your desk, current customer and supplier files go in a rolling cart beside the desk, tax and other documents you’re required to keep but don’t look at go in the filing cabinet on the far wall. You’re more likely to stick with a system that doesn’t require any effort on your part to maintain. So make it easy.
Store like items together. Pens, markers, and pencil crayons go together. Crafting supplies go together (if you practice more than one craft, you can sub-group those items), sports equipment should ideally all be in one bag and ready to go. It’s much easier to get going on something if you don’t have to hunt for the supplies. (“I’d go to the gym if I could find my shorts!” There they are, in the bag with your shoes and shirt. Perfect.) Sometimes it’s best to have more than one of certain items, such as scissors. An everyday kitchen pair, a crafting pair, and a set in the office makes certain you always have a pair at hand. Any item that is broken or needs repair should immediately go in the trash if you are not going to have it looked after in the next week. More than 7 days, it won’t happen, and you’re still stuck with clutter.
Once the decluttering is done in one room, move to the next. You may find that some of the Not Here items will travel from room to room as you go. These items may require a bit of soul-searching. That ceramic mug your child made in the 3rd grade may have great sentimental value, but it doesn’t belong on the coffee table. Clearly this is an item that will never used, so it might pay you to invest in a shadow box for it. Put the mug and some of your child’s other school art project in it and proudly hang it on your wall. It’s both on display and out of the way.
You’ll find as you get used to having an organized environment that there are more things you don’t really want in your space. Keep a box by your front door for items you want to donate, and when it’s full simply drop it off at your local Goodwill, or phone a charity to come and pick it up. Many of them will come and pick up your donations at no cost. Items such as books can be swapped online with other readers, giving you new reading material at no cost and giving you the opportunity to make new friends at the same time.
First off, decide what the main purpose of the room you’re working on is. If it’s a family room, then of course you want to make space for friends to gather, watch TV or perhaps play a board game. This is where it gets tricky. If your family hangs out in the den and never uses the family room at all, then you’re free to evaluate the contents of the room and decide from there. If the space is filled with a card table, your scrapbooking supplies, and not much else, face it. You don’t have a family room, you have a craft room waiting to happen! If the room isn’t being used for it’s intended purpose, assign a new one that better suits your needs.
Second, make a list of the things you need to utilize the room for it’s purpose. For example, your folding clothes rack and laundry sorter belong in the laundry room, along with the iron, ironing board, detergent, fabric softener, spray starch, and Dryel kit. If any of these items is in another room because the space is taken up by things unrelated to laundry, those things have to go. Laundry room closets are often jam-packed with items that don’t belong, such as seasonal clothing and sports equipment. Winter coats can be vacuumed packed and stored under their owner’s bed for easy retrieval come fall. Sports equipment should be sorted into what still gets used and what doesn’t, then stored or donated/sold accordingly.
Now it’s time to get down to it. You will need 3 boxes, marked: Stays, Goes, and Not Here. Things that belong in the room go in the Stays box, donations go in the Goes box, and Not Here is for the items you want to keep that don’t belong in the room. Examples of Not Here include stray papers from your home office that made their way to the living room, kids’ toys, and anything else that doesn’t make using the space more pleasant. Begin by clearing any table tops and then sort what’s on the floor. Those cardboard boxes don’t really belong in the corner, do they? If you have items you haven’t used in the last year, they should be donated unless they have a lot of sentimental value. That Learn to Speak Spanish kit that’s been unopened for 2 years belongs on eBay- perhaps it would be more effective to use the money you make selling the kit to take a class with a live instructor. This is the time to be brutally honest with yourself about what possessions are the ones that bring you joy. If you’re a movie buff, by all means keep that huge collection of DVDs.
A special note about clothing: if it doesn’t fit, you haven’t worn it in over a year, have owned it for more than 6 months and it still has the tags on it, or it has needed repair for more than 3 months, get rid of it. Hanging on to clothing that clearly doesn’t speak to you is one of the worst things for your self esteem. Remember, looking good is not about size, it’s about style. Even if you did get back into those size 6 pants from ten years ago, you’ll still be ten years out of style! Celebrate your new body by investing in new clothes that fit and feel great.
Once you have things sorted out, take the boxes marked Goes and Not Here out of the room. Those items are henceforth forbidden from coming back in. If you’re working on a family room that you intend to use for real family time, make sure you include any paperwork from the home office in this category. There are few things that derail togetherness like hearing “just let me finish this one article/offer/invoice.” Make your family feel like they are your priority by keeping work out of their space.
Look around the room. What sorts of storage options do you have? Bookshelves? An entertainment unit with space for movies and games? How much storage do you need for the items you want to use in the room? Sit down in the spot you usually use. Are the things you need most close at hand? If you have to cross the room to get your most-used item, chances are good you’re not going to put it away every time. Can the item be stored closer? Can the furniture be re-arranged to make access easier? The rule of thumb is that the items you use on a daily basis should be in arm’s reach of your seat, with less used items further away in concentric circles of importance. In a home office, your computer would be front and centre as you use it daily, your calculator, envelopes, stamps and bill-paying gear go in the top drawer of your desk, current customer and supplier files go in a rolling cart beside the desk, tax and other documents you’re required to keep but don’t look at go in the filing cabinet on the far wall. You’re more likely to stick with a system that doesn’t require any effort on your part to maintain. So make it easy.
Store like items together. Pens, markers, and pencil crayons go together. Crafting supplies go together (if you practice more than one craft, you can sub-group those items), sports equipment should ideally all be in one bag and ready to go. It’s much easier to get going on something if you don’t have to hunt for the supplies. (“I’d go to the gym if I could find my shorts!” There they are, in the bag with your shoes and shirt. Perfect.) Sometimes it’s best to have more than one of certain items, such as scissors. An everyday kitchen pair, a crafting pair, and a set in the office makes certain you always have a pair at hand. Any item that is broken or needs repair should immediately go in the trash if you are not going to have it looked after in the next week. More than 7 days, it won’t happen, and you’re still stuck with clutter.
Once the decluttering is done in one room, move to the next. You may find that some of the Not Here items will travel from room to room as you go. These items may require a bit of soul-searching. That ceramic mug your child made in the 3rd grade may have great sentimental value, but it doesn’t belong on the coffee table. Clearly this is an item that will never used, so it might pay you to invest in a shadow box for it. Put the mug and some of your child’s other school art project in it and proudly hang it on your wall. It’s both on display and out of the way.
You’ll find as you get used to having an organized environment that there are more things you don’t really want in your space. Keep a box by your front door for items you want to donate, and when it’s full simply drop it off at your local Goodwill, or phone a charity to come and pick it up. Many of them will come and pick up your donations at no cost. Items such as books can be swapped online with other readers, giving you new reading material at no cost and giving you the opportunity to make new friends at the same time.