Embarking on a new house-hunting adventure?
Are you mildly terrified of what’s lurking in the back of your cupboards, when it comes time to pack?
Tired of carrying the weight of unnecessary belongings on your psychological shoulders?
Perhaps you’re helping your significant other / friend / work mate / neighbour with an overdue ‘Spring Clean’?
In this post, I’ll share with you 3 ways to declutter your home without losing your mind.
I originally had 5 ways, but I decluttered a few. Are the ones remaining ‘good’ ways? Probably not. Are they ‘some’ ways – yes!
We’ll learn how to fight the overwhelming feeling that it just can’t be done; fall back in love with stuff we haven’t seen in years; and toy with the idea of just living out of a suitcase and going ‘full minimalist’ before realising that we couldn’t part with our teetering book stack.
Disclaimer: The “tips” below may actively hinder your tidying process.
According to my husband, I’m a recovering hoarder from a long line of pack rats.
I, however, prefer to consider myself an archivist – a collector of random ephemera that benefits not only myself, but (dare I say it) the world.
I mean, if I wasn’t storing a selection of old family birthday and Christmas cards in the cupboard, along with appliance manuals for gadgets we haven’t owned in 5 years – then who would? You? What about that shiny shell I picked up on the beach in Caloundra, or all the notebooks I have with writing on 3 pages (that are therefore now unusable), and the too-small box with photos of my friends from high-school bending slowly out of shape (the photos, not the humans) – who’d treasure them if I set them free?
To be fair, it’s hard to treasure things properly when they’re in containers, at the back of rooms you rarely go in. It’s dark in there, and who needs to refer to an electricity bill from 2005 on a daily basis, other than time-travellers looking for proof of identity documents to falsify?
We recently got news that we have to leave our rental property and begin a magical trek to learn the true power of friendship. I’m assuming that last part, as it didn’t really go into much detail on the exit notice.
I immediately started to channel the spirit of Marie Kondo, feeling strongly that if I didn’t start packing and decluttering straight away – I’d quickly find myself drowning in a sea of ‘stuff’ and not have enough time to properly sort things out. Keep in mind that we have just started to look for a new place to live, and have a generous timeline in which to move out.
The first thing I did? Start dragging stuff into the living room.
That’s right – go into the room that’s causing you the most grief, grab a drawer of random stuff and up-end it onto the living room carpet. You’ll soon realise where all those post-it notes and pipe-cleaners have been hiding.
Note – unless you’re Sherlock Holmes, you don’t need pipe-cleaners. Ok … if you’re a preschool teacher, then you can have a small container. SMALL.
You’ll be surprised how mad you (and your significant other) can get at stuff sitting in your line of sight when you’re trying to relax. Things can lose a lot of their shine after you’ve tripped over them a few times on the way to the fridge. This inconvenient mess should give you enough of a push to at least spread your detritus into piles that can be put in the bin, or secretly moved into a new cupboard when your spouse isn’t looking
There will be times when you get sick of decluttering, but have to tidy things away because your mum’s coming over or you actively can’t get to your at-home work desk. In these instances, I’d recommend just moving the pile of things that you’ve half-sorted into a cupboard in another room. This will be a problem for ‘future you’ and we all know that ‘future you’ will have all your ducks in a row, a well thought out plan of action, and some kind of a clue what to do with 15 tangled necklaces.
How that kid got so smart, I just don’t know … *wipes tear from eye*.
Be aware that there is only a finite amount of times you can use this strategy – as most houses don’t have a never-ending supply of cupboards to secret away your nonsense.
If you live in a unit complex, your body corporate may operate a ‘free library’ or ‘junk’ area where you can drop off random things for neighbours you recognise by sight but have never spoken to.
Maybe ‘McDonalds Glen’ (we once saw him with a bag of McDonalds – also not sure his name is Glen) will want your kitchen sieve or crossword book from a newsagents that no longer exists. You don’t have to ask him directly, just put it where he’s likely to come across it on accident.
Hollywood films teach us that it’s best to sort your belongings before moving to a new house. That taking time to declutter now, will save you a lot of headaches when you arrive at your new home, and help you feel generally lighter in body and soul.
Well, what Idris Elba doesn’t tell you is that it’s just as easy to put things in a box ‘as is’ and close the lid.
This method allows you to keep the things that you love close to you. Even if the things that you love are only things that you rediscovered moments ago, covered with dust under a collapsed DVD tower.
Popular decluttering strategies recommend picking each of your items up individually and asking yourself if you still have an attachment to them. Personally I find this exhausting, and if I pick something up I’ll probably invent an attachment if I can’t remember a real one.
I suggest setting a timer, pretend you’re on ‘The Amazing Race’ – except you’re not going anywhere except for Chore Town – and try to blitz through your mess before your lizard brain realises what you’re trying to do. Watch out for that guy, he’s sneaky and will have you justifying the 20 quilt covers in your linen closet before you can say ‘why do I need so many quilt covers, and aren’t I fancy to have a closet specifically dedicated to linen!’.
Be kind to yourselves. Decluttering often forms part of a life change – whether big or small – and those can be tough.
Make sure to factor in some ice-cream time after every bin bag you take out (make sure the bin bags are a generous size, or you’ll get sick quickly).
Good luck with your clutter purge, and as Plato famously said – “Chuck that stuff out if it’s dragging you down.”
