How do I declutter?

How do I declutter?

Lots of people feel a bit disorientated when it comes to actually dealing with clutter. They have no idea how or where to start, and eventually give up because they can’t see a way forward.

Dealing with clutter doesn’t need to be this stressful. All you have to do is make the right preparations beforehand, and it becomes a straightforward, rewarding experience.

What do I need?

To declutter successfully all you need is four containers that are a big enough to hold the things you’re sorting through. If they are small objects like books and old toys, for example, then all you will need is three large boxes.

Use a marker pen to label the containers as:

1. KEEP

2. THROW OUT

3. GIVE AWAY

4. SELL

Whether you need all four containers will, of course, depend on the type of things you’re dealing with; for example, if you think your clutter is all worthless, you won’t need a SELL box.

Let’s get decluttering!

• Once you’ve got these categories sorted out, just start going through your clutter, deciding on which box you think each thing belongs in.
• To make the exercise worthwhile, you should limit the number of things you hang on to – decide that you’ll only keep one or two boxes' worth, for example.
• Don’t hold on to something because ‘it might come in useful’. If you’ve owned something for years without using it, the odds that you'll use it in future are slim.

How do I get rid of my clutter?

Once you’ve decided what you want to get rid of, there are several ways you can go about doing it:

1. Decide if you want items in the KEEP box to remain at home, or if you want to rent extra space for them at a self storage facility or lock-up garage

2. Divide the THROW OUT box into things which can be recycled (check these carefully at http://www.recyclenow.com) and things that have to go in landfill.

3. The GIVE AWAY box can be dealt with by using charity shops, charity home-collection services, or jumble sales.

4. You can SELL things at car boot sales or on eBay.