Are you tired of feeling overwhelmed by clutter and looking for a fresh start? Well, today you’re in luck, because decluttering is one of my favourite things to talk about!
I love the opportunity to declutter and organise. It grounds me as a person, clears my head and resets my focus. I feel lighter when my space is clear, clean and full of things that add value to my life.
My goal is to help everyone feel like this and develop their own practice for clearing the chaos out of not only their physical spaces, but their minds.
In this episode, we’ll go through the different aspects of decluttering your home, and I’ll give you practical tips on how to approach each one:
Decluttering before you organise
Sorting and categorising
Keep, sell, donate or dispose
Organising and repurposing
Dealing with sentimental items
I know the idea of decluttering your home can be overwhelming. But remember, it’s okay to start small. Take it one space at a time before moving on to the next.
So, let's embark on this decluttering journey together and create a space that truly reflects our best and most balanced lives!
And my goal is to help everyone feel like [00:01:00] this. I genuinely get excited when somebody asks me for help sorting something out. There are so many aspects to decluttering, mind, health, and physical. They are all connected and they all affect each other. Today we're going to start with your home and over the coming episodes, continue the overall declutter journey together.
Let's get straight into the process. First up. Declutter before you organise Too many people reorder spaces, stack things in a different order just to be reordering the same space with the same stuff in six months. So to get started, I would like you to select a room in your house that isn't used much so that you can take a bit of time with your first go and it won't create havoc in your every day, if you need to take slow, do it over a few weekends. It's a really good idea to make the first space less sentimental.
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Create a space, be it on the bench or on the floor, of things you're going to keep. Grab a box or tubs for items you're going to sell. Grab some bags for items you're going to donate or dispose of. Handy tip if able, use different color bags to differentiate between donation bags and bags for the bin.
This just makes things easier if you get on a role or if there's lots of items. You are gonna touch every single item. Assess it as quickly as you are able. And then decide what you're going to do with it. Keep it because you use the item regularly or because the item brings you joy. You find beauty in it or in its purpose.
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Dispose everything else straight into the bin and give yourself a high five as you're doing it because you're liberating yourself from stuff that does not matter. Now you have done the sorting. Let's deal with the keep items. You need to order these in priority of use with the things you use very often, getting pride of place or the best access and the items you're using less or less often, give them the higher or lower spaces, group them together if that makes sense.
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When you have done this amazing work, you must close out this space before you move on to the next. You are going to sell anything you've identified. Hit eBay or an appropriate marketplace. Do not let this stuff sit there for six months. Also, bags of rubbish straight into your bin. Or if you've done a big job, have a trip to your local tip, same with donation items, get your donation items to your local charity store or bin ASAP.
Let's quickly discuss my fifth category. Some items can be used for crafting. School holidays and weekends can become a craft extravaganza at my house, and I keep a small tub of random items that can peak creativity. old pots that can be broken into mosaics, for example.
it's off to the bin for that [:
If you are holding onto an item because you feel obligated to, This can really mentally weigh you down. These can be items from a family passed down or gifts or a thousand artworks created by your child during their kinder year. Ask yourself why you're holding onto the item or items. If the person has passed, ask yourself, would they want you to be holding onto something?
If it was causing you heaviness,
rhaps if it's a family item. [:
This process is to give you time to really work out if the item is serving you or not. If it can sit in the tub for a year, it's probably not. I also get asked a lot about books. They accumulate easily. I don't keep books that I'm not going to read again. If you will read them again or you'd like to keep them for reference, absolutely keep them.
or bring you joy, reuse, or [:
if you're overwhelmed by the whole thought of it, or don't feel like you have the time, pick a space and just do 10 minutes, set a timer, do 10 minutes every couple of days, or just an hour on a day off. Doing something will start to tackle the overwhelm. You put a jigsaw together one piece at a time. This is no different. Just a little piece at a time is enough to start you on your journey. If you're not sure where to start, let's do a declutter challenge together. Instead of starting in one space and working through, I challenge you to find 100 items in your home to sell, donate, or dispose of.
These can be throughout your space, inside and outside if you have a yard or balcony. You are not finished though until you've identified 100 items and sold, donated, or disposed of them. For a bit more inspiration, I have created a hundred items declutter challenge list for you to record the items as you go.
