Decluttering 101: The Ultimate Guide

The dictionary defines clutter as ‘An untidy collection of things.’ Ok, so we know that. So where can we see examples of this in our homes and why should we concern ourselves with decluttering our belongings?

The tiny house movement aside, our homes are getting bigger and we are filling them with more stuff. This is leaving us with a number of related problems because of the sheer amount of belongings in our homes.

Perhaps it’s a simple as the second drawer in the kitchen being so chock full of stuff you can never find the potato peeler, or it might be that your bedroom closet is bursting at the seems and you can’t pull together an outfit for the day.

It may even be that your email inbox is so full of random emails that you can’t find the car insurance bill to make the payment.  

Then of course things may have gotten really out of hand and you find yourself surrounded by clutter no matter where you step.

Some people state that they are happy living with their things in disarray and perhaps they are. Or maybe it’s just easier to live within the status quo than it is to contemplate making a change.

I can understand that. Change is difficult, change requires thought and action and we often believe that we don’t have the time or the energy  for either.

When we are faced with change, we go through a number of steps in the process. When it comes to our clutter, we go from Denial (I don’t have a problem), to Resistance (It’s too hard), through to Exploration (I wonder what would happen if…) and finally Commitment (I will work at this until I am finished).

What are the Benefits of Decluttering?

Why does it matter whether or not the things in our lives are untidy? Well, there are some distinct advantages of living in an environment without clutter.

1) Save time.
2) Save stress
3) Build positive relationships
4) Save money
5) Ensure safety
6) Create mental space
7) Make cleaning easier

How Decluttering Saves Time

How much easier would it be to find that elusive document or your favourite pair of earrings if you have a place for everything and everything is in its place? What is the alternative? It’s hunting all over the house for the item, looking in the pile next to the television, in the box under the bed and in the hall cupboard and often failing to come up with the item you require. Not only does this waste a large amount of time, usually at a moment when time is in short supply, it can lead to a huge amount of stress.

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How Decluttering Saves Stress

When we have a job to do and can’t find an item that we need, our stress levels rise considerably. You know how it feels, you start to get hot, tense and snappy at those around you. This is not a time when you need another family member to come to you for assistance with something and inevitably it’s exactly when someone will need your attention. Your interaction with them is likely to be short, sharp and unpleasant because of the worry you have and the need to just find the darn thing.

We recently needed to take our passports to the bank as evidence of identity in order to sign some documents. It had been a while since we had used them and I have to admit that I didn’t immediately know exactly where they were. I had a couple of ideas about where to start which was good, but knowing exactly where they were would have been better.

Whilst I didn’t panic, a little part of my brain was wondering what on earth I would do if I couldn’t actually find them. We had an appointment that we needed to make and the added stress of being limited by time would have been significant. Happily I found them in the second spot I looked but you can be sure that I have put them in a sensible place now so I won’t have that problem again.

I suppose one of the lessons to learn from something like this is that it’s OK for something to go wrong. It’s when we allow things to go wrong over and over again and we fail to do something about them, that there is a problem.

My closet is full but I have nothing to wear.

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How Being Clutter-free Builds Positive Relationships

Clutter can affect our ability to enjoy social situations in our own homes.

I know for me that I am reluctant to have friends over when the house is looking terrible. This happens at really busy times when we let the laundry pile up, neglect the growing pile of mail in the corner and allow the children to pull out all of the toys they own without packing any of them away when finished.

It can be embarrassing to have even close friends over when the house looks like that. Happily, once you have completed a good declutter and have systems in place to stop it getting out of control again, a few short minutes of tidying will get the house ready to receive company at any time.

I am not an advocate of the house looking like a display home at all times, I think that is unattainable and only creates stress which of course is something we are trying to avoid. What we are trying to achieve is a home that is easy to live in that only takes a couple of quick minutes to make ‘company ready’.

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How Being Clutter-free Saves Money

Clutter can also be such a money waster. Anyone who does crafts for example, knows how quickly supplies build up and unless there is a system to store them it can be almost impossible to put your hands on just the thing you require at the time you need it.

There was a time when I would have to go out and re-buy something that I knew was in the cupboard somewhere but just would not be found, only to have it turn up as soon as the project was finished. Of course this does not just apply to craft, work tools in the shed, the top that matches perfectly with those pants, any number of things can hide from us in clutter if we allow it to build up. What we want is to know what we already have and be able to put our finger on it easily when we need it.

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How Being Clutter-free Keeps the Family Safe

It may seem silly but clutter can also be a safety hazard. Think about Great Nanna trying to navigate past a pile of old newspapers or magazines to make her way to the bathroom or a young child finding some small item on the floor and putting it into their mouths.

When the house is tidy and there are no obstacles or dangerous items lying around, the chance of unexpected accidents occurring is a lot lower. Of course, there will always be times when things are out of place but if most of the house is clutter free, we can see those items that need to be managed when special visitors come over and can quickly take steps to reduce any risks.

How Being Clutter-free Creates Mental Space

Another advantage of a neat and tidy space is that it often frees up our minds and gives us greater capacity to think. A (very difficult to read) study here proves this to be true.

In practice, a friend finds it very difficult to concentrate on anything in her work if the office is crowded with stuff. She spends a short time each day setting things right and finds herself so much more efficient for the rest of the day and able to complete her work without distractions.  

It’s just like trying to concentrate on a book, movie or piece of work when someone else is talking to you at the same time. It’s distracting and you are not able to give either thing your full attention.

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How Being Clutter-free Makes it Easier to Clean

Lastly, it’s so much easier to keep any house clean if you don’t have to tidy it first. A quick wipe down of the kitchen bench can turn into a marathon task if you can’t actually find the bench because it is covered with random objects.

When my children were small, it seemed like a never ending task trying to vacuum and wash the floor. By the time I had picked everything up and vacuumed, I was worn out. I had no energy left to actually wash the floor and by the time I got around to it it was inevitably covered with things again.

This may have simply been a byproduct of having very energetic children in the house and may not have been possible to avoid but at the time ,I certainly didn’t have any system in place to make it easier for myself.

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How do we solve a clutter problem once we know we have it?

There are a number of ways to tackle accumulated clutter in the house and which one you choose will probably depend upon your personality type and the level of the problem. Some people suggest an all at once approach where everything is pulled out onto the floor and gone through in one mammoth effort. This approach is not for me.

On some days I am energetic, enthusiastic and have plenty of time. On these days I might be able to pull out the entire pantry, clean the shelves, throw out the junk and rearrange everything as I put it back in. Other days I am time poor and have little energy to do that. At these times I will simply set my timer for 15 minutes, perhaps pop on a bit of music and do a quick clean out of one small spot in the house.

The 3 Step Decluttering System (S.O.S Decluttering Technique)

This is where my S.O.S decluttering Technique comes in.

This three step process will make it as easy as possible to complete one decluttering task each day until things are back under control. It will help you decide exactly where to start and what to do when you get there without telling you that on Tuesday you need to clean out your wardrobe and on Wednesday it is time to rearrange the medicine cabinet.

Once you understand the steps, you can use it to make a plan that suits your lifestyle and situation on any given day. 

The 3 step S.O.S Decluttering Technique Explained

1. Identify a Space within your home
2. Select an Object within that space 
3. Choose a Section of that object within that space. 

Identify a Space within your home

Firstly it involves selecting a Space or room that you wish to declutter.  

Examples may include the car, garage, shed, kitchen, laundry, bathroom, bedroom, family room, games room, essentially any large area that contains clutter. 

Select an Object within that space 

Secondly, choose an Object or item in the room which contains or holds the clutter you wish to remove.

This can include cupboards, wardrobes, tables, benches, fridges, freezers, car boot, TV cabinet, bed, pantry. 

Choose a Section of that object within that space. 

Lastly, choose the Section of that object by breaking it down into its smallest manageable parts.

For example, in the pantry we have each separate shelf, containers on those shelves and even the floor.  Each of these sections can be worked on independently of each other to make the decluttering task as simple as possible on any given day.

The process looks like this:

Let’s say for example that we choose the kitchen (space) and the pantry (object).

A pantry has a number of sections.  There are all of the shelves, the floor, the different containers of items on those shelves. Depending upon the level of clutter and the time available, if we try to tackle the entire pantry in the one go, we can become overwhelmed, burn out and give up.

The S.O.S system therefore directs us to choose one small section of that pantry to tackle each day. 

In the S.O.S Technique we simply spend 15 minutes working on the area of our choice.

I like to choose the spot which is causing me the most annoyance and do that one first. Yes, it is highly possible that using this technique we will spend the entire week decluttering the pantry. This is completely fine.

We are focussing on the one place until it is all finished, not scattering ourselves all over the house, hardly making a noticeable dent in anything. 

Take for example the solution where we declutter the fridge on day one, the lounge room on day two, the bedroom on day three etc. That is OK, if you have all day to get each thing done but if you only have a limited time you will find yourself in one of two places

a) overwhelmed and disappointed that you hardly scratched the surface or b) burnt out and unwilling to continue with the process until the whole house is finished.

We want is to see big results in each small area rather than small results across the whole house.

Jen Robinson clutterfreelife.lifewrangling.com

Using the S.O.S Technique we are creating a snowball effect. The tangible results achieved by using this method create a sense of accomplishment.

Imagine what it will feel like to get up in the morning, walk into the pantry to grab breakfast, be able to find exactly what you need in the shortest possible time and know exactly where everything belongs the next time you need to put something away.

The obvious success in one area then helps to create the momentum to continue and work on another area.

For example, inspired by the pantry, you may choose to work on the fridge or cupboards next and who knows where you will end up? Hopefully it will lead you to an entire house free from clutter and one that is much easier to keep that way.

Ok, now we know what to declutter and a process for choosing a small achievable space, object and section of the house to work on but what exactly are we doing when we declutter?

Using the 3R Method of Decluttering

There are a couple of very simple steps I recommend to easily declutter the section of your choice.  You will need three bags/boxes/containers for the 3 R’s.

1) Rubbish 

The meaning is simple here, this is for junk that will go straight into the bin.

2) Rehome

Things that you no longer need but are too good to throw away can be donated to good will. I do not recommend trying to have a garage sale or something of that type as this involves keeping the clutter around until the event and is really only moving it from one place to another. This will counter the momentum we are trying to build up by seeing the clutter removed from our homes.  

We want to get it out of the house as soon as possible for the best effect to be achieved for all of our hard work.

3) Relocate

This is for all of the items that you need to keep but are in the wrong place in the house. It’s much easier to collect them all together and relocate in one go at the end, than to be distracted trying to return an item at a time in the middle of the process.

Go through the chosen section and put the items into the appropriate box if there is no place for them in the area you are working on. It doesn’t really matter to me how you organise the things that are left.  

I am not an advocate of purchasing containers or anything like that because we do not want to introduce more stuff into the house to contain all of our other stuff.  We are not talking about organizing our stuff here. We are talking about getting rid of what we do not need.

Keep your home clutter-free with these 4 simple rules…

Possibly the simplest thing to keep in mind are the 4 simple rules.  If you follow them, you will be further along the road of having a tidy, uncluttered house than 90% of the population.

I have shared a lot of information with you here.

Hopefully you will be able to put each of the steps into place and begin the slow and steady transformation of your home into one which feels welcoming, looks fantastic and feels good to live in.

Remember that this is not a race. Take your time and do it properly.

The Key Elements of a Decluttered Home

There are a number of distinct areas in the home that must be tackled. These include..

Click each item to read more…

1. The Kitchen
2. The Bedroom
3. The Living Room
4. Children’s toys
5. The Closet
6. The Car
7. Papers
8. The Bathroom

Working through each of these areas in turn will slowly but surely turn a cluttered home into a decluttered one that is a pleasure to live in.

I have a lot of stuff! Where do I start?

Organise more or organise less?