The 6 best ways to declutter your home

Just about every household has more stuff lying around than is ideal, and as such it’s vital to occasionally go through every closet, corner, nook and cranny to declutter. Of course, that isn’t always a simple or quick task, and it might take a little more work than you originally think to truly get the job done right.

Want a little inspiration on that project? We have some ideas for you:

1) Don’t try to do everything at once

You may often put off decluttering (or other cleaning projects) because there’s just so much to do when you look at the big picture. Zen Habits says that you can accomplish quite a bit if you break things into smaller, manageable tasks. Why worry about doing a sweep of your entire upstairs when you can focus on an individual room? Better yet, why worry about decluttering an individual room when you can handle a single closet or shelf within it?

2) Focus on flat surfaces

A lot of clutter in the household tends to pile up on flat surfaces like counters, tables, shelves and so on. The good news is that unless you’ve really made a hash of things on your dining room table, for example, you can probably get all that stuff cleared off in just a few minutes, and figure out what you can keep and what should be put away.

3) Find expired products that are taking up space

There is probably plenty of stuff around your house that is past its sell-by date, according to Good Housekeeping. That could be as simple as the various food and drinks in your fridge and pantry, your cleaning products and even makeup. Sometimes you won’t have an exact expiration date, so you’ll have to ballpark it, but you’re better off erring on the side of tossing something you haven’t used in a while.

4) Use bins to create hide-away storage

If you just feel like you have a lot of stuff with nowhere to put it, it might be time to buy some extra, portable storage. For instance, you may be able to slide a small chest under your coffee table and store throw blankets and extra pillows in it, or you could put shoes in a special container in the foyer so they’re not strewn all over the floor.

5) Sort as you go

When decluttering, it’s always a good idea to separate items into three categories: Put away, throw out and donate. Budget Dumpster recommended that you simply pick up each item you encounter and determine whether you really need it. If so, put it in a pile for being stashed away later. But if not, you can either think about whether to donate it to an organisation, neighbour or family or just throw it away.

6) Remember the 80/20 rule

But even if you think you want to keep an item to put it away, you should remember this salient point: 80% of the time, you’re only using about 20% of your stuff. That is to say that four days out of every five, you’re only using about 20% of your outfits. Or every time you watch a movie, you’re usually circling back to the same handful of titles rather than continually watching new stuff.

If your decluttering plans are part of a bigger strategy to get your home ready for a sale, you may need more help than just the cleanup. That’s where the real estate professionals at Ray White Surfers Paradise come in. We can guide you through every step of the sales process and help you get the best possible deal. Get in touch with us today to learn more about what we can do for you!