Five Steps To Start Decluttering

1. Let go of the guilt
One of the reasons I find it relatively easy to help other people with their decluttering is that every grubby coffee mug or outdated magazine doesn’t scream at me and make me feel guilty.

If you’re going to commit to a large-scale and ongoing decluttering programme, beating yourself up and condemning yourself for letting it get this way is counter-productive and likely to put you off confronting the issue. In fact, guilt and harsh judgements about yourself need to be the very first things to go in the bin!

Detach from seeing it as a reason to feel bad about yourself and recognise that you’re never going to be motivated to undertake decluttering if you turn each session into an excuse to pile on the guilt and shame.

2. Make a small start right now
Commit to doing ten or fifteen minutes right now, or as soon as you get home tonight. Don’t wait until you’re in the mood – arguably, no sane person is ever in the mood to declutter!

Just crack on with it in small steps and within a week (probably less) you’ll start to see enough progress that you’ll want to do more than a few minutes – heck, you might even start feeling like it’s fun as you regain lost space and freedom in your home!

3. Start anywhere
It’s easy to look at clutter and not know where to start – that’s fine, just start anywhere and if there’s an obvious or correct way, it’ll soon become obvious.

If not, no worries - at least you’ve made a start on it and not delayed any longer and put up with more clutter-induced misery. If you’re looking at a room full of clutter, for the sake of argument just pick a corner and work your way around the room from there.

Make a commitment to steam through it for your ten or fifteen minutes, and don’t get bogged down by over-thinking it or getting sidetracked by minor details.

4. Move it around
While you’re doing a big clear out you’re likely to come across important stuff you want to keep but which can’t just go straight to its correct home. Don’t be afraid to move stuff to several temporary locations before it finally gets squared away.

For example you could try piling all your clothing in one corner to await sorting into its final destinations of “Keep” “Bin” and “Charity Shop.” Likewise, all paperwork could be placed together into an A4 box file (or two) until you’re ready to file it away properly.

Should you need something from that category in the meantime, at least it’s all in one place and that alone will probably make day-to-day life much simpler.

5. Don’t self-sabotage
Specifically, don’t think that you cannot begin to declutter until you have a scheme in place to recycle and re-use everything. You are not helping to save the planet by becoming an annexe for the local landfill.

In fact a cluttered home is a serious fire-hazard to you and your neighbours, attracts vermin (who are a health hazard and who the local council will eventually exterminate) and you have no hope of setting up a sensible eco-friendly home if you’re up to your ears in chaos.

So make with the binbags for now and concentrate on going green once you have room and space to plan properly.