When you start to dig into a decluttering project, you can easily get overwhelmed quickly.
We’ve all been there: you get enthusiastic and motivated, so you tip the entire contents of your wardrobe onto your bed, and within minutes, you’re wearing your favourite dress from 5 years ago, sitting in the middle of your floor, ready to give up on the whole project.
Instead of letting decluttering overwhelm you, plan it out, work through your home piece by piece and work out what to do with everything you no longer want.
Instead of throwing everything away, go for a more sustainable approach and donate and repurpose whatever you can, and anything else can be recycled.
Plan and prepare appropriately.
Decluttering can feel overwhelming if faced with many things and no plan.
If you prepare correctly, you’ll be able to avoid panicking and throwing away everything and instead declutter sustainably.
Try putting a sorting system together before you start with separate places for things you are keeping, items to be repaired, something to be passed on to friends and family or donated or even sold, and finally, things
to be recycled.
Try to avoid throwing anything into landfills, if possible. Instead, recycle and repurpose wherever you can.
If your task still feels overwhelming, try breaking things down into smaller chunks.
Start by just picking one drawer cupboard or area to start decluttering.
Once you begin to see results from small sections, you’ll find you have the motivation to tackle bigger spaces.
Take care to be realistic about how long the process will take, and don’t expect to get through a whole home declutter in a single weekend.
Focus on one room at a time and work through your home methodically for the best results.
If you find that you have a lot of things cluttering your home that you don’t want to get rid of, why not try boxing some of them up and putting them into storage.
Many facilities offer storage in London for you to keep those things you use once every year or so that are taking up unnecessary space in your home.
Repair, repurpose or recycle
Before throwing things away, consider whether they can be repaired or upcycled to extend their life.
There are many quick fixes for worn-out furniture that you can find and quickly implement yourself.
If your items are in good condition but are no longer wanted or needed, you can donate them to your friends, family or second-hand shops.
Make sure that the charity shop you donate to accepts the items you donate so that they do not have to spend extra money to dispose of your items.
Alternatively, you could sell your things online at second-hand sites such as Gumtree or eBay or give them to friends.
If it is something they could use, don’t simply pile all of your clutter onto them!
If none of these options will work, do what you can to recycle anything you are trying to eliminate.
Check on your local council website to find out what you can recycle and where, and make sure to separate items before taking them to your local recycling centre.
Once you’ve put in all the hard work to declutter, you should do what you can to keep things tidy and organised so that you don’t need to repeat the whole process again in six months.
Implement long-term solutions instead to keep your home free of clutter permanently.
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