How can I start decluttering?

After a strange start to the year, things are finally starting to get back to normal, which means it’s time to start getting organised again! It can be much easier said than done, though, especially after the last year, so We Buy Any House have put together a few helpful tips and tricks for you to try out!

Accept that it isn’t a 5-minute job

Decluttering tends to be a pretty long process, which is what will put people off doing it. Once you can accept that it will probably take a while and that you can break it down into smaller, more manageable chunks, it can really help you get started and make some real progress. Depending on how much you’ve got to sort through, decluttering can take months – but that’s okay and completely normal! Approach it slowly and don’t let yourself get too overwhelmed, as this will often mean that people give up on the mission and end up putting the work off again and again. 

A really helpful way to approach decluttering is to start small and take bigger steps from there when you’re ready. Set yourself a timeframe of 10 minutes a day in one room, and sort through a single drawer or a specific pile of paperwork. After you do this for a couple of days, you’ll start to see a noticeable difference, and it will likely encourage you to do more than those 10 minutes. Very quickly, you could be up to doing half an hour a day – but if you don’t get to this stage, that’s okay! Move at a speed that you feel comfortable with and that works for you.

Go paperless

A huge amount of us are guilty of it – a hidden drawer of unorganised paperwork chaos that we don’t really need, but we don’t want to let go of ‘just in case’. Any important documents that you have, you can file tidily and put away, but you’ll likely find that you don’t need most of them anymore. You can digitally scan these papers and store them on your computer to make your house more organised, which makes them much easier to sort through too. When you do this, it’s worth outlining a date range, so you only keep paperwork that you really need – anything older than a year or so is probably no longer relevant. 

Make sure that when you clear out any paperwork with personal details on them, that you dispose of it all properly. Shredding is a very popular option to ensure any sensitive information is destroyed for safety purposes. 

Sorting through clothes is a task a lot of people really don’t like doing, especially if you think that you wear most of them regularly and struggle to let go of them. However, especially considering how much time we’ve stayed at home for the last year or so, the chances are we’ve all got a few bits and pieces we haven’t worn and so could get rid of them. A great way to see what you actually wear regularly and what you don’t touch is to arrange your coat hangers all facing one way in your wardrobe.

When you take one out to wear the item, you can turn that hanger around to face the opposite way. After three months or so - some people prefer to do six - you can look at which hangers haven’t been moved and therefore which items you haven’t worn. You can then sort through those specific items and decide which ones you could get rid of.

There are all sorts of ways to aid your decluttering journey, and we’ve listed just a few to get you started. The most important thing when you start decluttering is to find what works for you, so whether you’re organising to sell your house or you just want to move forward with a more minimalist approach in your home, take it one step at a time, and you’ll have a lot to be proud of in no time at all!