We live in a decent sized 2 bedroom flat, yet it is full of ‘stuff’. Admittedly much of the stuff is baby-related but a lot of it is not! We bizarrely have two bathrooms, the place clearly designed by a gent, a woman would probably have made the 2nd bathroom a walk in closet which would have been far more helpful in my storage war. The smaller bathroom has a large set of shelves in it that is teetering under the weight of all the boxes of random bits and pieces we’ve stacked it with. So, operation de-clutter is something I’ve started recently because the alternative is moving house and that’s not an option!
There are three main types of clutter that I want to combat:
- Piles of ‘random stuff’, like the contents of handbags, pockets, unopened mail that gets dumped on the table, magazines etc.
- Baby related stuff (toys she no longer seems interested in, clothes, blankets etc)
- Beauty related stuff – nail varnish, makeup, toiletries, jewellery etc.
Below is what I plan to do, apologies the photos are from pinterest, but I haven’t actually got round to starting yet, so you would just have a few photos of the every growing piles of stuff!
- To combat the ‘random stuff’ I have come up with a plan to find a pretty looking box/basket to sweep all the bits into on a semi regular basis and then sort through it on a sunday night. All the loose change can go into a piggy bank for Athena, I’ll open and file the post in the right place and find a home for or throw everything else.
[image source]
- To combat the overload of baby related paraphernalia I plan once a month to sort the discarded toys into a bin bag, and any clothes she’s outgrown. We’re lucky to have a few friends with babies younger than A so we’ve been creating space by passing on bags of clothes to them! Some are local, and some are further afield so we post these bundles with a courier like TNT to make sure they arrive safely. The bigger things like carry cots and cribs are all in my mums garage for safekeeping already, so I have made a start!
[image source]
- Finally, the beauty related bits and bobs… this is a hard one because I don’t actually want to get rid of all my beloved bits of makeup that I rarely use these days (mascara and blusher and I’m out of the door generally!) So first off I had a good harsh chat with myself and told myself to stop being such a hoarder, then I put all the bits I could give away or sell into piles, and was very strict with throwing out things that were beyond use, like gunky nail polishes! I have listed a few things on depop (my user name is Belledubrighton and it’s mainly mac and benefit bits!) although seem to get people asking to buy things for half the list price, and have given a few bits to friends too. I have sorted through all my jewellery and flung out anything that had gone green with age or had stones missing/broken clasps.
Decluttering your home is something that everybody would like to do, but no-one ever really finds the time to do, so if you are needing some much needed cleaning supplies, use this same day delivery service to help you get those supplies quicker.
Please do tell me your BEST tip for household organisation, or something that has really helped make a difference for you!
I love decluttering, it’s so therapeutic getting rid of things! 🙂
I moved to the UK for one year (turned into 4) and so never knew when I was picking up and going home, so I had to be SO strict about clutter and buying things. The strategy that worked best for me was “one thing in, one thing out” so that the net position of my belongings stayed the same. Also I switched to mainly e-readers, although I love having books around, they take up SO much space, and I realised I was keeping most of them to impress people when they came around!
I know what you mean about the books 😉 I used to be so anti kindle but I’ve embraced it now! I love the one in one out strategy, deffo need to embrace that one!
I’m like Jess- I find it therapeutic. I find that, if I’m wavering about whether to chuck something, I evaluate if I love it as much as someone else might if they found it in a charity shop. If the answer is no, it gets donated. My other trick is a regular, pretend clear out- I put anything I’m unsure about cĥucking out in a bag and then go back to it a few months later. If I can’t remember what’s in there, it goes. xxx
This is a very well timed post, ive just started my cluttering journey today! With my bathroom products, today’s tactic mainly involved using up as much ad possible! My other rule at the mo is in regard to my craft stuff; use pinterest to find things to make with the stuff I already have. Good luck!
Good plan re the craft stuff! I’ve not bought anything new in ages but it takes up so much room! :/