Why is so hard working out how to declutter your home? I have tried many a time and failed and I have finally mastered it!

They say a tidy house is a tidy mind and you can not even start to clean your house if it is not tidy. Four years ago Marie kondo brought out her first book The Life changing magic of tiding up. As tidying and organising is not my biggest fortay I bought it. I had looked up how to declutter your home a million times and tried to declutter my house and failed miserably each time. There was no way I would be able to take on some of Mrs Hinch’s cleaning tips as I was still under a blanket of clutter. If you haven’t heard of the Instagram sensation and cleaning lady Mrs Hinch then you may of been living under a rock for the last few months. 

Are you are left with overflowing drawers?

I’ve gone through spits  and spurts of tidying over the years and although the house is clean it’s never tidy. Life takes over and you add stuff to drawers and then you can not find anything again. For instance I had a well organised underwear drawer and I put on a bit of weight. So I would take put on a bra and knickers and think “hmm that’s a bit tight” and Chuck it back in the drawer. Before too long I had nothing that fitted or at least I could not find it. So what did I do? I bought new underwear and started another drawer!

Finally you are left with overflowing drawers and cupboards and no will power to change. I then started writing lists to help and I even tried a bit of Hygge thinking it would let me see through the clutter, this didn’t help either!  Then just recently I noticed a post from a friend on Facebook about the Marie Kondo Netflix programme based on her book The life changing magic of tidying up and I was inspired to watch it! 

Well so now I am in the middle of what I hope is going to be a new tidy organised chapter in my life. With a decluttered house and home and hopefully a decluttered head.

So you want to know how to declutter your home fast?

Well there is certainly no fast way about it. The magic of tidying up is methodical which means there is light at the end of the tunnel. Can you declutter your house in one day? I dont think so unless you were pretty organised to start with.

You could spend your life tidying one room at a time or just one drawer. What about doing it all at once but broken down in to smaller categories? It won’t be quick but it will be effective.

Sometimes you can get bogged down by not achieving and beat yourself up. When it’s not all done quickly or perfectly like what you see on social media.

Does it mean we have failed no! It’s not about how many times you didn’t achieve something it’s about all the time you crack on with it. Just maybe you were going about it the wrong way?

Finish one category at a time and pop it in the correct storage and move on. So there may be no true way of being able to declutter your home fast but you can be effective.

Why is the Marie Kondo Method of the magic of tidying up different? 

Well it’s all about the psychology! The way we clear and tidy and how we get it around our head. Why do we hang on to things? why we can’t let go? and ultimately why we feel guilty about doing so?

Anything you manage to tidy is a start, as soon as you declutter your home you will instantly start to feel better your head will clear and you will find yourself more organised.

The Magic of tidying up is all about the method of success. Instead of going around the house haphazardly throwing away random things in the hope it will look better its about working out what you want to keep in your life.

Where do you start with the Marie Kondo Method?

First set yourself a goal and commit yourself to tidying up.

Finding happiness and trying to declutter your house with kon Marie is easy. The first thing is to decide on where your future is what do you want to achieve.

For me:

I want to achieve a tidy wardrobe where I can take an item out with out thinking and put it on and love it.

I,d like to declutter my home so its easy to clean and ultimately saves me time.

And  I would like more free time for myself.

Tidy by category and not by room

1. Start with your Clothes and break them down in to smaller categories. I started with dresses as I knew I had far too many. Them move on to top, then trousers, underwear, belts ect.
2.  Next item is Books.
3. Tidy papers
4. Next is KOMONO ( misilanious items ) Kitchen, Bathroom, garage.
5. Finally sentimental items.

Sentimental items are last because by this time you should be more efficient at what at tidying and find it easier. If you want to be really organised you could download this handy checklist that guides you through each smaller category so as not to miss anything.

Put everything from one category on the bed! Go through each item one by one and decide if you want to keep it. By identifying what makes you happy helps you work out what needs to stay in your life.

Work out if it sparks Joy?

Once you have started you need to work on what sparks joy! After all it is about finding happiness with the magic of tidying up. Marie Kondo’s second book is Spark Joy which explains this perfectly.

Pick out something from the pile that you absolutely love or something you know straight you can part with. This makes it easier for you to compare with items that you are unsure of. then you can work out what really sparks joy as opposed to items that do not.

Do you love it?

Do you love it? or do you see it in your future? If you do not thank it for playing its part and put it on a discard pile to be loved by someone else.

I found dresses I had purchased while I felt bad about myself or low so I bought something to make myself feel better. Then I had the clothes that I took off every time I put them on! Why was I keeping them? They do not spark joy they obviously did not suit me or make me not feel nice in them or purchased them on a whim.

Then there were the expensive purchases ones where they were really pretty or items I loved but simply now did not fit. Well previously I would of kept them because I felt I was throwing money away! But think again this is a sunk cost, you are not throwing money away it’s already been spent the item of clothing it’s done it’s job.

Then there were some lovely dresses they looked amazing yet they no longer suited me. Stunning prints and fabrics but the wrong shape. I loved a shift dress 10 years ago when I wasn’t as confident about my body shape. Now I’ve realised I suit dresses that fit and flare. This was great for me to recognise this because even though I have put weight on these shapes suit me and make me look slimmer. So my shift dress were another load of dresses to the declutter pile.

Next comes the items that are bobbly, have holes, or are uncomfortable to wear. These items are much easier to part with why are you using up valuable space in your wardrobe for something you do not love?

What happens if I am stuck on an item?

There also comes a mix of feelings when you decide to keep something and then think oh but I’m not decluttering. I found this quite hard with some of my vintage items. I love them and I can’t get them anywhere else. But one might be a bit tight or a bit large. This was where I got stuck x

What happens if you get stuck? Put the item down and go back to it last.

When you return look at your loved items, does it spark the same joy? can you sell the item? will you eve use it again?

How to store your clothes in your wardrobe.

After you declutter your house everything needs a home. Once you have sorted each category and discarded what does not spark joy you will need to organise it so its easy to see. If everything has a home it is easy to tidy.

I found this handy tiered basket in TKMaxx , it is supposed to be for your bathroom but it was wonderfull for storing scarfs in the bottom of my wardrobe. The idea being is that you can see all of your items of clothing at once making it easier to decide what to wear.

Use different shape baskets that fit into small spaces.

Measure shelves and cupboards and find baskets to fit. This way you can tidy items all together in one place and utilise space that is hard to get to.

Fold your clothes for more space and you can see exactly what you have!

One of the best ideas is to fold your clothes to maximise space in your drawers. These were my jumpers that were haphazardly hanging in my wardrobe. Now they are all folded neatly I have more space to hang dresses and more thing fit in the drawer space. These jumpers are now folded neatly in a drawer.

You can fold clothes in baskets too, especially clothes that you would not use all the time. These are my beach cover ups.

Compartmentalise your drawers with other boxes.

Use cardboard box lids to organise your drawer space. I used old monthly beauty boxes to organise my drawers in to compartments rather than throwing them away. Socks needed folding so I could easily see them and pick a pair. I folded different types of socks in to each section, trainer socks, black socks, ballerina socks.

Put photos on boxes for shoes and bags.

If you have items that are in boxes that you can not see inside you can pop a photo on the outside of the box to easily see what is in them. I used the HP Sprocket Pocket sized printer to put a picture on my boxes so I do not need to open them each time and look for what inside.

Use vintage storage cases.

Find old Vanity cases as extra storage for miscellaneous item such as sunglasses or belts. Use all shelf space and try to keep shoes in their original boxes if not pop them altogether in one basket.

If you really want to declutter your house, dont give up! it may look worse as you start but you will soon see the benefits.

Now its on to the art of cleaning  up! Thats my next project!

D x