12 tips to make decluttering easier

Learn how to sort your things, make decisions about what to keep, and stay motivated and organised with my decluttering tips.

LAST UPDATED: 26/01/2022

1. Categorise your things

Categorising your things helps you stay organised while you declutter and minimises decision fatigue. You can see how much you have and identify opportunities to scale back, and you can make comparisons between similar items.

The trick to successful categorising is to make your categories small. For example, break shoes down into types, such as high heels, trainers and sandals. If you own a lot, break trainers down into running, work, casual and so on.

While you’re sorting, if you come across anything you no longer want, put it to one side for a quick win.

2. Set up a decluttering system

Before you start making decisions, get organised. Having a system in place before you start prevents your room from becoming a confusing mess.

Grab some cardboard boxes or bags, post-it notes and a pen. Label one bag/box donate, one recycle and one rubbish. You could use different coloured post-it notes so that you don’t have to write on them.

If you’re not putting things away today, designate a keep box. If you plan on giving bits to family, label a gift box. You could also have a needs-action box and a to-sell box, though try to keep it simple – you can always add more over time.

3. Start by choosing what you want to save

Going through each category at random can be difficult. It’s more positive to start by picking out what you want to save.

This bit should be easy. These are things you either love, value or use lots. If it’s taking you time to decide, you’re doing it wrong. You don’t have to throw everything else away, so try not to overthink it. We’ll make decisions on what’s left next.

4. Sort through what's left

Once you’ve picked your favourite things, put them into a save pile and notice how they make you feel. Next, go through each remaining item and ask yourself whether you value or use it enough to add it to your save pile. You could try adding it and seeing how it makes you feel. If you feel a little less happy after adding an item, it’s a good indication you should let it go.

5. Save difficult decisions till last

Difficult decisions slow us down and tire us out.

If you struggle to decide on something, put it to one side. Come back to it once you have finished your category. By then, you’ll have a better idea of what you’ve already chosen and what you need.

If you’re still struggling, save the item till another day, week or even month. Decluttering creates momentum and gets easier over time, so decisions that were once difficult should become simpler to make.

It might help to set a time limit such as six months. If you’ve not saved or used it in that time, you likely never will.

6. Question your decisions

There are too many questions you can ask yourself for me to cover. A simple and effective universal one is ‘why do I want to keep this?’.

Think about your answer. For example, if you answered that it seems wasteful to let it go, consider that the item is being wasted by not using it. Not to be morbid, but when you die, if it’s still in your house, it’ll be thrown away and wasted then. If you look at it that way, you may as well let it go now so you can at least enjoy a clutter-free home. If it’s in good enough condition, it’ll be less wasteful to donate it to someone who’ll use or love it.

Challenging yourself in this way helps you shift perspective and makes it easier for you to let things go.

7. Remind yourself of the end goal

Stay motivated by reminding yourself regularly why you’re decluttering. Imagine what it’ll feel like to live in a decluttered home. Then whenever you’re struggling and feel like giving up, close your eyes and picture it.

8. Get the help of a friend or professional

It can be tedious decluttering on your own – lonely, tiring, and easy to become distracted, disorganised and unmotivated.

Your friend, or better yet, a professional organiser, will be your accountability partner, giving you tough love when needed, helping you stay on track and making sure the room doesn’t become messy.

Another reason to declutter with someone is that it’s nice to talk about the memories that crop up. It feels therapeutic and helps us let go of things more easily.

NB: If you have any questions about working with a professional declutterer/organiser, or you’re interested in working with me, get in touch via my contact page. I offer both in-house decluttering and virtual decluttering support depending on your preferences and budget.

9. Set numerical and space targets

I usually don’t encourage clients to stick to strict rules about the number of items they keep as I don’t believe in a magic number. However, they can be helpful if you’re short on space or if you’re someone who likes rules.

Along with numerical targets, you can also set space targets. For example, say some of your clothes don’t fit you anymore, but you’re hoping to lose weight and wear them again. Give yourself a box to fill with your favourite goal clothes. Limit yourself to just one. If you end up losing weight, you’ll probably want to buy new clothes anyway. Removing clothes from your wardrobe that don’t fit is essential as it makes you feel better and makes getting ready quicker.

Numerical and space rules are great for those needing to downsize. For example, if you’re moving to a house that has a kitchen half the size of your current one, aim to cut your things down by 50%

10. Take regular breaks

Don’t get so wrapped up in decluttering that you forget to take breaks.

It’s easy to feel energetic and enthusiastic at first and to want to carry on, even when you start to feel tired. If you do this, exhaustion will hit suddenly, and you’ll likely be too tired and demotivated to tidy up. If you’ve ever gotten a few hours into decluttering only to pick everything up and shove it back into a cupboard, you’ll know what I mean.

Decluttering is physically, mentally and emotionally demanding, so try to notice when you’re starting to feel tired and stop. Spend a few minutes tidying things away, then enjoy your break. Set yourself a timer if it helps.

11. Tidy up after each session

If you’ve kept an organised system, tidying up should be easy.

If you haven’t finished a complete area or space and it’s not urgent, keep the rehome items in a neat pile. It’ll be easier to put everything away at once when you know what you’ve got and can plan the space.

Stack your donate boxes, or better yet, take them to charity straight away. Take your rubbish and recycling out. Note down any items that require action and put a date in your diary to do it.

12. Enjoy your decluttered space

As you complete an area, make it look nice. Arrange your ‘to keep’ items nicely. Buy some new storage if it helps. If you’ve decluttered a surface, add some flowers or decorative items.
Enjoy the space! It’ll motivate you to carry on with another area.

I hope you enjoyed my tips. Let me know what you think if you give any a try, and please share any tips you have – I’d love to hear about them!