How To Declutter Like A Pro

It’s already February and I haven’t had a chance to do a proper January clean and sort! Although I have had every intention to do so; I’ve been following @thisgirlcanorganise on her January declutter, and managed a total of one of the days…not good. Now we are moving into month two of 2020, I’m ready to get down to business and thought I’d share my method with you in case you want to do the same!

THE CLOCKWISE METHOD

The first thing I do when planning a declutter is to DECLUTTER…by that I mean don’t go and buy loads of storage solutions before doing the actual work. You’ll more than likely end up with one thousand and one plastic boxes/drawer dividers/jars/bins* and nowhere to put them. I always get started by dividing up the room I want to tackle wall by wall. For instance, I work around the room clockwise, tackling each piece of furniture or storage unit as I go, cleaning everything along the way.

I create a pile for donations (in an Ikea blue bag!), one for resell (another Ikea bag), one for recycling (in a cardboard box) and one for waste (straight into a black sack), in the middle of the room and go back to that at the end. It should be easy to sort by this point; black bag straight in the bin, recycling out into the recycling bins or drive down to the local recycling centre etc…

Once everything is sorted and cleaned you might find you do need a storage solution, so at this point make a list and go shopping! This way you never buy more than you need.

*Delete as appropriate

TOP TIP for paperwork

When it comes to paperwork, I never keep the following things:

• Used envelopes or unused printed returns envelopes

• . Anything I can find online e.g. terms and conditions

• Anything financial older than 5 years

• Expired subscriptions e..g. old insurance docs/phone contracts etc

SEASONAL WARDROBE

I’ve never given myself a seasonal wardrobe, everything is always very present in my wardrobe. However, I’ve realised that there are some items that I only ever wear in the summer or on holiday - think beach cover-ups, linen shorts etc. So this year to free up space I've reorganised my wardrobe to separate summer into a bottom drawer altogether.

I’ve also hung up most of my items so that I know what I have and can make outfits from one place rather than various drawers. I was inspired to reorganise my wardrobe this way by Youtuber and influencer Signe at Use Less who talks about being more sustainable by utilising a capsule wardrobe. Although I am not there yet, I am more aware of my consumption of fashion and having good organisation means I get more inspired by what I already own reducing the cravings for something new!

TOP TIP for SENTIMENTAL ITEMS

Check out my blog post about this here!

THE DRAWING METHOD

Once I’ve gone through every drawer, cupboard, nook and cranny, I like to plot how I will put everything back by drawing out my storage and labelling where everything will go. For instance, a chest of 3 drawers and 2 bedside tables with 2 drawers each looks like 3 rectangles on my page - one divided into 3 and the other 2 into two. I then label each box with the category it will contain e.g. tops/bottoms/pyjamas etc. It works particularly well in the kitchen when planning which storage will hold food and which utensils.

This helps me plan the most ergonomic way of utilising the space without having to keep moving things around! Just write it out in pencil and rub out anything that doesn’t work.

TOP TIP for RESELLING

Why not try Depop to sell on any lightly worn clothes, shoes, accessories or artwork? It’s a mix of eBay and Instagram and is great for selling on higher-priced items. There is always eBay too, but for any designer bits, there are lots of reselling websites like Vestaire Collective who will take care of the process for a cut of the price.

Download one of those apps on your phone or tablet, so you can snap photos and upload in one go!

I’d love to know if you watched @tgco and followed along…or if you have your own strategy of decluttering! Head over to Instagram to let me know.