Knowing how to declutter your home for storage can be tough. While most people prefer not to live in a cluttered environment, throwing away your treasures and knowing how to downsize your belongings can be hard. Follow these 6 steps process on how to declutter your house:
Step 1: Eliminate ‘multiples’
Step 2: Stick to the ‘12 month rule’
Step 3: If it doesn’t have a use, get rid of it
Step 4: If it doesn’t make an immediate impression, get rid of it
Step 5: Clothes are clutter too
Step 6: Kitchens and bathrooms are key battlegrounds
Step 1: Eliminate ‘Multiples’
If you have multiples of anything, consider whether you need all of them. You really don’t need four brooms, five CD players and more doormats than you have doors. Apart from obvious sets (such as crockery and cutlery), you really only need one of most household items. Selling, donating or throwing away ‘multiples’ are a great place to start if you want to know how to downsize your belongings.
Step 2: Stick to the ‘12 Month Rule’
When it comes to tips to declutter your home, the ‘12 month rule’ has to be at the top of the list. Keep this rule in the back of your mind while you pack your belongings for storage. The beauty of the rule is that it removes the sentimentally that usually clouds the decluttering process. The rule states: if you’ve used the item, or thought about the item within the last 12 months, then keep it. If not, chances are it isn’t useful, important or special and should be disposed of.
If you want to get really serious about your decluttering, then go a step further than the ‘12 month rule’—follow steps 3 and 4 below.
Step 3: If It Doesn’t Have a Use, Get Rid of It
Knowing how to declutter your house means asking yourself how useful every single item is. While there’s obviously room for purely aesthetic items in your home (and storage unit), it might be time to evaluate whether you’re paying to store an excessive number of dust-gathering ornaments. Furniture is another common area where people tend to go overboard. Chances are, you really don’t need three ottomans or three coffee tables – keep your favourites and sell or donate the rest.
Step 4: If It Doesn’t Make an Immediate Impression, Get Rid of It
Once you’ve completed step five, if you’re still not sure how to declutter your home, and there are items that you’re undecided about, consider their sentimental value. If the item in question does not make an immediate impression, you can’t remember when or where you bought it, or who gave it to you, then get rid of it.
Step 5: Clothes are Clutter Too
When people are looking for tips for downsizing possessions, they often neglect their wardrobe. This is a huge mistake! Wardrobes are often a major source of clutter. Clothes can be difficult to let go of (we’ve all got the ‘one day I’ll fit back into it’ outfit), but you’ll give yourself so much extra space if you rid yourself of all those outfits you haven’t worn for years. Another benefit of clearing your wardrobe is that you get to donate all your clothes to people who really need them.
Step 6: Kitchens and Bathrooms Are Key Battlegrounds
Still need more tips to declutter your home? Alongside the wardrobe, bathrooms and kitchens are key areas on which to focus. We tend to collect pots, pans, baking trays and other kitchen equipment over time. If you stop and think about each item, you’ll probably find that you only use a couple of them. The same goes with the bathroom. There are probably so many creams, gels, sprays, soaps and shavers in your bathroom cabinet that you can’t even remember what you bought them for. Get rid of all the inessential bathroom and kitchen items, and you’ll have gone a great way towards decluttering your home for storage.
So, there is your step-by-step guide, which gives you all the tips to declutter your house for storage. Remember, you pay for the volume of your belongings in storage. So, follow this guide to cut down your storage volume (and bill) as much as possible—it will the packing and storage process so much easier.