How to declutter your home easily

Decluttering is a crucial part of every home cleaning in London and can be a monumental task where many begin to feel overwhelmed and defeated before they even start. The decluttering journey does not have to be a painful one. In fact, Glimmr, London’s best domestic cleaners, suggests the best way to tackle it is to focus on a room or even zone at a time.

 

The start of the journey….

 

Let’s give you some pointers to fully equip you for this transforming journey

Spread out the days of decluttering

Very few people have the energy, time or concentration to spend a whole day organising. You’re better off spending 2-3 hours each day one on zone or room. This way you can get on with the decluttering without losing efficiency.

Decluttering doesn’t end

Your decluttering effort is a failure if you end up with the same amount of mess and junk in the house a few months later. Spending the end of each week decluttering as you clean out your home is the best way to make sure junk does not accumulate in the house.

See it off

Once you’ve categorised what you want to throw away, give to friends, donate or recycle, action this immediately. Never keep it in bags and boxes because chances are, it will remain there. If it’s trash, throw it away immediately. If it’s to give to a friend, arrange for them to collect it in the day. If it’s for donation, leave it outside your front door to drop off later. You’ve done the hard work – now just seal the deal.

Clean as you do it

Nothing more to say here really. It’s the best way to go about cleaning and partly why most people bite off more than they can chew when they decide to declutter.

 

You’re now ready to go…

It’s all about breaking down by rooms into days and even zones within those rooms.

Bathrooms

1. Start with any open shelves. Get rid of those old or extra toothbrushes and throw away those old back scrubbers.

2. Look to clear out your cabinets. Dispose of anything out of date, give away any products you’ve never used to friends and place back those items you use regularly.

3. Your tops draws should have the items you use most often. Any additional items should be given to friends or donated. You really don’t need 5 shampoos and 4 different types on conditioner.

4. Complete the routine with your bath tub and sink area

Bedrooms

1. Start by making your bed. Continue to always make your bed on a daily basis; it’s a good habit to get into and the start to a tidy bedroom future.

2. Your room is likely to hold the most unnecessary junk out of all the rooms and spaces. Start by having a trash or recycling bag to hand and see how quickly you can fill it up as you go around the open space in the room. Warning: you might need more than one bag!

3. Now go straight to those cloth draws and empty out everything and we mean EVERYTHING. Throw away the random junk for example, last year’s secret Santa or the useless letters in the post. Wardrobe and clothing deserved its own section because that’s the mother of all decluttering pains.

4. Finally, return other items to their proper places. For example, note pads and pens going back to the study desk and the hair tongues back to your beauty draw.

Wardrobe and Clothing

1. This is where the main challenge lies within your bedroom. The key is to be decisive! Start by working on sections of clothing’s, say looking at all handbags, then all your trousers and then all your t shirts.

2. It’s much easier to throw away a t shirt if you have your whole t shirt collection in front of you. Anything no longer worn should be put straight into the donation box.

3. Anything that needs repair should be put away for the dry cleaners or tailors. And make sure you have a basket for all your dirty laundry present – it will pile up for sure!

4. Finally, neatly fold back items you want to keep. We suggest top draws for tops and dresses, middle draws for your trousers and bottom draws for your underwear and socks.

Kitchen

1. Split your kitchen into zones. The sink area, cooking area, lower cabinets, upper cabinets and the fridge area is an easy split.

2. Second step is to completely empty each area and assess each item as you store them neatly away.

3. Clean the surfaces as you go and try to move as many items off your countertops into storage spaces. We advise only keeping daily use items on counter tops, for example, your salt and pepper set.

4. The fridge and freezer should most certainly be emptied. We tend to keep the nastiest clutter within our fridges and freezers. When placing the items you want to keep back into the fridge, keep the food items that are soon to run out of date visible and at eye level if possible.

Living Room

1. We advise permanently setting storage spaces for specific items within your living room. Whether that be just books and magazines, the games console or even the TV remote.

2. Start with book cases, shelves and side tables. Again donate books and DVDs you no longer need – we tend to hold onto these items without ever visiting them again.

3. Move onto other items such as electronics and toys. Dispose, recycle, and donate. That’s the mantra!

4. The living room is a space for everyone, therefore most susceptible to carnage, so it’s vital to keep this area clear of clutter on a daily basis.

And there you have a simple and effective method to declutter your home. Going forward, to make decluttering a simple task, declutter as you clean each room on a regular basis or make a booking with Glimmr, the best professional cleaners in London, for those regular weekly cleans.