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Home Neat Home: Decluttering

Tips For Decluttering

It’s been a long time since I’ve done a Home Neat Home post! On this page you’ll find tours of my previous houses along with posts on organizing and cleaning. Decluttering is one of my favorite pastimes. I actually love the moving process because it forces you to really consider everything in your house. (But I don’t love moving breakable things like artwork and dishes…) Even though I have no intention of moving anytime soon, I often ask myself: “If I were to move next week, would I be ready?” I want to know that everything in my home is there for a reason: because I love and use it.

Step One: Categorize

Before you can organize, you must reduce the number of things in your home. Rather than tackling trouble zones one at a time, I’ve been approaching decluttering another way: by tier of least important to most important. Break down your things into the following tiers in your mind:

  1. Couldn’t live without it
  2. Use it all the time
  3. Use it sometimes
  4. Like it but never use it
  5. Useful but rarely use it
  6. Don’t like it but use it
  7. Don’t like it, don’t use it.

Something in level 1 might be your very favorite clothes or your everyday dinner plates. You wouldn’t know what to do if you gave them away. You couldn’t dress or eat.

Level 3 things are still keeps because you need them. Examples are flashlights or a play-doh set for your son that he enjoys and plays with every other week.

Level 4 items might be spare pillows or shoes that you think are cute but are not practical for your lifestyle or have been replaced by ones you like more.

Something in level 5 might be your third set of guest room sheets that you haven’t used in years (but continue to store) because you have newer ones.

Something in level 7 might be a candle someone gave you that you don’t like the smell of so you never burn it but haven’t had the heart to give away.

When I feel like my house is starting to feel cluttered, I walk around like a realtor giving a tour opening closets and peeking in cabinets and collect things that I either don’t like or don’t use. I ask myself: “Would I miss this if it were gone?” Once you have a big box to donate you’ll already feel better. #snowballeffect

Step Two: Get rid of the worst things in each category

Sheets and towels are a good example. When you buy new ones, you probably keep the old ones “just in case!” you need a towel for something messy. After owning towels for over 10 years I have accumulated a lot – the good master showering towels, the nice guest room towels, the extra towels that are still nice, the extra towels that are just OK, the extra towels that are for cleaning up spills, and the extra towels that are really gross and I might use and then toss. That’s a lot of towels!! So my point is, you probably don’t need all those tiers. Before a towel gets to the bottom levels, go ahead and give it to someone in need. Generally when it comes to sheets and towels, I like to have one in use and one for the wash. If I buy something new, I give away the one I like the least. I don’t buy new sheets all that often, but over the years I have learned that I really do need to embrace out with the old and in with the new. The same rule goes for tablecloths, scarves, shoes, handbags, etc.

Step Three: Admit you have favorites

Similarly, how often do you have a variety of something all on the same level of niceness yet you always choose certain favorites to actually use? I definitely have favorites – serving platters, clothes, bathing suits, and tablecloths – that always get first dibs. If you use one platter 10 times during the year and another just once, you probably won’t miss the latter. If you have room to store it, great! But if your things are feeling tight, free yourself of the second and third placers. They just might be first place to someone else!

Step Four: Repurpose

And finally, if you have things with sentimental value that you just don’t want to give away, ask yourself if you can repurpose them for another use. For example, I have a bowl with the KERF logo on it that I can’t bear to give away, but my bowl collection needed thinning out and I never chose it to use for breakfast (because it’s technically a dog bowl! Lol.) So instead of donating something sentimental to me that I never used, I repurposed the bowl as a bracelet holder in my closet and now it brings personality to a bland closet space. I’m sure you can find many different uses for those second-tier serving platters I mentioned above!

Once you’ve tackled all the bigger stuff, the little stuff like sorting through your child’s book collection or finally getting some dividers for your junk drawer (hey, bowls are great for this!) will be a more manageable project.

Happy organizing!

PS. Would you guys like to see an updated kitchen organization post, or is that overkill since I already did one in a previous house?

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Another great way to declutter – move:) We recently moved and plan on moving again in the next two years so hopefully all the clutter we accumulate will be removed then as well (if I cannot keep on top of it).

    Reply

  3. Eating a bowl of overnight oats and skimming my email this morning, I had a bit of a chuckle when I saw “favorite clothes” and “everyday dinner plates” categorized as “can’t live without it.” I was thinking more along the lines of medications, first aid supplies, emergency food and water, dog and cat food, emergency/camping gear, and essential documents like copies of ID cards and marriage license. I’m NOT a doomsday prepper. I promise!

    Reply

    • Haha yeah I’m just talking about the everyday living stuff – but do have an emergency kit tucked away somewhere! Not sure camping gear needs to be part of that, but I guess better to be safe than sorry 🙂 🙂

      Reply

      • It was a tip I picked up from CERT (community emergency response team) for how to keep all the emergency supplies in one place when we lived in Seattle. Given the possibility of earthquake making our apartment uninhabitable, it seemed to make sense to keep it all together in our small apartment. 😉

        Reply

  5. Great post! Where is that rolling wood crate from? I’ve been looking for something similar for my little one’s room.

    Reply

  6. Your home neat home posts are definitely my favorites, next to the nutrition-based ones. This one is especially good, and that you did it in January – perfect! Keep those great posts coming, Would love to see one on the kitchen? Thanks:-)

    Reply

  8. Do you happen to know what paint colour is in your living room?
    Looks like a beautiful grey, and we are on the hunt for a good one!
    Thanks!

    Reply

  14. Now that you have a dog in your life, it’s handy to have a supply of old towels on hand! I have two dogs and a bin full of old sheets and towels to use in their crates, for baths, to put on the couch for drool and fur protection… 🙂

    Reply

  15. Someone may have already suggested this – but donate old towels to the local animal shelter or vet’s office! They always need them.

    Reply

  17. I’m in the market for a new coffee table and love yours and the fact that it has storage space! Would you mind sharing where you got it?

    Reply

  20. Yes to the kitchen! I love your organizing tips AND I love glimpses of your houses. You’ve styled them all so well. It’s beautiful.

    Reply

  22. Hi Kath,
    This post is going to be so helpful. What a great approach!
    I couldn’t help but notice your awesome coffee table that opens. Where is that from? It would be perfect in my den at home. I love that it is an attractive yet functional piece.

    Reply

  23. Hey Kath, while I enjoyed your post and I think you give some good tips to help with minimizing “stuff”, I can’t help but notice you also seem to purchase a lot of “stuff”. I just wondered if you have ever considered modifying your spending habits in an effort to help declutter. Logically, the clutter has to come from somewhere, so it seems reducing spending would be a good preventive way to address the issue. I mean this comment/question respectfully as I believe our society as a whole spends too much and buys too much and then just offloads whatever we don’t like into the trashcan or nearest Goodwill only to simply replace it with something else. Thanks Kath, and again, good tips!

    Reply

    • Yup, this is something I’m working on this year – being intentional with everything. While I don’t think spending on home goods needs to be reduced to zero, I do want to make sure what I do buy has a clear plan in my house. A lot of the stuff I give away is more than 5 years old – bowls or platters that just aren’t my style anymore. I also get a lot of stuff for free via promotions, so sometimes I keep things that I like but only halfway because I didn’t pick them out. But yes, I agree with you – intentional!

      Reply

  24. I really like these organizational/home/personal style posts – keep ’em coming!

    Also, congratulations again on the new man/phase in your life. You seem happy and healthy – and isn’t that what matters?

    Reply

  25. I would definitely be up for a kitchen organization post. I love posts about organization because they always inspire me. I struggle between watching to get rid of clutter and unwanted/unloved items, and feeling nostalgic, and sometimes even liking certain kinds of clutter – like piles of books for example. Lately, I’ve been feeling the itch to do another go through and get rid of things – this time of year is perfect for it!

    Reply

  26. Your home neat home posts are my favorite!!
    I find it freeing to let go of things that are no longer useful or that I am not attached to…but it doesn’t come naturally to me!!

    Reply

  30. Love your home posts. I always feel soinspired. Would you mind sharing where your sofa pillows are from? Love the stripes!

    Reply

  32. I am new to your site and absolutely love everything about you and from your tastes in home decorating, tips, etc to the sound of your voice is very easy to listen to. I realize these comments are from 2017 and it is currently 2019 LOL but if you haven’t done it yet I am definitely voting to to a kitchen organizational post!

    Reply

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