In part of our series on how to declutter, I want to discuss steps 5-8. I touched on them in the the Article How to Declutter Your Home Part 1, but now I want to go more in depth.
As a quick recap of of the first for steps in process of learning how to declutter, you did the following:
- You identified where you want to start.
- You broke your area down into manageable tasks.
- You started decluttering.
- You made a list of projects that came from your decluttering.
If you haven’t done those steps yet, go back and read How to Declutter Your Home Part 1. Then go through that process. Once you’ve done that, come back and let’s start on the next steps.
How to Declutter Your Home Steps 5-8
The next 4 steps in decluttering your home are as follows:
- Organize.
- Execute your projects you identified.
- Reorganize based on the completion of projects
- Declutter as maintenance.
Now that we know all the steps, it’s time to work through each one so you can have a truly decluttered home.
Step 5: Organize
The 5th step in the process of learning how to declutter your home is to organize your space. Depending on the size of the area and how much you have leftover after decluttering, this can either be a very quick process or a very long process.
Organization is broken down into a few basic steps:
- Sort and categorize your items that you are organizing. While you were decluttering, you probably already started this process. This means that if you’ve got pens, they all go together. If you have cleaning products, those all go together too. Categorize in a way that makes sense.
- Identify storage solutions for your space if needed. For example, organizing my bookshelf I didn’t need storage solutions, I just needed to put my books in place in a manner that made sense. For the top shelf of my desk, I just needed to ungroup things so they looked nice. When it came to organizing my closet, I needed storage solutions for the various seasonal decorations, air mattresses, and other things stored there.
- Label as needed. Labels are extremely important in organization. Especially if you have storage solutions. These ensure that you always know what is in any given storage container and only the items that belong there, end up in that container.
It’s extremely important when you are learning how to declutter that you figure out an organizational system that works for you. You will want to ensure it is well thought out. Otherwise you will end up with a cluttered mess again.
Step 6: Execute the Projects You Identified
So you identified some more projects to take care of. Now that you’ve decluttered that space you were working on, it’s time to start executing the other projects you wrote down to take care of.
During this phase, you are going to start back at step 3, the decluttering phase. For each of the projects that you identified during your previous decluttering steps, you are going to prioritize and execute them in whichever order makes the most sense.
For example, let’s say when I decluttered my desk, I still had that jar of pens that I needed to go through, a now neatly decluttered stack of papers, and a disorganized storage tub that has a bunch of old computer parts in it.
I would then prioritize each of these items in a way that made the most sense for me. The paper was going to be the most time consuming and least visually impactful. The pens wouldn’t be visually impactful and it would be quick. The storage container was going to be the most visually impactful, but emotionally consuming.
In the end, I chose the storage tub of computer parts and started going through that process to start on. This goes back to my previous statement, when you are trying to figure out how to declutter, there is no right or wrong way.
While I opted for the most visually impactful, you might choose the path of the most time consuming just to get it out of the way. Both are perfectly fine.
Step 7: Reorganize Based on Project Completion
Now that you’ve executed your other projects, you will need to reorganize. This is important because a lot of times when you organize other things, you may find that areas you already decluttered either now look more cluttered because you found things that actually belong there. Or maybe you got rid of things and now it doesn’t look as organized anymore.
In this step of the how to declutter process, you will make sure that you aren’t taking step backwards. By reorganizing, you are ensuring that things stay neat and orderly.
In the process of learning how to declutter, this step tends to be more aesthetic but still important. What good is a decluttered home if it still looks bad?
For example, I decluttered one of my counters and I had project that came out of it to go through a bunch of bottles for when I home brew. At the end of sorting through all of them, all of which did belong on that counter I ended up with everything shoved in a corner. A significantly smaller amount of bottles, but they were still shoved in a corner. So during this reorganization step I made it look nice and fit in with the rest of the aesthetic of the counter.
Step 8: Declutter as Maintenance
Step 8 in the process of learning how to declutter is to declutter as maintenance. Decluttering as maintenance means that you are consistently going back to a space that you decluttered to ensure that it remains decluttered.
Depending on the location, you may want to go back to it monthly, weekly, or even daily to ensure that it remains decluttered.
For example, our kitchen counter where mail from the day frequently lands, I will clean off and declutter daily. We have a table that always seems to collect kids stuff throughout the week. I tend to declutter that weekly. Other places like my closet I declutter every 6 months or so depending on what fits and what is worn out.
As you complete these 4 steps, you will start seeing a change in how cluttered your house is. Keeping your house clutter free will result in less stress and anxiety and ultimately it will help improve your life.