Common Decluttering Mistakes

1 Rearranging the Clutter

Decluttering is not just moving things around your house; it is the systematic removal of things you no longer need and things that are no-longer fit for purpose.

To declutter successfully you need a plan. ‘Clutter Free’ uses the ‘Keep, Discard, Donate’ method. It is easy and practical but most importantly it keeps you on track. When you pick up an item you should aim to decide within 1 minute weather it belongs in the keep, donate or discard section.

Some clients ask if they can also have a ‘To Be Decided’ Pile. I understand the temptation, but in reality, your whole house is already a ‘To Be Decided’ pile.  If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t need the services of a clutter expert. To successfully declutter a space, all the items remaining are either essential, useful or sentimental.   Be sure that your sentimental items have a significant story attached to them. (See my blog on sentimental keepsakes for more information on this). Finally, make sure your discard and donate items leave the house within 3 days.

2 Trying to Organise Before Decluttering

Its terrific to have ideas about how you want to organise and stage your home. But this process will be even more enjoyable when all the extra clutter is gone. 

If you organise first, you will miss the opportunity to declutter.  This is because once an item has been organised, it means you have found a home for it.  You may even have purchased a storage box for it.  The problem is that you have not taken time to decide if the item is actually used.  When you start organising things that should really be discarded or donated, you adding to the clutter. 

3 Hanging on to Projects that Never Get Going.   

We all like to plan projects and lockdown gave us the perfect opportunity, but after the initial rush of excitement many people ended up watching Tiger king rather than building a Princess bedroom. I call these ‘Lockdown Hangovers’.  As a rule of your project is ‘new’ (not something you do regularly), and you have not started in one month, then it’s time to consider if you really want to do it.  I suggest you put all the items for your unused project in a box and label it with a date 4 weeks from today.  If the project hasn’t been done by then give it someone else with the same Princess bedroom dream. 

4 Keeping things ‘Just in Case’ you need them one day.

This is the behaviour that led you to decluttering in the first place.  If you don’t need it NOW, and it doesn’t have a clear purpose in the future then its clutter.  Before you start decluttering have a clear picture of what ‘clutter’ is.  Most of these items are things you have two of.  I once had a client with 3 ‘just in case’ food mixers.  Remember that you can a buy a new mixer tomorrow if your breaks down.  There is no need to clutter up your house with these extras.  Put them on eBay and enjoy some extra cash instead.  But a word of caution…. Holding on to stuff that you plan to sell can inadvertently lead to ‘clutter mistake’ number 5. 

5 Holding Stuff to Sell Online. 

Selling decluttered items is a terrific for recycling and earning extra cash.  But creating piles of stuff in your home waiting for a buyer to pick it up is a bad habit.  Aim to sell high value items or job lots only.  If they have not sold in a week take them to the charity shop.