Five decluttering tips for the new year
Want to make 2024 the year you declutter and elevate your space? Read on to explore five effective decluttering tips and practical advice for a tidy space and improved wellbeing this year.
While I love spending the summer break and festive season resting, relaxing and resetting for the year ahead, I also like to balance this with a touch of productivity to tick some things off my list that I may not get to in the middle of the working year. Ticking tasks off my life admin list brings me immense satisfaction, with the most impactful one being decluttering my home.
I love going into a new year with a little less weighing on my mind and a lot less stuff filling up my cupboards and drawers. There’s a whole range of benefits to a good old declutter. Decluttering can:
Improve your mental health and overall mood, helping you to create a calming environment at home.
Lower levels of stress and anxiety.
Have a positive impact on your physical health and wellbeing, such as allergies or asthma.
Reduce the mental load you carry in your daily life.
Cut back on the amount of time it takes to keep your space organised and under control.
Increase productivity and creativity.
Make more room for the things that matter most to you, making it easier to set new habits and enjoy hobbies and interests.
Sound like something that might help you in your own home? Here’s five quick decluttering tips for the new year to help you get started.
1) Get clear on your ‘why’ and desired outcomes
Consider the end state. What is the motivation or reasoning behind the decluttering session? Is it to feel less overwhelmed and anxious at home? To make a space more functional or enjoyable to be in? To repurpose a room for a new hobby or accommodate for specific changes in your life? If decluttering and home organisation doesn’t spark joy for you like it does for me, a reminder of the reason WHY you’re doing it, the end state and the benefits may help keep the motivation alive. Speaking of sparking joy…
2) Take inspiration from decluttering and home organisation experts
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Follow in the footsteps of home organisation experts such as Marie Kondo and use their tried and tested methods to help you along the way. I personally love her method which involves keeping only the items that spark joy, the exception to this being keeping items that you really do need for practical reasons. If you need some more ideas and inspiration, I recommend watching Tidying up with Marie Kondo or Get Organised with The Home Edit (both on Netflix) to entertain you along the way.
3) Start small
Unless you have a whole lot of space in your home and don’t mind a bit of mess, start small. Avoid the overwhelm of emptying out all the cupboards across multiple rooms and biting off more than you can chew. Instead, work your way through it one room (or drawer) at a time. Systematically working through each space will make it easier for you to make progress and focus without too many distractions. If you’re time poor, selecting one small, achievable nook to go through at a time will help you make steady progress over time that you can tick off as you go.
4) Declutter before you re-organise or replace
As tempting as it is to start with adding new items into the mix or going on a spending spree to buy all sorts of storage solutions, it’s best to remove the excess items beforehand. This makes it easier to determine what you may need to better organise your space and also identify whether another purchase is even necessary at all.
5) see the job through
Don’t let all your hard work go to waste by setting aside everything you’re tossing, selling, gifting or donating to be dealt with on the next rainy day. Keep yourself accountable and try to get items out of the house as soon as possible. Speaking from experience, it’s easy to set aside all those items you’re not keeping in a spare room for them to sit out for months at a time, or even end up back in a cupboard because you haven’t dealt with it and can’t stand the sight of it anymore!
If 2024 is the year you level up your life and improve your space, decluttering is a great place to start.
If you need some help getting clear on your next steps, defining your vision for the future state of your interior, or pulling together the finishing touches once you’ve cleared out all the unwanted clutter - a one-off Design Consultation may be a great option for you. 