Where is the best place to start decluttering?

Recently, Samantha was invited by CTV News to share KW Professional Organizers’ tips on spring cleaning and decluttering. With the spring season right around the corner many may be looking to kick start their spring cleaning and decluttering, but sometimes figuring out where to start can be overwhelming. Here’s the truth: there is no one-size-fits-all answer here.

Our rule for choosing a place to start is tackle the space that BUGS you the most. However, there are common mistakes we all make while getting ready for decluttering so here’s how you can avoid them.

Avoid these 4 common mistakes

1. Ignoring your frustrations – try to avoid investing all that time in spring cleaning and decluttering without getting rid of the stuff that really bugs you. Like the pieces of paper always falling off the fridge or the pile of shoes that trip you every time you come in the door. If it helps try to visualize that if you could snap your finger what would be the one place that you would like to eliminate all your frustrations? Is it the kitchen? The closet? The spot might be as simple as a drawer or the entire garage.
   
   
2. Not thinking it through – the easiest way to fix this common mistake is to answer some questions: What’s the ideal outcome? What would you like for this space? What activities do you want to do there? How do you want to feel in that space?
   
   
3. Comparanoia – let go of comparing yourself and your spaces to others. You can avoid this habit by minimizing scrolling on social media. Remember, the best results are going to come from your true desires – not your neighbours.
   
   
4. Shopping – there is no need to buy until you’ve completed your spring cleaning and decluttering. When you have completed your decluttering – then it is maybe time to look for a product if one is missing. We can’t tell you how many clients we have that are shocked by how little they needed to feel well in their tidy home.
   
   

Basic decluttering rules to keep in mind

Time. If you are like most of us and before we started organizing in 2012 we used to be a little over-optimistic when it came to scheduling enough time to spring clean and decluttering. It’s a real thing called planning fallacy. A good rule of thumb is to always add 2 hours to whatever you estimate.

Activities. Design your spaces to suit what you’re going to be doing in that space. For example, if you’re a painter and all your stuff is always tucked up on the top shelf of a closet the likelihood of you being able to use it is pretty low. Whereas if you can set up your space with some art supplies in a nice space where you have access to it you’re more likely going to enjoy and partake in that activity more often.

What’s the secret of keeping things from getting cluttered?

Know that this process always looks worse before it gets better. Make sure you offer yourself permission to really ask, “are all the things in our space bringing us value? do we really need all of these things?”

When you know everything in your space has value then you can create permanent homes for those items. It’s having a permanent home that makes tidy-up time so quick and easy. For example, the keys hang here, the books go on this shelf and fit, the clothes all fit in the drawers, and the extra toilet paper is stored here, etc.

Kindergarten classrooms are the best example of how items have permanent homes. This method is demonstrated every day when the children know exactly where to return their toys. Art supplies are in this corner, books are in the reading zone, and building blocks go in this box, etcetera.

Having permanent homes doesn’t mean that there will be no mess. Let’s be serious – sometimes it looks like a hurricane has gone through the room, but having designated spots to return everything is the secret to keeping things from getting cluttered.

Where’s one place in your home that is tidy?

Remember, no matter how big or how small, everyone has the ability to be organized. So enjoy this spring cleaning and give yourself time to declutter the spaces that are really irritating you – the results will be better than you could have imagined 😊