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If you’re trying to declutter your home, stop! You need to read this article first.
Sometimes we start decluttering our homes, and we try our best, but it’s just not happening the way we think it will. The process proves to be a lot harder than it should have been, and we keep getting stuck in it.
Here are 7 decluttering mistakes that you’re probably making. Oh, and I’m saving the best step for last.
Keep reading or watch this:
1. Putting it off for that “big weekend” of decluttering
…when in fact doing small bits, rather than a huge declutter, is more realistic.
Do you dream of a big decluttering, but keep putting it off for that big weekend of decluttering that’s going to happen someday?
This is something I used to do too and it’s something I had actually learned from Marie Kondo. You know how she said you need to pull everything out for this massive declutter so you can see everything that you have? That might work for some, and it can be helpful. But it may also be a bit unrealistic depending on your lifestyle and the situation that you’re in.
In my case, I’m a busy mum with two small children, a six-year-old and a one-year-old. This means that my life can get a bit hectic. Trying to do a massive declutter and getting all the chaos out would feel too much for me to handle right now. Plus I’d have children going into that clutter that I just got out. It’s just a recipe for disaster in my book.
So that big weekend of decluttering? It wasn’t really happening for us. Yes, we did do big bursts here and there when we got the chance. For the most part though, my big decluttering for the past year of being on this journey towards minimalism and decluttering happened through small bits now and then.
I would go and grab a drawer whenever I got a chance before the school run. If I had 10 minutes, I would pick a kitchen drawer and go through my spatulas. I would go through my jeans or leggings. I would just pick one small category, and tackle it.
Of course, if you have more time and energy, you can pull everything out from a specific category, go through it, and then pop it back in. But doing small declutters like this every day or every other day, whenever you get the chance, is going to help you a lot.
We tend to underestimate the power of small things that we keep doing over a long period of time. If you start doing this every day for the next year or even the next month, you will be surprised at the difference it can make in your home.
Remember: small declutters here and there rather than a huge one are way more realistic.
2. Focusing on other people’s stuff
This is a question that actually pops up often on my Instagram: how do you get your partner on board or how do you tackle the clutter when you’ve got children bringing things in?
I know that it can be so easy to blame other people in the household and to focus on their stuff. On how they need to get rid of their clutter, and how you can get them to do it. But I always recommend just starting with your stuff. Or if you’ve got a partner who’s a bit reluctant, just start with things that maybe they don’t care about.
In my family, I started with my own clothing, which I had probably an embarrassing amount of, and with the kitchen items. These are usually things our partners don’t really care about. I mean, my partner didn’t really care about my clothes, and I didn’t really make him declutter his own. He didn’t even have as much as I did anyway. And in the process, I simply shared with him what I was doing, ‘Hey, I’m just getting rid of this stuff.’
Also, try sharing with your partner or children why you’re doing this and how it’s making you feel. Maybe it’s making you spend less time cleaning, tidying, and worrying about the stuff around your house. Maybe it gives you more time back to enjoy it together or as a family. Or maybe you find yourself to be less stressed in general.
I didn’t force my partner to declutter or make him become a minimalist. But as I was sharing this process with him, he also started going through his stuff. Sojust start with your own stuff, and focus on your things.
When it comes to children’s items, I used to think, ‘Well, I have children, I’m just going to have a lot of stuff.’ It turns out that’s simply not true.
Yes, kids do bring into the house toys, books, clothes, and even artwork from school. But it’s usually us who are buying them those things.
In our family, I was the one usually buying them a lot of those little cars for example, whenever we went to Tesco. Or buying lots of baby clothes because they were cute or on sale. It wasn’t my children bringing that stuff in, it was me.
Having a good, hard look at myself really helped me realise that I can actually make a difference in my home, even with kids’ items. Now we rarely get toys for them because they already have all that they need.
For example, for my one-year-old daughter, the toys that we use are mostly Lovevery boxes (*ad/brand partner).
And nowadays, even when we do get new toys, I always try to go back to the old ones we have and figure out which ones they’re not really playing with anymore or they’ve outgrown. I’ll pass those on to somebody else.
3. Leaving clutter when you see it
I used to do that too, notice the clutter but leave it there. But here’s what I do now: when I notice a piece of clothing I don’t like or fit into anymore or something my child has outgrown, I just take it out and put it in an outbox.
An outbox is simply a box, a basket, or whatever it might work for you. For me, it’s a box, and I keep mine in the understairs cupboard. And I use it to throw things in there when I notice them around the house.
Whenever I see something and think, ‘Oh, I want to get rid of that,’ I’ll take it and put it in the outbox. If I were to leave things in my wardrobe or my kids’ wardrobe, they’d just probably stay there as I’d forget about them.
Later on, when I know I’m popping into town one day, I just grab a bag, empty the outbox in it, and take all those items to the charity shop.
Making decluttering part of your day, part of your routine, makes the process so much easier.
4. Not planning where to take your clutter
You need to have a plan for your decluttering. I know, it seems so overwhelming at first. You’ve decluttered all of this stuff and now you’re wondering, ‘Well, what do I do with it?’ You might not want to throw it all in the trash, that would be wasteful.
Luckily, there are many places that can take your clutter. They can either recycle, sell, or reuse it in some way. Knowing that you have these places where you can take all of these things can really help you declutter. The easier you can make the process, the more likely you are to stick with it and do it.
So I highly encourage you to just go on Google and type in ‘recycle this item’ or ‘where can I donate this item’. You will likely have in your local area lots of places where you can take that item.
I have found several places that I’ve been using in the past year to take my clutter to as I’ve decluttered a lot of the items in our home.
One of them is a charity shop.
Another place is an online one. I sold some stuff on Vinted or eBay – I have a separate article on how to sell your clutter.
I take old cables and tech things to Curry’s PC World, and I think other electronic stores do take these types of items back for recycling.
I’m taking all the clothes, old bedding, and old towels that can’t really be put in a charity shop bag to my local Dunelm as they have textile recycling. I know some Tesco shops have textile recycling too. You can also try animal shelters.
When it comes to books, I sell those on Ziffit, which is really easy to use.
Bottom line? Make a plan on how you’re going to get the clutter out of your home.
5. Keeping things to sell for too long
If you keep items for sale for too long, you run the risk of just keeping mountains of clutter in your home, hoping that they will sell one day. But if it doesn’t attract any interest, if people are not buying it, it’s probably for a reason.
You’re better off just getting it out of your house, clearing the clutter, and getting your space back. Focus on your mental health rather than the stuff and the money that it might have been worth when you bought it.
These days, when I put something on Vinted or eBay, I give it about 2 weeks to get sold. In rare cases, depending on the item’s value or how big it is, I might give it a bit longer. And if it doesn’t sell in that timeframe, I donate it to a charity shop.
6. Thinking being sentimental means keeping everything
I used to say that too and I think it was my excuse to not get rid of stuff. I used to think, ‘Well, I’m just sentimental. I love all the baby things. I just want to have all the baby items, all the clothes.’
Then I realised that being sentimental doesn’t actually mean you have to keep all of those items.
I do cherish lots of memories, and I do want to have those little memories of when my children were little because they do grow up so quickly. But that doesn’t mean I need to keep mountains of baby clothes to have that. Those memories live within us, not within our stuff.
A lot of my most precious memories are now saved through my phone as I take photos and videos. We use Google Photos to store them. It’s easy, convenient, and helpful, especially as we can sync them up from both phones, mine and my husband’s. That’s where we have memories from 10 years ago, for example.
I love going through all the photos and videos, reliving those moments. That’s the most precious thing I’m now sentimentally attached to.
I also have a memory box with some things, mostly baby items, in the loft, but they’re just a few, I’m not keeping that many.
The thing is, if everything’s sentimental, then nothing is. Looking at a pile of clutter is more likely to make you feel bad, annoyed, or frustrated rather than to make you enjoy those memories, thinking about those good times.
7. Not having a WHY
I saved the best for last, and that’s ‘not having a why’.
Having a specific ‘why’ for your decluttering, why you’re doing it, is going to help keep you motivated so that you can actually get it done.
That’s one of my biggest tips for you: know your why and be specific.
Is it just because you want a pretty house? Do you want more space? Is it because clutter is affecting your relationship with your spouse, partner, or children? Is it because you want to spend less time cleaning the house and tidying the mess? Do you want more time for things that matter to you, like hobbies, reading, or watching your favourite TV show, rather than looking around your house and feeling overwhelmed and stressed?
Get clear around your why, and get started on decluttering!
These are my 7 decluttering mistakes I wanted to share with you. What decluttering mistakes would you add to the list? Or which one from the above can you relate to? I know I’ve done all of these myself, which is why I’ve written this article, to share my experience with you.