How to start decluttering when you’re overwhelmed

Decluttering your home can be a great way to get rid of excess so you can clear your mind, have a tidier home and spend your time around the things you really want and need around you. But whether you live in a studio flat or a four-bedroom house, the prospect of sorting through everything you own can be a daunting one.

Keep reading for our top tips on how to make decluttering a simpler task.

How to declutter a house

The key to achieving a big project like this is to make it as easy as possible for yourself, because it can be hard to persuade yourself to get started when it doesn’t feel like an essential task. After all, you’ve lived with all this stuff in your home for years – what does it matter if you don’t get around to sorting it out this weekend?

While it’s true that decluttering usually isn’t urgent – unless you’re preparing for a house move or something similar – putting it off is only going to mean the task is even harder the next time you think about it.

Below, we outline our favourite tips on how to actually make some headway in decluttering your home.

Break it down into smaller projects

First and foremost, stop thinking ‘I need to declutter the house this weekend’. Unless you’ve got some superpowers up your sleeve, there’s very little chance you’re actually going to be able to declutter your whole house in that timeframe – and the thought of trying to do so is part of what makes the task so daunting.

Instead, break it down into smaller projects that are more achievable in the time you have available. One way to do this is to think about one room at a time – like your bedroom, the kitchen or the bathroom, for example. But even this can be a considerable project.

The real trick? Break the project down into the tiniest projects imaginable. You’re not going to declutter your bedroom on Saturday, you’re going to declutter your wardrobe – or maybe even just the first drawer or shelf within your wardrobe.

Of course, you don’t have to restrict yourself to areas – you could choose to declutter a certain type of item. For example, you might sort through all your footwear and get rid of anything you don’t love.

Don’t be afraid to break down your decluttering project into the smallest tasks you can find! Being able to cross one off your list will give you a sense of accomplishment that can spur you on to get more done.

Breaking down the project into tiny tasks doesn’t mean you have to only do one of those tasks a day – although it does give you the freedom to do so if that’s all the time you have to spare. If you’ve got a whole morning or more to work with, you can just take on a few more tasks and see how much progress you can make now you’re not putting yourself under all that pressure.

Schedule time to tackle the task

Ever thought to yourself, ‘I can declutter that cupboard this weekend’ and then the weekend flies by and you realise on Sunday evening that you haven’t done any of it? We’ve all been there. Whether you just forgot your intentions, or your busy schedule made it impossible to make any progress, it can be easy for decluttering projects to end up sitting on the backburner for months on end.

So how can you avoid that? Well, try to make a strong commitment to working on the project. Decide on when you’re going to do it – e.g. Saturday afternoon – and mark it on the calendar or your to-do list so you won’t forget. You could even set a reminder on your phone.

It’s also vital that you stay focussed on the task you’re doing. So, if you’ve decided to declutter your bedside table and find a coffee cup that belongs in the kitchen, either take it there and come straight back or put it aside to be returned once you’ve finished. Don’t be tempted to start decluttering the kitchen counters while you’re gone.

Prioritise frequently used areas

Once you’ve broken down your home into various areas that need tackling, how do you decide where to start? The simple answer is to begin with the parts of your home you use and see every day – and particularly those areas where clutter is causing problems regularly.

For example, perhaps every time you go to put something on your bedside table you have to clear other things out of way. Maybe your kitchen utensil drawer keeps getting jammed because you’ve got too much in there.

By focusing on these high-traffic areas first, you can make a bigger impact on your day-to-day life – and that’s the whole point of decluttering, after all.

Make the easy choices first

When you’re sorting through items you’ve had for years, there are always going to be things you’re not sure what to do with. Perhaps there’s an ornament you received as a gift a few years ago, and you don’t really want to keep it, but you feel bad for getting rid of it.

The answer? Put it back in its place and focus on the simpler decisions first.

While it’s important to, at some stage, make those harder choices, you’ll make a lot more headway in the first instance by sticking to easy, yes-or-no decisions. Is it broken? Is it the wrong size? Is it stained? Then get rid of it.

You don’t have to adhere to these exact questions – after all, you might know you have the technical expertise to fix a certain item or remove a stain. But by focusing on items where you can make a clear-cut decision with a moment’s thought, you’ll be able to make a lot more progress in decluttering your space.

In some cases, you might be keeping a broken or worn-out item because you haven’t got a replacement yet – this is common with homeware. This is your chance to treat yourself to a brand-new version that you love and get rid of the less desirable version!

Depending on your goals, you might find that, once you’ve made all those easy decisions, you’ve reached a point you’re happy with in terms of keeping your home clutter-free. If not, don’t worry! You’ve made lots of progress already and now you have a tidier environment in which to tackle those harder choices.

Reduce mental load

When you’re in the middle of a decluttering session, it can be easy to overcomplicate things unnecessarily. Many of us feel the need to have a bin bag for rubbish items, a box for things that could be donated and a box for things that could be sold – but this can be counterproductive.

Think about it. You take an item out of a drawer and decide you don’t want it any more. Now you’ve got to decide what to do with it – and the time that takes means you don’t clear as much out of your chosen area as you might have otherwise.

Instead, bring one reasonably sized box and put anything you’re getting rid of into that. Focus on the core decision – to keep or to get rid. Then, once the box is full – which might take several decluttering sessions, depending on the size – you can sit down and go through everything inside to decide what to do with it all.

This way, you can start to see results – in other words, a cleaner, less cluttered space – more quickly.

Pick up every item

Yes, we mean every item. It’s all too easy to cast your eyes over a desk full of papers or a cluttered bookshelf and assume you still need and want everything there. But by examining each item, you may well find the manual you’ve been holding onto for the kettle you threw out three years ago.

Papers and documents are a common culprit for this situation. Although they’re small items physically, it’s worth taking the time to go through your papers and see what you need. Anything that needs to be kept should be filed away properly so you can find it when the time comes; anything that doesn’t can be thrown away.

Top tip! Some items with personal details on may need to be shredded to be safe. But remember, you can wait until you have a big batch of things to be shredded instead of doing it immediately and interrupting your decluttering flow.

Find rules that work for you

Last but not least, if you’re struggling to decide whether or not you want to keep certain items, find ways to take the choice out of your own hands. We don’t mean getting your neighbours to decide – though asking loved ones if they’d like to have certain items can be helpful if you’re conflicted about just throwing them away.

We’re talking about rules – simple guidelines that help to make the choice easier. Here are some examples:

• The 20/20 Rule – if the item can be replaced within 20 minutes for less than £20, get rid of it.
• The six-month trial – put items you're not sure into a box or bag and store them away somewhere. If you haven't missed them in six months' time, there's no need to keep them.
• The 'ifs and buts' rule – when you pick up an item, ask yourself why you don't want to keep it. For example, 'I love this coat, but it doesn't have as many pockets as I'd like.' Get rid of any 'ifs and buts' items and replace them with items that properly serve the purpose you need them to

At the end of the day, everyone’s home set-up is different, and the way you go about removing clutter and unwanted items must be personalised to the situation you’re dealing with.

Remember, decluttering isn’t just about getting rid of all your old stuff. It’s about making sure that everything you have in your home is the gold standard – the ideal version of that item. Why live your life with ‘okay’ when you could surround yourself with perfection?