16 Easy Ways To Declutter Your Home
The art of decluttering involves a sorting system, a room-to-room strategy, and straightforward, no-nonsense tips
Decluttering the entire house can feel overwhelming, especially after a year of non-decluttering. The easiest way to start is to go from room to room, focusing on key zone first. Before you begin to declutter your home, set up a sorting system: prep five baskets, boxes, bins or big bags (get these from Ikea or Daiso) for things you want to: #1 throw away, #2 recycle, #3 fix, #4 give away and #5 donate.
If you haven't been throwing out stuff, you most likely would not be able to declutter your home in a day. Decluttering is not just a physical process, it can be highly emotional as well. That's because a lot of our stuff is connected to memories, and it is very likely that you would be smiling, laughing or even, cursing your way through the declutter process. So, make time for the emotional ride.
While clutter refers to things that no longer serve a purpose in your life, or something that doesn't bring you joy anymore (this is dependent on the declutter philosophy you go by; we do like Marie Kondo's), clutter can sometimes be disguised themselves as treasure. You need to see through that veil. Repeat this phrase to yourself: “Keep the memories, get rid of the stuff!" This phrase came from Linda Hetzer and Janet Hulstrand, authors of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home, and the blog Downsizing the Home: Lessons Learned.
In any case, don't rush and give yourself time (if you have no time, reschedule decluttering and do this instead). Declutter a room in a day, perhaps all the bedrooms at one go, or one room every night. Here's how you can bring control to the chaos in your house.
1. Allocate and Conquer
If you arrive home and find yourself chucking your keys, phone, mail and bag at any random space, do this: set aside space or shelves near your home or room entrance for them. And put them at the same place every time as soon as you get home.
2. Reach it Easily
The golden rule for organising your cupboards, kitchen cabinets and wardrobes: place the most commonly used items in the most accessible space (usually the middle shelves or those at eye level), and the rest on higher or lower ones.
3. Label, Label, Label
Label your shelves or drawers or have a checklist of all your storage places and what's in them, to remind you of where your things are. Use details like “Tech – cables and adaptors” and “Craft – ribbons and stickers”, so it's easy for everyone in the family, especially the kids, to put everything back in the right places.
4. Roll 'em Up
Roll up your towels like a log and adjust the height of your wardrobe shelves to about 10cm high to store them. It's easier to take them out than if they were stacked up.
5. Winter Clothes
Vacuum pack winter gears into storage bags (available from stores like Daiso) and store them in your luggage. Pack in a charcoal sachet (from Daiso) to absorb any musky odours.
6. Sound Asleep
Fold sheets neatly and place them into their corresponding pillowcases so it's easy to find each set.
7. Stack and Store
Love your jewellery? Stack bracelets onto a kitchen towel holder – it makes a pretty sight on your dressing table too.
8. Seek the Squares
The next time you buy food containers, go for the clear and square-shaped ones instead of the opaque round ones – they take up less space in the cabinet and fridge, and let you see what's inside.
9. Forget it Not
Keep a roll of masking tape and a marker in the topmost kitchen drawer, so you can label containers to mark what you keep inside.
10. Keep in Sight
Place leftovers at eye level in the fridge so they don’t get forgotten.
11. Craft Control
Dedicate a corner to your kids' art and craft projects. Display the nicest pieces, and for the rest, take pictures of them before relegating them to the recycle bin.
12. Bin There
Have two or three bins in your kid's room – one for bigger plush toys, the other for medium-sized toys and a small one for things like toy cars and Lego pieces, and make it a habit to get kiddo to return all her toys into them at the end of the day.
13. Stationery Station
Use a cutlery tray to sort out pens, pencils, colour pencils, markers, crayons and any other stationery. One with deep compartments (available from Tott) is great if you have lots to keep. Place it in an accessible drawer and get the kids to pop in their stray pens in there consistently.
14. Drawers for Documents
If you don't have time to file documents like warranties, credit card bills and insurance documents, chests of short drawers (available from Muji and Ikea) are useful for organising documents. Go through them once every six months to recycle or discard what you don't need to keep.
15. Tackle Junk Mail
Separate your junk mail from the important stuff before stepping inside the house, and throw them out immediately.
16. Stick Them On
Attach a magnetic knife rack to the inside of your drawer with strong double-sided tape and let it hold loose bobby pins and paper clips.
This story was first published in the digital edition of Simply Her November 2014, and updated on September 6, 2020.
Text: Lim Tsiao Hui, Simply Her
Additional reporting: Simone Wu