• Mind & Body
  • Food
  • Family
  • Beauty & Health
  • Style
  • Great Women
  • Videos
  • Events/Win
  • Mind & Body
  • Covid-19 Health Guide
  • Food
    • Food
    • Quick & Easy Recipes
    • Healthy Recipes
    • Asian Recipes
    • Dessert Recipes
    • Eating Out
    • Festive Food
    • Cooking Tips
  • Videos
  • Family
    • Family
    • Parenting
    • Sex & Marriage
    • Travel
  • Home Ideas
    • Home Ideas
    • Decor Tips
    • Organising
    • Appliances
    • Domestic Diva Awards
    • Entertaining
  • Beauty & Health
    • Beauty & Health
    • Skincare
    • Makeup
    • Hair
    • Awards
    • Diet & Nutrition
    • Fitness
    • Wellness
  • Fashion
  • Career
  • Money
  • Real Life
  • Great Women
  • Entertainment
  • EVENTS/WIN
Subscribe Now!
  • Also available at:
Privacy Menu
SPH Magazine

Copyright © 2021 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co. Regn. No. 198402868E. All rights reserved

  • Mind & Body
  • Food
  • Family
  • Beauty & Health
  • Style
  • Great Women
  • Videos
  • Events/Win

Home Ideas

16 Easy Ways To Declutter Your Home

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Search in posts
Search in pages
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Search in posts
Search in pages
Organising

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

February 3, 2021

Credit: Envato Elements

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.

READ NEXT

5 Things To Consider Before Getting An Open-Concept Kitchen For Your Flat

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.

READ NEXT

7 Smart Organising Tips For A Messy Storeroom

According To Science, This Is How You Declutter Your Home

How To Get This Beautiful BTO Flat’s Clean, Warm And Natural Look

https://www.womensweekly.com.sg/gallery/style/organising/easy-tips-to-declutter-your-home/
16 Easy Ways To Declutter Your Home
The Big Picture
image

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.

Read Next

7 Ways To Pull A Marie Kondo On Your Small Condo

123RF
In the Bedroom
image

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.

Read Next

10 Feng Shui Bedroom Tips To Improve Your Marriage In The Year Of The Rat

123RF
In the Kitchen
image

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.

Read Next

10 Healthy "Fast Food" Items That Should Always Be In Your Kitchen

123RF
In the Kids' Bedroom
image

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.

Read Next

10 Creative Bedroom Decor Ideas Your Child Will Love

123RF
In the Study
image

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

Read Next

7 Must-Know Tips To Choose The Right Dining Chairs For Your Living Space

Tried, Tested, Trusted: 7 Air Purifiers That Give You Cleaner Air At Home

15 Kitchen Organising Ideas To Save Space And Make Life Easier For The Busy Woman

123RF
  • TAGS:
  • bedroom
  • busy mum survival guide
  • decluttering tips
  • DomesticDiva2020
  • Entertaining
  • home ideas
  • kid's bedroom
  • Kitchen
  • living room
  • Marie Kondo
  • work desk
SHARE THIS ON

What’s Hot

Organising

16 Easy Ways To Declutter Your Home

Organising

A Checklist Of All The Things You Need T...

Organising

Kinokuniya Has The Perfect 2021 Diary Fo...

Organising

Cleaning and Sanitising During Covid-19:...

Organising

How To Properly Store Pet Food At Home S...

Organising

3 Ways To Change Your Perfectionist Mind...

Editor’s Picks
  • Organising Kinokuniya Has The Perfect 2021 Diary For Those Who Hated 2020
  • Organising Cleaning and Sanitising During Covid-19: Are You Actually Overdoing It?
Don't Miss Out Ever Again!
Tips & tricks to stay sane + win invites to our events!
Will be used in accordance with our Privacy Statement
Footer Menu
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Conditions of Access
  • PDPA
  • Privacy Policy
?>
SPH Magazine

Copyright © 2021 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co. Regn. No. 198402868E. All rights reserved