THE 12 BEST DECLUTTERING TIPS FOR LIVING CLUTTER-FREE

Want to live in a clutter-free home? Here are 12 of the BEST decluttering tips ever! Simple tips that you can use to put an end to feeling overwhelmed by clutter. This the start of your clutter-free existence!

The best decluttering tips ever!

Are you OVER having a house that is constantly cluttered? 

Do you want to find a way to not only declutter your home but keep it clutter-free? 

Well, you’ve come to the right post!

I’ve become a little obsessed with tips for decluttering of late. 

Mainly because my home was in dire need of being decluttered. 

I am not naturally a tidy person. 

Nor are any members of my family.

So, we needed help finding the best way to declutter our home and keep it clutter-free. 

The benefits of a clutter-free home

There’s a saying that always resonates with me…

A place for everything and everything in its place

A well-organised home that is free of clutter is a happy, healthy space where you and your family can thrive. 

It’s so much easier to function when you have a house that is well ordered. 

Who wants to fight through a wardrobe overflowing with clothes, only to step out onto a discarded toy, before making breakfast on a kitchen counter strewn with clutter?

Not me! 

It’s far more pleasant to wake, get dressed without even needing to think because your wardrobe is so organised. Then pad downstairs to a clutter-free kitchen to make breakfast. 

Alongside being more pleasant, a well-ordered home is likely to be a happier, calmer home that runs more smoothly and allows everyone living in it to lead a more harmonious, productive life. 

What’s not to love about living clutter-free?!!

But the thing is… how do you get to that point? 

Keep reading and I’ll tell you how. 

Related: 15 Benefits of decluttering your home to get you motivated to declutter

Declutter tips that don’t overwhelm you

The biggest thing for me was finding tips that were easy to put into practice. 

I don’t have huge amounts of spare time for decluttering and organising our family home. 

Plus I’d rather spend the spare time I do have doing fun stuff with my family. 

So I spent quite a while feeling overwhelmed at the sheer size of the decluttering task on my hands. 

I knew I wanted the end goal of a simplified, uncluttered house. 

But I just couldn’t get my head around how to start decluttering and how to keep it clutter-free. 

Because the thing is I was doing sporadic declutters. 

But each time the place was free of clutter, it immediately started building back up again. 

Which is a little soul-destroying? 

Starting your decluttering journey 

The reality is you do have to commit to decluttering your home and keeping it clutter-free. 

You also need to get your family to buy into the idea. 

In today’s always busy world, this means keeping things simple but effective. 

So I’ve put together a list of decluttering tips that I’ve tried out and found successful. 

Before you dive in, I’ve got a post you might like to read that will supercharge the start of your decluttering journey. 

It’s a brilliant decluttering hack that allows you to banish clutter from your house super fast with a minimum of effort. 

So pop over and have a read: The best decluttering hack for a super-fast declutter

Right, now for the tips. 

You can pick and choose which ones you use or you can do the lot. 

The choice is yours. 

Have a read and then commit to getting started decluttering your home. 

Good luck!

The best decluttering tips ever!

1. Learn about your household 

I know, this sounds ridiculous. 

Of course, you know your household. 

But taking time to really understand your family home, what it’s filled with – who it’s filled with! – and how you all use your home, will help you create systems that really work to keep your home clutter-free. 

2. Create storage for everything

It’s so much easier to keep your home clutter-free if you have enough storage. 

Moreover it pays to have the right kind of storage. 

Think coat hooks in the entrance hall – including hooks at child height for younger children. 

Drawers and wardrobe space in each bedroom. 

Make use of nooks and crannies to create usable storage space. 

3. Quality over quantity 

This is a mindset and a lifestyle choice. 

Get into the mindset of buying and having fewer things, but make them the best quality that you can afford. 

This really does work. 

It works particularly well with beauty products and with your clothing. 

There’s a natural urge to look after more expensive things better than throwaway things and fast fashion. 

More considered purchasing also means that we’re more likely to use, love and treasure the things we have. 

4. Edit before you organise

This rule particularly applies to areas like the bathroom cabinet or the kitchen cupboards. 

It works well for wardrobes and drawers too. 

The thing is, it can be very easy to simply dive in and tidy things up when you’re feeling short on time. 

But it isn’t the best way to get the job done. 

What you need to do instead is swipe everything out and EDIT it first. 

Toss out stuff that’s out of date. 

Start a recycling pile and a charity pile for stuff that can’t go in the bin. 

Then you can organise what’s left in the best way possible. 

5. Keep surfaces clear

The fewer things you have on your surfaces – the kitchen counters, the bathroom units, the sideboard in your living room – the less cluttered a room will feel. 

Yes, it’s nice to have a few well-chosen objects or frequently used things out and to hand, but keep everything else neatly stored away. 

This encourages a clutter-free attitude for everyone in the house. 

6. Use your dining table for dining 

Don’t let your dining table turn into a storage area for assorted crud. 

Whether you work from home at your table or whether the kids use it for crafting, make sure it’s always clear in time for the main family meal of the day. 

7. Don’t start a stair pile

Or any other pile for that matter. 

You know how it goes. 

You pop a couple of things on a pile. 

Then magically the pile grows and grows and grows and… 

You’ve got the idea. 

You know, because you’ve been there and done it. 

All you’re doing is creating an invitation for more stuff to be added to the pile. 

You’re also creating the future job of having to sort through the pile. 

Instead of creating piles of stuff, take the time to put stuff back in its rightful place. 

If it’s paperwork, have one single desk tidy where actionable paperwork can be dealt with on a regular basis. 

8. Don’t overlook hooks

Hooks are a great way to keep things tidy around the house.

Use them to hang things like tea towels and implements in the kitchen or flannels and towels in the bathroom.

Hanging stuff on hooks keeps it out of the way, but in easy reach. 

9. Make the beds daily 

Now, this tip is likely to not play out how you imagine it will. 

Plus this is very much a health and wellbeing tip as much as it is an aesthetic one. 

Here goes… 

The bed is likely the largest piece of furniture in each bedroom. 

So letting it sit unmade all day means having the room look messy and cluttered all day. 

Not good. 

However, beds need to air. 

Which means it isn’t good to make your bed first thing every morning. 

The reason they need to air is that we all sweat and shed skin cells during the night. 

Dust mites love both these things. 

So if you make your bed straight away, you are trapping in moisture and dead skin cells that will attract mites. 

Yuck!

What you need to do is to have everyone push their duvets or blankets and sheets right back each morning when they get up. 

It’s also good to plump up the pillows and stand them against the headboard. 

Leave them at least an hour, ideally a couple of hours longer, so that they dry out, then make them. 

My top tip is to keep scatter cushions to a minimum, that way the making of each bed is a simple process!

10. Season your wardrobe!

No, this isn’t about sprinkling salt over your clothes. 

What I mean is to change your wardrobe by the season. 

Once you’re sure the summer and winter are over, swap out your summer and winter clothes. 

Use vacuum storage bags for storing out of season clothes in the top of your wardrobe or your attic. 

Invest in some shoe storage boxes – they take up less room than just keeping shoes in their original boxes – and store away out of season footwear as well. 

11. Stop using wire and plastic hangers

Your wardrobe will be much more ordered and look much more attractive if you have matching hangers. 

I have wooden hangers, but a stylist friend of mine swears by non-slip velvet-covered hangers. 

12. Weave new storage into your home

Woven baskets are a stylish and affordable way to add extra storage into your home. 

They look far more gorgeous than plastic storage and they cost far less than a new shelving unit or sideboard. 

Well-chosen baskets dotted around your home are a great way for keeping family clutter at bay. 

Use them to toss toys in at the end of each day, fill them with blankets and throws to snuggle up within the evenings. 

I really hope these simple tips for decluttering prove useful for you. I’m super aware that the journey to a clutter-free home can be a long and windy road.

So I’m building up a series of posts with useful tips and strategies for decluttering and living a clutter-free life. Pop over the Organise and Declutter section to find them. 

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