What are your decluttering top tips?

Lockdown has given most people a lot more time to sort and declutter. Is this something that you've done, or have you actually been buying more things? What are your top tips for decluttering?

My main tip would be to have things in categories where possible. It's amazing how many duplicate items we end up with because we forgot that we had something and went out to buy it again. Having items in categories (e.g. all games in one places, all cosmetic products in another place) can help us to see what we have and not buy more of each that we don't need. It does mean initially creating a mess to then organise and categorise things into each area.

Once you've sorted through things, find the right place to get rid of items that you don't need. Don't chuck it all in the bin when some of it could be sold, given to charity shops etc. Some charities/places such as homeless shelters may take items that high street charity shops don't. I've also given away items on local social media pages (but make sure you do this safely and be careful about giving out your address!).

Let us know your top tips for decluttering below! Or if you have a question/need some advice, let us know

Heyy I just did a major declutter 2 weeks back and it felt great.

My tip was to just retrace my steps for the past week and keep aside things that I use regularly. I then carry on with my life for another 2 weeks, and then basically donated most of the things which I did not reach for in those 3 weeks.

Don't print out anything unless you have absolutely no alternative. Try to go 12 months without buying any clothes other than new underwear.

I love a good declutter I tend to do small ones every month and then bigger ones when I have a big chunk of time available (like lockdown!)

Get yourself down to the home section of shops such as Dunelm, The Range or even just Asda and Tesco and buy yourself some storage baskets/boxes. Sort your things into categories so you can easily find them and know exactly what you have and what you need, as well as what you can throw away. For example, I have a box for my spare toiletries like an unopened bottle of shampoo or shower gel and then another box for the toiletries that are open and being used. This helps me know when I am running out and need to buy more. Before I did this, I would end up with 4 or 5 bottles of stuff because I'd buy them on my weekly shop without realising I actually had some at home already.

Edit: oops sorry this point is exactly the same as yours above

If you haven't used something in a year, you can probably get rid of it. Either recycle, upcycle or donate to charity unless it's totally wrecked and can only be binned.

When you buy something, consider whether you actually need it, what you'll use it for and where you will store it when you get it home. Don't buy things that will just create clutter.

Have mini clear outs once a month to clear out the bits you've gathered in the past 4 weeks. I'm really bad when it comes to using things but not putting them back, I often have a pile of bits on the sofa seat next to me where I've used things but just can't be bothered putting them away. A quick whiz around the house with a box to gather the stray bits and organise them back to where they need to be or chuck them out is a great help.

It's so satisfying seeing everything clean and organised

I really love the idea of the mini clear outs each month. I'm hoping that once we get on top of the clutter in general that this is something that we can get into the routine of doing. We don't even buy that much stuff, it's just boxes of things over the years/from our childhood that we're having to sort through at the moment. We've also set ourself a deadline of mid August to sort through the bulk of things, so let's see if we can manage that

If you went "oh I remember this!", toss it ( unless of course there were tears involved when you found it ). You didnt need it for so many years and your not going to need it anytime soon.

Very true! Any advice for things that are sentimental? We recently got given back some things from our Mums' houses from our childhood, and I find being brutal with those things harder than purchases from adulthood

Ooh good luck That's quite a task. I'm currently on a mission to get my dad to sort through the house, he is a bit of a hoarder e.g. keeping all the unopened Happy Meal toys from when I was a kid because "they'll be worth something one day". It is a struggle so far. I found we had over 20 wooden spoons

PRSOM! Completely agree with this - if you didn't know you had it, then you didn't miss/need it. An exception may be things like family photos (but lots of similar ones can be sorted/decluttered)

Thank you! Oh wow, you've got quite a task on your hands! Have you found anything that helps him? I would say out of the two of us in my relationship, I'm the one pushing to sort things and she's struggling to let things go 20 wooden spoons though the charity shop or homeless shelters would make use of those extra 17 spoons! I reckon 2 or 3 wooden spoons is enough.

Very good point - having lots of papers is stressful and can look really messy. I bought a filing cabinet to file away any necessary papers that I have so they're all in one place which has been so helpful (and more secure!)