3 Easy to follow stages of de-cluttering your home (Part 1)

Chances are, you work very hard for too many hours in the day. And de-cluttering is the last thing you want to do with your precious free time after you step away from the computer. You probably know that you need to make a start de-cluttering, like yesterday, as it is just piling up and getting worse each day. Apart from that, I expect that it is constantly on your mind. So I ask you, do you even enjoy your free time anyway when you are always feeling guilty about not de-cluttering or getting organised? For most people, it becomes a procrastination point…a bit of a mind block. For the next couple of months, I am going to give you 3 easy to follow stages of de-cluttering your home that will help you kick start the process. This will give you the starting point that you need to get going, because I promise you that once you start it will get easier – you may even enjoy the process! Ok, so maybe I am pushing my luck there. Firstly

• Choose one area to de-clutter
• Start small so that you can get to a finishing point nice and quick
• The amazing feeling you get from accomplishing this will give you motivation to move on to the next area another time
• Don’t necessarily choose the place that you are procrastinating about the most
• Start with somewhere that you can imagine finishing

For example it might be the hall table/entrance way. Or choose just one cupboard in the spare room. You are almost tricking your mind here; it needs to know that it is achievable so that it wants to do more! So now you are ready to kick off your de-cluttering. STAGE ONE Let’s say you have chosen the spare room cupboard.

• Prepare yourself that you are aiming to reduce the amount of stuff in this area by at least a quarter
• “What”, you say, “impossible!” – well I usually encourage my clients to try and halve it, so I am going easy on you
• Pull everything out of the cupboard (you will need to make more mess in order to de-clutter)
• Move things around to put like with like (For example put all the spare stationery in one spot) 
• Once you see them all together then you can see what you have excess of (You don’t really need two staplers or four rulers do you)

Think of all the precious space being taken up with those excess things and imagine the extra space you will have once you de-clutter them! See you next month for the next installment of this article. Happy de-cluttering! I would love to know how you went. Do you think you got rid of a quarter of the stuff in the cupboard? Feel free share your experiences here. To stay in touch until next month or to ask me any questions, follow me on facebook.com/clutterfly. Of course not everyone can kick start de-cluttering on their own and that is where my hands on service comes in. If you feel like you just need someone to be there to show you how to kick it off, that’s perfectly reasonable. Just like some people need a personal trainer to help them commit to exercise or a dietitian to help them learn how to eat well, I am here to help people make the commitment to de-cluttering and getting organised. You can contact me thorough my website clutterfly.com.au  if you wish to chat further.