Have you ever seriously made an effort to conquer your clutter? Or do you just look around your house and wish that you could simply will it away? 

As much as we all hate the feeling of being surrounded by clutter, it can be hard to find the motivation to do something about it – especially when you have no idea where to keep everything!

One day, I reached the breaking point and decided that I wasn’t going to let clutter overtake my home any more.

I wanted to stop feeling like my house was getting smaller.

I wanted to look around and feel at peace. 

In the process, I found some great habits that can help you conquer your clutter for good. Follow these 7 easy steps to be on the path to making your home a place where you can truly relax.

1. Evaluate and purge. 

There’s no way around it: you’re going to have to set aside some time to evaluate your belongings and do some culling, but if you adopt good habits, you should only have to do this once.

Remember that less is more, and you should consider giving away anything that you wouldn’t buy if you saw it in a shop right now.

Consider the black bag method if you’re having trouble deciding what to keep – you can read more about it in my post on Storage Tips for Storing Shoes and Bags.

2. Create new storage systems. 

If a lack of storage is contributing to your clutter, it’s time for a new system. Take a look at which items make up the bulk of your clutter, and consider hooks, rolling carts, crates, high shelves, and drawer organisers as appropriate. Recycled boxes of any kind are great to organise and compartmentalise with. Think ice cream tubs, jewellery boxes, gift set boxes and so on.

3. Store diligently. 

You have probably heard this advice before, but it’s a classic for a reason: if you put everything away after you’re finishing using it, clutter won’t have a chance to accumulate.

At the very least, check if there’s anything you can put away on your way out every time you leave a room. Once it becomes second nature, it won’t feel like you’re constantly putting things away – trust me!

4. Buy wisely. 

I read a review of a slow cooker once where a fellow mum said that she has a very small kitchen, so her rule is to never buy something that doesn’t have at least two uses. I think that can be applied not just in the kitchen, but throughout your home – no matter how big or small it is.

It’s also important to avoid the sales trap. Don’t buy something just because it’s a good deal – buy it because you truly need it.

5. Use the one in/one out system. 

This is the best kind of tip because it’s simple yet effective. Every time you bring in something new, get rid of something old.

If that new vegetable slicer passes all your buy-worthiness tests, toss your old peeler – or even something completely unrelated that is collecting dust in the kitchen.

Repeat after me: One in, one out. Every time. You won’t regret it!

6. Assign mental space to your belongings. 

Beware the junk drawer and junk cabinet. Make sure everything has as assigned space, even if it’s just mentally.

If you’ve decided only the left half of the bottom shelf of one cabinet in particular is for mugs, it can never get too full because you’ll have to get rid of an old one if you want to bring in a new one.

Of course, don’t fall into the trap of buying things just because you have space for them. That’s only part of the criteria – make sure you truly need it as well.

7. Make it a group effort. 

This last point may be the hardest one, I know, but try to talk to your family members about your desire to keep your home’s belongings to a minimum.

This entails everything from saying no to hand-me-downs you don’t need to asking for experiences for gift-giving occasions rather than more items you’ll need to store. After all, does your daughter really need more Legos for her birthday, or would tickets to the cinema or a play be just as well received? 

You’re going to feel so much better once you conquer your clutter – and it’s surprisingly easy once you get into the habit!

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