Do you find the task of decluttering your life a little daunting?

If it’s time to declutter and organise your home or workspace, but you’re not sure where to start, then The 8-Step Declutter Process can help you to decide what’s important, what to throw away and what to store at our self-storage facilities.

Step One: Create a Decluttering Game Plan 

Firstly, before rushing into decluttering and making even more to organise, you should create a decluttering game plan. How you plan to tackle and declutter your home or workspace is up to you. The important thing is that you get it done as a tidy and organised space can contribute to better mental health, fewer distractions and a more relaxed environment. 

Choose whether you’d like to declutter in short 15-minute sessions, set aside one hour a day, or work through your home throughout the week. 

Step Two: Determine the Purpose of Each Room

Next, it’s a good idea to take a walk around your home or living space and decide the purpose of each room. This will help you to determine which of your items belong in each room. 

For example, you may decide that the living room is where the family relaxes together. This will influence the overall vibe of the room and help you to decide to keep items such as books, blankets and boardroom games in the room. 

You may also decide to identify different zones for different activities within one room. For example, your kitchen may be a space where you prepare food. However, it may also be where the kids do their homework, and where you like to enjoy a wine on the weekend. 

Step Three: Start Clearing the Space 

Now you have a decluttering game plan, it’s time to begin the declutter process! Start by clearing the visible clutter from the space or room you use most often. This means anything that isn’t in the right place, such as random paperwork on the coffee table or toys left out on the floor. 

Next, it’s time to empty the drawers, shelves and cupboards. You may find it helpful to work around the room in a clockwise fashion. 

Step Four: Categorise Your Items 

As you remove each item, categorise it and sort your belongings into different piles, such as clothes, toys, kitchenware, tools and office stationery items. Categorising your items can help determine which room they should be kept in and make the decluttering process so much easier when it comes to organising your belongings. 

Step Five: Declutter and Get Organised

You’re now ready to work through your items, declutter and get organised! If you don’t love or need an item, then it may be time to donate it to charity, sell it online, throw it away, or put it into storage. 

Try to ask yourself questions such as: 

  • Do I regularly need this item?
  • Have I used it in the last six months?
  • Does this item bring me joy?
  • Does the item have sentimental value? 

To make decluttering easy, create piles or fill boxes with your sorted items. The four main sections will be 

  • Items to be kept
  • Items to be sold or thrown away
  • Items to be stored

You may also decide to create some additional piles, such as: 

  • Items that belong in another room
  • Items that need repairing
  • Items to return to owner

Remember to work through items such as magazines and books, make-up and cosmetics, DVDs and CDs, paperwork, kitchenware and cutlery, medicines and vitamins. 

Discover how to declutter your home and work through categorising items in the main rooms, including the kitchen area, living room, bedrooms, garage, and shed. 

Step Six: Donate, Sell, Throw Away, or Store? 

To ensure that your organised boxes don’t add to the clutter in your home, you must take action with your items and what you plan to donate, throw away or store. If you now have a box of old clothes and children’s toys ready to donate, then it’s a good idea to drop it off at the charity shop as soon as possible. If you have items that may fetch a few bids online or you can sell locally, then take the time to create an eBay or Facebook Marketplace listing. 

You may also have items that you need to return to other people, items that need fixing or cleaning, and some items that need to be put into a self-storage unit. 

Step Seven: Keep up the Good Work 

You’re nearly at the end of the 8-step declutter process, so most of the hard work is done. Now that you’ve started the decluttering process and organised your home, it’s important that you keep up the good work. 

If you’ve given each room a purpose and identified different zones, then this should make your day-to-day life easier as each item in your home will have its place. You may even decide to create additional home storage solutions, such as floating shelves or window seat storage boxes.

You may further organise your home by using container boxes and storage hacks, such as using a fishing tackle box to organise your jewellery or keeping your garden tools in a hang-up shoe rack. 

Step Eight: Make the most of The Self-Storage Company

Finally, the last step when decluttering is to make the most of self-storage units. The Self Storage Company have facilities across the UK and offers a wide range of secure and affordable home storage solutions to help you clear space and get organised. 

Find The Self Storage Company in Edgware, Hemel Hempstead, Waltham Abbey, Welwyn Garden City and West Molesey. 

Whether you need to store some furniture pieces you may not have the room for, seasonal items such as Christmas decorations, or just a few boxes of clothes, we have the perfect storage solution for you. Our storage units range in size from 10sqft to 275sqft (storing up to 400 boxes, or the contents of a large 5-bedroom home!). 

For help choosing the right-sized self-storage unit for your declutter process, take a look at The Self Storage Company Size Guide or contact your nearest TSSC facility.