Clutter slows us down. Do a bit edit of all your possessions and chuck out everything that compromises your taste. Don’t be sentimental. Chuck out everything that’s chipped, tarnished, dated or ugly and depressing. Breaking up is hard to do. Despite our best intentions, we inevitably accumulate clutter around our homes. At our best, we may be Marie Kondo converts—successfully discarding anything that doesn’t spark joy—but when life gets busy, it’s all too easy to fall back on bad habits. Next thing you know, kitchen benches are deteriorating into a chaos of paperwork, pantries are bulging, cupboards are full of mysterious gadgets and dead batteries and wardrobes that are full of clothes that missed their mark.
The single biggest thing we can do is to remove things from our houses in one major decluttering marathon. In only a few hours, you can go around every room of the house and throw out all the useless items that are overflowing around your home. Not only will you feel more organised, but you might even improve your well-being.
NYC-based feng shui expert Laura Benko believes that “an excessive amount of clutter stops us from having clarity of thought, and it can weigh us down emotionally.”
No, you don’t need another stack of storage baskets, you simply need less stuff. This is exactly how to organise your room—starting with 50 things you can toss today.
IN THE LIVING ROOM
Assess your knick-knacks and vases. Why are these on display? Do you like them? Make executive decisions. Is that bowl something you’ve always secretly detested? Let it find true love with someone else. CMove on to the bookshelves. If there’s a volume that you last put down unfinished one year ago, it won’t have improved with age, the self-help book that never helped you, and the four shelves of paperbacks that smell all deserve to be set free. The living room is a hotbed of anything that once entertained us but no longer does—old CDs, DVDs, magazines, and board games that are missing so many pieces you can’t even play them anymore. To clean out your living room, start by decluttering all surfaces, from coffee tables to bookshelves. Then, turn to closed storage: TV cabinets and built-ins. Finally, remove any soft furnishings that have seen better days.
Bin these now:
Remotes that don’t serve a purpose
Old CDs and DVDs
Extra cords behind the TV
Old magazines
Board games with missing pieces
Coffee table clutter
Décor accessories that you no longer love
Worn pillows or throws
IN THE KITCHEN
It all happens behind closed doors in the kitchen. While the countertops may look clean and clear, cabinets and pantries tell another story. To declutter the kitchen, start with expired food: Work your way from perishables to pantry items—if you haven’t used your powdered sugar in over two years, you probably never will. Then declutter every cabinet, one by one.
Bin these now:
Food passed its use by date
Takeaway menus
Hard, stained, thin, cheap, tragic, tarnished, chipped linen, dinnerware, flatware, and drinkware
Unused kitchen appliances or cooking gadgets ( how many meat thermometers do you need?)
Mismatched storage containers
Scratched Teflon pans
Old kitchen sponges
Old water filters
IN THE BEDROOM
Decluttering your bedroom is not only visually pleasing, but it might also help you sleep better. Start with your bedding. Keep only which is fresh, crisp, fluffy and makes you happy. Nothing that is yellow, hard, stained, thin, cheap or tragic. Replace pillows with big, generous ones every year to avoid dust mite buildup. Next, clear surfaces on your bedside table and curate your pieces.
Bedding that doesn’t fit the bed
Bedding that’s old or stained
Old pillows
Dead plants
Bedside clutter
Books you never got around to reading
Reading glasses with the wrong prescription
IN THE WARDROBE
A good trick suggested by My Domaine is to start by hanging everything backward and re-hanging items the right way around after you’ve worn them. In six months, you’ll be able to easily spot the things you haven’t worn. Next up, shelves and drawers: It’s easy to let these overflow with items that are worn out, especially when it comes to weekend wear. Say goodbye to sweatpants with holes and stained T-shirts. Finish up by purging your accessories—consider everything from your shoes to your jewelry. If you haven’t repaired that broken necklace chain in six months, you probably never will.
Bin these now:
Clothing and shoes that don’t fit or are beyond repair
Items you haven’t worn in more than six months
Mismatched socks
Worn pajamas or lingerie
Stained anything
Dry cleaning hangers
Shoe boxes
Broken jewellery
Saint Laurent store in Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Paris
IN THE BATHROOM
The bathroom cupboard is a dark corner in everybody’s life. That space under the sink should contain fresh rolls of loo paper, cakes of soap and a few extra hair and make-up products – that’s it. You know what to do with the rest. Throw out all medications past their use-by-date – don’t forget the bottle of calamine lotion that has become a family heirloom. Buy a new lot of Band-aids, insect-bite, bandages and antic-fungal creams, together so you where to find them in an emergency. Make your bathroom cupboard, washbasin unit and shower a thing of beauty – they are a reflection of you.
Bin these now:
Expired medications
Expired toiletries, cosmetics, and sunscreen
Lipstick in colours you’ll never use
Old nail polish
Shower clutter
Old exfoliating gloves and loofahs
Ratty towels
Mouldy shower curtains
IN THE ENTRYWAY
Your entry is your chance to make a good first impression, so it’s the first place you should declutter. Start by the console table and your junk drawer – where matchboxes jumble with string, out-of-date warranties, gummed-up tubes of Superglue, dead batteries, keys that don’t open anything in your house, and numbered birthday candles that don’t add up to the age of anyone you know. Chuck the lot.
BIN THESE NOW:
Mail and receipts you don’t need
Old keys that don’t open anything in your house
Outdated electronics and chargers
Out-of-date warranties and user manuals
Old newspapers
Winter accessories you no longer need
Outerwear that has seen better days
Sporting gear you never use
Excerpt from article in MyDomaine.com
