Where Should I Start Decluttering? I have a Tool for You!

Happy Easter! It’s one I’m sure none of us will ever forget. It reminds me of what I charmingly called ‘Vomit Christmas 2017’ where, after attending a Christmas Eve party with friends, both my husband, sister-in-law and myself (to a milder extend) were struck with a tummy bug meaning Christmas that year was cancelled.

I did some rummaging around and I found the photo I put on Instagram of me eating left over pasta for Christmas dinner… alone.

Christmas 2017 spent alone, eating leftover pasta

Why bring up this story? Well, that day I had nowhere to go and a quiet apartment to myself as my husband slept for the day. I made my first YouTube video on my old (and discontinued) account, Lessons For Suzy.

The sound was poor, the video was grainy… but I made a start! Now, three years later I’m making videos that are a LOT better. You can only grow and improve if you make a start, no matter how shaky! 

Thinking about doing some decluttering, but it’s overwhelming and you don’t know where the best place is to start?

Like my Christmas Day at home with nowhere else to go, if you’re feeling up to it, why not take this unique time to start paring down your possessions? You know it will make you feel calmer, more in control… but it’s just getting the ball rolling.

I have a tool that I think you’ll find very helpful - I’ve outlined it in today’s video. I’ll show you how to choose the order you should work in when decluttering different areas in your house, based on how stressful the projects are and how big of an impact they will have on your wellbeing.

It’s a simple exercise with handy results!

How do you decide where to start?

Step 1: Get a piece of paper, a pen and a ruler (optional)

Step 2: Make a list of areas or categories of items in your home that need to be decluttered (try to think of 10)

• For example, your wardrobe, the attic, toys, the shed, the fridge

Step 3: Next to the list, make a grid. 

• The horizontal axis (or line) will represent ‘Stress’ (i.e. how hard it will be to make decisions), going from low to high. 

• The vertical axis will represent ‘Impact’ (i.e. how important this area is for daily life or how much difference decluttering here will make to your wellbeing, going from low to high

Step 4: You now have four quadrants. Put each of your areas and categories into the quadrant that fits it the best

• For example, you access food in your kitchen cupboards every day (high impact) but making decisions about the food items is fairly straight forward for you (low stress)

• Step 5: To build your confidence and motivation to keep decluttering, start with the ‘High Impact/Low Stress’ category. If more than one area falls in this category, choose the easiest first.

• Step 6: Work through the categories in the following order

  1) High Impact/Low Stress e.g. kitchen cupboards

  2) High Impact/High Stress e.g. clothes

  3) Low Impact/Low Stress e.g. old shampoo bottles

  4) Low Impact/High Stress e.g. garden shed

Remember, it’s subjective! Only you can classify what is stressful for you

See you next week for more tips and insights - stay safe

Suzy xx