It can be tough to achieve a perfectly tidy home, especially when you consider that in your efforts to declutter, you could actually be making matters worse. To guide you, here are some decluttering mistakes that you need to stop making today.
Keeping Duplicates
If you own multiple copies of the same items, you should ask yourself whether you really need them. Take some time to evaluate what you truly need multiples of, and discard any unnecessary extras. This will free up a ton of space while simplifying decision-making when organizing your living space.
Ignoring Vertical Storage
It’s important to efficiently use vertical space in your home to minimize visual clutter. For example, you can use wall-mounted shelves, hooks, and tall cabinets to maximize storage space, helping to keep your floor clear. This method not only saves space but also makes cleaning easier.
Not Using Storage Containers
Another common decluttering mistake is not using enough storage containers, which leads to items lying around without a proper place. Invest in quality bins, baskets, and drawer organizers to keep your belongings organized, and consider printing out labels for them to avoid any confusion.
Forgetting Daily Maintenance
If you don’t tidy your home daily and leave decluttering to build up, you’re making things difficult for yourself. Instead of allowing clutter to accumulate, The Inspired Room suggests taking time every day to declutter, preventing piles from becoming overwhelming, and keeping your home consistently neat without much extra effort.
Overstuffing Shelves
A classic decluttering mistake is overloading your shelves in an attempt to tidy up. This will mess up the aesthetic of your rooms, so instead, strive for a balanced arrangement by keeping things minimalistic. Excess items can be stored away or sold, helping to keep your home looking orderly.
Saving Too Much Paper
A lot of people hoard old bills, magazines, and papers, thinking that they might need them later. This habit can create stacks of paper clutter that consumes valuable space. As a solution, it’s worth switching to digital documents where possible, making it a routine to digitize paperwork every few months.
Not Defining Spaces
Without defining clear functions for different areas of your home, rooms can quickly become dumping grounds for all sorts of items. To prevent this, decide on specific zones for activities and chores around your home, store and present your items accordingly, and you’ll soon see clutter disappearing.
Decluttering Before Planning
When they’re ready for a decluttering session, a lot of people dive straight into it without having a game plan. Before you start moving things around, get your storage containers and labels ready and set out a clearly defined system. Otherwise, you’ll get confused as to where to put everything.
Having a Junk Drawer
Everyone has a ‘junk drawer,’ usually filled with batteries, screwdrivers, and other loose nick-nacks. This is the ultimate form of clutter, as it’s too easy to shove miscellaneous items in there without thought. So, take a deep breath and tackle that junk drawer before it gets out of hand.
Keeping Items Out of Sentiment
Nobody wants to throw out sentimental items, but you should ask yourself whether the clutter you’re keeping is truly sentimental. If you don’t address this, it can quickly turn into hoarding. So, consider taking photos of such items or choosing a select few to keep, letting go of the rest.
Not Regularly Purging
One of the best ways to minimize clutter is to have a regular purge. Look around your home and ask yourself whether you are keeping hold of unnecessary items. Do this seasonally and purge clutter through yard sales or donations, and your home will soon feel much more minimalistic.
Overlooking Small Items
Your home can become disorderly when there are small items cluttering your space, but they’re difficult to notice. Take some time to pick up any remotes, keys, batteries, and other small items around your home and consider new spaces for them, preventing them from contributing to surface clutter.
Holding on to Expired Items
Food, medicine, and cosmetics should be consumed in a timely manner, so there’s no point in hoarding expired products. Regularly checking their expiration dates and taking note of when to dispose of them will prevent them from accumulating and prevent any health concerns from consuming expired products.
Improper Use of Closets
Cramming your closets with rarely used clothes and fashion accessories will look messy and disorganized, so start using them properly. If your closet has already become overwhelming, remove everything from it and sort clothing into piles, donate anything that you no longer wear, and start fresh.
Ignoring Digital Clutter
Nowadays, it’s just as stressful to hoard digital clutter as it is to physically clutter your home. Unused apps, chaotic desktop screens, and junk files all contribute to a feeling of digital disorganization. It may take a while, but your mind will feel much clearer when your devices are organized.
Unorganized Outerwear
People often have a pile of outerwear by the entrance of their homes, with coats, boots, and other outdoor accessories scattered chaotically. This is a commonly overlooked mistake; install a coat rack or hall closet, and you can keep these items neatly organized and out of sight.
Shopping Without a Plan
A decluttering mistake that occurs outside of your home is careless shopping. The main contributor to clutter is buying new items, especially when they hold no specific purpose. So, shop with clear intentions, and if you don’t know where a new item will be stored, don’t buy it.
Failing to Involve Family
If everyone isn’t on board with decluttering practices, one person’s efforts can be completely undermined by the rest of the household. Turn decluttering into a family effort, encouraging everyone to keep communal spaces organized, and the mammoth task will soon feel much more manageable.
Misplacing Laundry
Even though it’s a terrible habit, leaving laundry around the house, even if it’s in a pile, can instantly make any space look messy. Establish a routine and specific area for managing laundry, preferably in a laundry basket, and ensure clothes are either washed, folded, or stored right away.
Underutilizing Doors
The backs of doors are often overlooked as potential storage spots; think about how many doors your home has, and how much unused space they represent. Buy door-mounted organizers or hooks, and you’ll have far more space to work with, helping you to store items neatly without needing storage boxes.