The clutter battle.

Our home is full of “stuff”. I struggle daily to get the children to put their “stuff” away and the battle of clutter seems never ending. Actually, it feels as though it’s getting worse daily. Where does it all come from? I am not sure! But summer always seems to make it multiply! So, the time has come for drastic measures.

Disposing of stuff.

I am introducing the “haven’t used it for a while,  don’t need it!” So, whether it’s toys, clothes or kitchen ‘stuff’ if it’s been sat in the cupboards for months we probably no longer need it! The boys are getting quite good at helping clear their things. They are happy to pass toys onto charity in order to have a tidier space to play. My daughter wants to keep everything, but as she’s not quite 3 we will let her off! I keep encouraging her to join in, and I hope she will eventually happily help with the declutter!

Where to get rid of stuff?

Lots of people I know use eBay, personally I prefer to sell bigger items on Gumtree. We donate clothes and bric a brac to charity shops locally to us. Then sometimes we will do a carboot sale if the children are desperate for a mega clear out aka they are saving for something else. I try to minimise what ends up at the dump, most things will have a useful purpose beyond their time with us.

Decluttering? Get a plan!

So you want to declutter? Well, get a plan! If I don’t have a plan, I feel like the whole declutter is pointless. So I give up. My plan is always to pick a room and start there. If the room is really cluttered, choose an area – maybe a cupboard or a drawer to start. Today I am focusing on our kitchen. Do we really need 15 mugs? Probably not! They’ll be heading off to the charity shop this afternoon! I think it’s always quite motivating to consider how you’d manage if you were moving house, would you really want to move all your clutter?

Do you have any tips on decluttering?