Tips to Declutter Your Home From Expert Hoarder House Flippers

Cleaning any sized space can be a daunting task, but the key to stopping a mess is organization, in all ways. It helps to have a list to compartmentalize and break down such a large job, into more manageable chunks. Divide the mess however suits your cleaning style. You can go area by area or divide it up into smaller piles, such as donation, dump, and keep.

Knowing what your hopes for the finished product look like will help keep you focused. Figure out what your end goal looks like, from there you can prioritize where you need to focus the most attention. Remember you don’t need to do everything all at once, your home and designs should evolve with you gradually. Find styles and designs that suit you and your home, and work towards them.

It’s not the most ground-breaking advice, but it is the best method when tackling any big mess or overwhelming task. Taking the plunge and diving right into your space is the best way to overcome that anxiety in the face of not knowing where to start. Once you get in there, you’ll see what’s a gem and what’s… not.

When organizing any space that’s been overfilled, you’ll want to start at the entrance, whether it’s a single room, a basement, or the entire house. This way you won’t box yourself in as you sort through it all and maintain a safe walkway for taking out what needs to go. After all, your end goal is to open the space.

Sorting through your clutter is an ordeal. It can be easy to lose track of your own progress as you purge your home. To mitigate this, clear a space somewhere. That space, either outside or inside the room, will be where you keep your piles. These piles don’t need to be pretty, but they do need a purpose; one for donations, one for the garbage, and one for working into the finished space.

As you go about cleaning, you’ll find items you’ve lost, forgotten, or maybe even didn’t realize you had. When you find these trinkets it’s important to ask yourself whether they belong in the space you’re trying to create. Anything you do keep must either be worked into your decor or kept in your valuable storage space.

Many hands make light work. The idea of asking a friend to help you clean might not be the most comfortable thought, but an extra set of eyes will help you put into perspective what really should stay and what should go. It takes a true friend to tell you that capri pants are never coming back into style. Use this as an opportunity for bonding.

One of the reasons that areas accumulate mess in the first place is because areas and items without a specified use or place end up piled together. The best solution to this is by making storage decorative. If you know where an item belongs, and it being there adds to the aesthetic, then you’re less likely to let things build up around it in the future.

Some things just aren’t cute. Unfortunately, some of those things are the items in our home that we have to use every day — remote controls, car keys, that scruffy stuffed animal your dog loves. Rather than leaving them in the open, try decorative storage that can blend into your design or even be a focal piece.

Everyone has that one drawer, closet, or pantry where things just disappear into, never to be seen again. Not all storage is created equal, some storage can be fun and even a part of our home’s decor. Through tasteful display cases and shelving you can pair your most used items with art or decorative pieces, giving you a few less things to hide when company comes over.

Short and stout is great if you’re a teapot or one of the containers in the garage, but slender vertical storage is the way to go for everyday utility. Whether it be a sliding spice rack hidden against the side of your cabinets, or a low-profile shoe rack hidden it the closet, it’s way more fun to be sneaky with it. Small nooks can hide a lot.

Containers and bins are as low tech as it gets, but despite their simplicity they need investment, whether that be time or a little bit of money. Sure, a few cardboard boxes in the attic work, but spending the time to organize and label some plastic stackable bins will save you headaches for years to come. It’s either that or wondering every year if you put the Halloween decorations in the box the microwave came in.

When you put work into the design of any space, you want to showcase it. Some areas of the home are always going to be utilitarian in nature, unseen by guests, but that doesn’t mean they should be drab and boring. Adding a splash of colour or design to these areas will motivate you to keep even the most seldom seen spots clutter-free, so line your drawers with some pretty wallpaper or add an accent wall in your closet. Have fun, even if it’s just for you.

There’s no one-size-fits-all product that will magically make everyone’s house more streamlined and organized. Your needs, habits, and possessions are unique to you. For that reason, you’ll need to do a bit of research to see which products will be most beneficial in your space. Do your own research, use your imagination, and find what works for your life and home.

Once you’ve accomplished your goals, with the aid of a few decluttering tips, you need to enjoy the area you’ve created. It’s beautiful, and you should be proud, but these are spaces meant to be lived in. Nobody is perfect and small messes will come, but now that you’ve implemented better systems to manage clutter, you have the skills and tools to keep on top of them.