Decluttering your Home – 5 Tips on Getting Started

In 2023, I am committed to taking as many of my followers as possible through decluttering their homes and lives. Across my social channels, my content will be thematic throughout the year, and I will deliver guidance on a different area of decluttering every month. If you’d like to take part in this year’s decluttering challenge, you can join me on Instagram or over on Facebook. I also have a private Spark Joy London Facebook Group, if you’d like to be around and talk to beautiful like-minded individuals that are on the very same journey as you!

In this blog post, I’m sharing my five top tips to get you into prime tidying mode!

1.    There are two things that you have in your tidying tool kit right now – your vision and your tidying checklist. Let’s talk about your vision first: If you haven’t had any time to work on your vision for your home and how you want it to look and feel by the time you’ve finished tidying, this is an essential step and in my opinion, should not be skipped.  A lot of people read Marie Kondo’s book, watch her on Netflix or observe tidy and organised posts on social media, and launch into action without first considering what they hope to achieve from the process.

The more time you invest in your vision now, creating an almost movie-like picture of what your finished home and spaces within it will be like at the end, the better off you will be. Your vision will motivate you, and keep you focused when you reach challenging moments in the tidying process. For example, if you come across a clothing item that you haven’t worn in years, you have your vision to fall back upon when you ask yourself  ‘realistically, do I see myself wearing this a year from now, when my vision for my home and lifestyle has become a reality?’ All of those difficult, potentially stalling moments in tidying can be resolved by a quick revisit to your vision. So if you haven’t completed task one yet on the ‘Declutter with me in 2023’ challenge yet (which is of course, creating your vision for your ideal lifestyle and living environment) please do this now, before you take any clothing out of your storage spaces! For support on creating your vision, read my blog post ‘KonMari Basics: How to Visualise your Ideal Lifestyle and Living Environment’.

As an aside, I keep writing the word ‘tidying’… I use this so much in my role as a KonMari Tidying Consultant, but I want to be very specific about what this actually means. Sometimes the word ‘tidy’ or ‘tidying’ can have different definitions for different people. Some people shudder at hearing these words because it conjures up distant memories of being shouted at for not ‘tidying up’ their room. For others, it means simply tidying up a space when it gets messy. For the KonMari world, tidying means something significant. It refers to a process whereby you decide what you want to keep, and which items you wish to say goodbye to and pass on. The process also includes creating a designated home for every item that you decide to keep. In effect, tidying is a combination of decluttering, effective and honest decision-making, and organisation: these are 3 essential life skills that do not necessarily come easily to everyone. So don’t beat yourself up or engage in negative self talk if you’ve never been able to finish your tidying journey before, it’s a lot more challenging than simply putting things back after you’ve used them, which is most people’s initial definition of the word ‘tidying’ in my experience. If you’re going to embark on what we call a ‘tidying festival’, remember you will be practicing and refining three skills throughout the exciting journey:

• decluttering

• decision-making

• and organisation.

2.    Your tidying checklist – We all need a little helping hand when it comes to tracking our progress, and often something visual like a checklist can do wonders at keeping us focused and motivated. If you haven’t had a chance to download my Free Spark Joy London Tidying Checklist yet, then now is the time to do so! Print it out, and stick it somewhere so you can see it easily. A lot of my clients and followers put it on their fridge!

The checklist includes all of the five KonMari tidying categories of clothing, books, paperwork, komono (miscellaneous items) and sentimental, as well as the smaller subcategories included in each phase. Take a moment now to look through the checklist, and use two highlighters or colours and mark in one colour the subcategories you feel are going to be straightforward for you, before using the other colour to mark the subcategories that will be more of a challenge. Getting into the mindset of considering the contents of your home as a collection of categories of items using the checklist, will teach you one of the core aspects of KonMari tidying philosophy: we tidy by category, instead of by location. Say goodbye to tidying one cupboard, drawer or room at a time (that, pre-KonMari, often has countless categories in each space!) and say hello to adopting the practice of splitting your items up into categories first, before making any decisions whatsoever! Divide first. Conquer later!

3.    Share your journey with as many people as you can! If you know that you find it difficult to stay motivated on completing a project, you may need to engage the people around you and tell that what you’re doing so they can hold you accountable towards achieving your goals. You can share your vision or that you’re making 2023 your year when you finally get your home (and life!) organised with your partner, children, another family member, a close friend, someone you know who is also decluttering this year (make them your ‘tidy buddy’!) or simply share your intention on social media. Putting it out there can seem daunting, but it has the potential to engage a community around you to help you stick to your tidying goals. If you still need a tidy buddy after a some dedicated searching, get in touch with me and I may be able to link you to another person in the world who is also in need of a tidying buddy!

4.    The power of before and after photographs. When you start tidying and making progress, spaces will transform. It’s so easy to forget what the starting point was unless we document our journey right from the beginning. I’m aware that this may be painful, but I encourage you to photograph the spaces in your home as they are right now. Every room. Every cupboard. Every drawer. Face the mess, and the reality of the situation right now. Some people find photographing their home in its starting state a pleasure, and realise that they have already made significant strides in achieving their goals. Other though, are mortified! The reason you’re taking photographs at the start is so you can see evidence of your progress. And as you know from scrolling social media, there is a great motivational power that gets unleashed with a transformational before and after photo!

5.    Be specific and schedule into your diary your ‘tidying days’ and/or ‘tidying slots’. When my husband and I started the KonMari Method in 2015, we used to cancel plans with our friends on the weekend (sad I know!) to complete what we called our ‘Kondo Days’. Tidying takes time, commitment and dedication. It’s not going to happen unless you schedule in the time and are specific with when it’s going to happen. Whether you write in a tidying slot of 1 hour or a whole day doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re making a commitment to yourself to allocate that time to tidying. So grab your diary right now, or open up the calendar on your phone, and find a date where you’re going to add your first tidying time slot. Although this may be a challenge in itself, try to find a time when you will uninterrupted. Protect that time slot at all costs and if you’re able to, plan in advance some alone time by asking your partner or a friend to watch the children. Next set a reminder on your phone for 30 minutes before you are about to start your tidying, and make sure you plan something to celebrate your tidying win following your tidying time. Some of my favourites ways to celebrate my tidying wins in the past included a long bath, going out for a coffee, or treating myself to lunch at my local cafe (baring in mind the best time to start tidying is first thing in the morning when we’re fresh!) or simply making myself a cup of tea and relaxing with my favourite book.  Find your way to celebrate your success, and don’t skip this. It’s important to reward yourself for your ongoing commitment, dedication and motivation in consistently revisiting your tidying tasks and finishing them. Successful habit change is supported by three stages:

- Trigger: setting the date to remind yourself to engage in the habit (being specific in your diary/calendar and setting the reminder of your phone)

- Engaging in the new habit (completing your decluttering task uninterrupted)

- Rewarding yourself for completing your habit (tea, coffee, bath, book, wine!)

Remember the habit change cycle: Trigger / Task / Reward (and repeat!)

Have you completed the five steps above? Let me know in the comments! And if you’re joining in with the decluttering challenge this year, you are officially incredible.