The little-known step before decluttering that could make it easier to let go of your stuff
When an area of our home needs cleaning out and reorganising we usually go straight to decluttering, which can quickly become overwhelming.
Emotions start to come into play and we worry about whether we do actually need that thing or if we'll want it after it's gone.
That's why professional organiser Jess Schultz from Collectively Organised recommends another task first that she says makes it easier to let go of your stuff.
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Grouping items together before sorting through them can make it easier to declutter. Getty
Instead of going through things one at a time, Schultz swears by sorting and consolidating before making any decisions.
"It can be amazing when you group a certain category or item, you get all the emotion removed because you have the full knowledge of the quantity that you have so it doesn't become this back and forth of, 'Oh, should I get rid of this? Should I get rid of it?'," she tells 9honey Living.
"It's empowering you with the knowledge over the quantities that you have and giving you that space to then just really hone in on what your favorites are, that you're going to now know where they are and use them more frequently."
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Professional organiser Jess Schultz recommends sorting and consolidating before decluttering. Supplied/ Jess Schultz
To sort and consolidate before decluttering, Schultz recommends getting some plastic storage tubs and Post It notes and using each of the tubs to group categories of items together as you clean out a space.
So if it's in the garage you might have car cleaning supplies in one tub and tools in another – each one of these can have a separate box for you to sort through later.
"Then you can actually take the tub that has [for example] tech and cables, and take all of those aside and go, 'Well, actually, we don't use this, we don't need that one' and just be in the headspace of one category at a time."
Grouping items in plastic tubs has an added benefit of allowing you to work through your things gradually by doing sessions of one box at a time while storing the others neatly until you've got time to look through it.
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Schultz uses the sort and consolidate approach with every room in the house, but for something like a wardrobe the bed and space around it can be used to lay out categories of clothes.
"Then I can work with someone to start on one side of the bed and go, 'Let's talk through tops and T-shirts and then strategically work around," she says.
"People really respond so well to being able to see that category in its entirety to make the best and most confident decisions on what they're actually going to keep and what they then feel comfortable to let go of."
Going through all your tops at once makes it easier to let go of some because you know what you have. Getty Images/iStockphoto
The sort and consolidate method of decluttering works well for everyone but Schultz says she finds it particularly helpful for people with ADHD.
"They get a little bit worried and reluctant to get rid of things because they don't know where the rest of that category is or how much of that category they really own. So by seeing the whole category; 'This is all of it. I've sorted this whole pile. How do you feel about this?' they're generally a lot more at ease to let go," she says.
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