Expert Says You Should Always Start Home Decluttering With This Room

Key Findings:

• Decluttering your home can benefit your moods, emotions and even relationships – but where should you start?
• A home storage expert shares how and where to start reaping the many surprising and often invisible rewards of home decluttering
• Tidying your residence can actually improve your all-round lifestyle – a professional shows us how

You know how it is. However much you tidy up, somehow your home gets messier. The family leaves stuff all over the place. The place needs to be decluttered, right? 

Decluttering your residence can have multiple benefits, including; less risk of allergies and asthma, increased productivity – tidying-up can help you concentrate better, and even safety, as decluttering helps to diminish hazards and create a safer environment.

Karl Graham, a storage expert at Click Storage says, “People increasingly use decluttering as a way to create serenity and achieve minimalism in their homes. Plus, it can work wonders on home life however you live and whatever your home-style.”

But where to start? Which rooms need decluttering the most? According to Karl, starting with the laundry room is the most efficient way to begin decluttering. 

“Often overlooked for daily tidying chores, the laundry room should be the starting point for your decluttering. Firstly, it gets used every day, especially if you have a family. It’s also prone to harboring damp in items that are waiting to be washed or drying out after they have been washed. A cluttered laundry room can also mess up the rest of your household routine because you can’t use it quickly as you need to – which can get annoying!” 

By beginning with the laundry room, you make the rest of the decluttering process easier and build momentum to get it going.    

Time to Roll Your Sleeves Up

There are clothes waiting to be washed on the floor, and clothes that have been washed waiting to be folded up and put away on the work-surface. And the dog has left a half-chewed bone over there, and is that a bicycle tire? Where to start?

According to Karl Graham, there are some great ways to tidy up this important space in your house that will be good for your health – physical and mental. 

1. Prioritize: Get rid of items you don’t really use any more and clear up that needless clutter – throw stuff away if you have to. If trash can, you can too.
2. Use space like Mr. Spock would: Designate, say, one area for sorting dirty laundry, another for stacking clean laundry, and another for items waiting to be ironed. This will get things organized, and less jumble makes working easier. 
3. Smart storage space: Fit shelves up to store supplies and items neatly. 
4. Smart containing: Use containers, bins, and baskets that fit the space you have available in the room. 
5. Pour and store: Decant liquid detergents and fabric softeners into labeled containers and store things like detergent balls in jars, and label them too. 
6. Stowaways: Store your faithful ironing board on a dedicated rack screwed to the wall, or a robust door. 
7. Phew! Keep dirty laundry in special laundry bins to keep a lid on stray smells. 
8. Wash the washer: Clean your washing machine thoroughly and dryer so that they work as well and as hard as you do. 
9. Always be folding: Fold clean clothes neatly to keep your drawers cluttered-free and well organized.

Karl Graham sums up, “Once you’ve decluttered your laundry room, you’ll find you won’t mind using the room as much, because it works more like your friend and not your domestic enemy. With your laundry uncluttered, you can now start to apply the same rationale to the bigger, busier rooms in your residence like the bathroom and lounge.”

The Benefits of Decluttering

You may find that decluttering like this is good for your mood when at home. It can even create a sense of accomplishment. “Decluttering has been found to help people feel happier, less anxious, and even more confident generally,” Karl points out. 

He adds that it can also help you feel more in control of your domestic environment: “Decluttering can lead to better relationships, as a tidier home-space reduces conflict with family or roommates because the environment they’re in is less chaotic, so they can be too.”

“Lastly, lifestyle tends to also be improved, because decluttering can make it easier to do chores and use your house as it should be used, with less hassle, and a bit more sweet serenity,” Karl concludes.