16 Tips to Help You Declutter

It's the end of the year and what better time to clean out your junk and reorganize. Here are some tips that will make even the most compulsive hoarders among you think twice and get your house to look like it's from one of the magazine pages of Architectural Digest.

1. Treat your belongings as if you're in a store. Only keep those things that you would buy again.
2. What doesn't make you happy must go. If you're not sure if an article of clothing makes you happy, try it on.
3. If you're in two minds about getting rid of something, remove it from the space it is in and see if you miss it enough to put it back.
4. A sign that something has to go is if you don't want to dust or clean it. It means you don't want to take care of it and it has to go.
5. Collect, choose, scrap, store. Collect everything that needs relocation. Choose what you need, scrap what you don't and store everything in its own home.
6. Declutter by category, not by room.
7. Pick the least sentimental category first to tackle and the most sentimental last.
8. When tackling sentimental categories such as keepsakes, ask which one is the best of the lot and keep that.
9. At the end of the day they're just things. It's easier to say goodbye when you realize that. Living with less helps you remember what matters to you. Think of it as curating your life.
10. Digitize sentimental items and things such as manuals. Ask "Do I need this item or do I need the memory?"
11. Go big or go home. According to Marie Kondo's 'Life changing Magic of Tidying Up' if you tidy up in one fell swoop, rather than little by little, you can dramatically change your mindset, which led to the mess in the first place. This prevents rebound. 
12. Organize and plan out on paper what goes where. Make sure this plan works for you in the long run.
13. Complete each task fully. Don't get distracted.
14. Use good looking storage solutions. However, first ensure that you reduce the amount of things you own so that there is less to organize. 
15. Organize first, then buy. You'll prevent wastage and know exactly what you need.
16. Don't adopt an 'all or nothing' approach. If you use it, keep it.