Professional organiser Sarah Reynolds shares her top tips for decluttering the most common problem areas in your home
From kitchens to wardrobes, she has advice on how to keep even the trickiest areas in your home clutter-free.
Sarah Reynolds is a professional organiser and founder of Organised Chaos. Helping people create calm in their homes is something that she loves, and in fact was a dream since she was young.
“When I was fifteen years old,” Sarah explains, “I was watching the Oprah Winfrey Show with my Mam. A professional organiser, Julie Morgenstern, came on the show. She had organised the Oprah offices and was launching her book. I loved organising things so as Oprah would say – I had my ‘ah ha’ moment and thought to myself ‘I’d love to do that’. Fifteen years later, I took a career break and went to New York and trained with Julie Morgenstern. I came home, launched the website and took my first client a few months later!”
Sarah has since worked with many Irish people to streamline their homes, finding solutions to banish clutter and keep it at bay. The most common problem areas, she finds, are wardrobes, toy rooms, kitchens, and anywhere that letters and documents accumulate. “The wardrobe and toy rooms in particular often bring up feelings of guilt,” Sarah explains, “from spending too much money or not fitting into clothes or not playing with toys. The kitchen is usually a time issue – it’s a busy spot for the whole family so it can get cluttered. And paper is the hardest category to get and keep organised!”
For anyone that wants to tackle the clutter in their home, Sarah always suggests to start with a flat surface such as a bedside table, countertop, or kitchen table. “A cluttered flat surface can be so stressful – a constant reminder of things we haven’t got around to. So clearing this is usually a quick job to do which gives us instant relief and motivation to do more around the home.”
In terms of mistakes that people make, Sarah says too often try and tackle clutter only sporadically. “People think they can give it a Saturday or a week and clear it all. They grossly underestimate the time involved – and more than that – the tiredness from the emotions around it which slows them down. It’s better to create projects and tackle them one at a time in regular bouts of time. Another common mistake is buying storage before you declutter. Storage won’t solve a clutter problem – you must declutter first!”
Your environment is an extension of yourself and so if you have a calmer outer environment, you will have a calmer inner self
Sarah has some favourite tips for the most common problem areas in our homes. For toy rooms, she likes to use open containers for toys, avoiding anything with a lid. “Kids will never put lids back on. With open containers, it’s easy to pop the toy back thereby increasing the chances they’ll tidy up.”
For hallways and mudrooms, she advises against using hooks for coat storage. “Coats on hooks are often messy and thereby visually noisy. I’d much rather have a wardrobe or rail for coats and hang them up on good wooden hangers instead.”
To keep piles of paper and documents at bay, she recommends creating a “landing spot” near the entrance of your home. “As soon as paper comes in, if you can’t deal with it immediately, pop it into this basket. Keep the basket shallow so that when the paper reaches the top you’re forced to deal with it. In the meantime, whenever you need the documents, you know where they are.”
For wardrobes, she says slimline hangers are a must. “They allow you to keep more on the hanger – good if you find it hard to let go of clothes! But they’ll also grip your clothes well so less likely to fall off the hangers and cause clutter on the wardrobe floor. If you want to instantly makeover your wardrobe, matching slim hangers is the way to go.”
When it comes to kitchen islands, Sarah says that the type of clutter that accumulates there is usually items you would find in a junk drawer. “You either need to create a junk drawer (an organised one!) so that these items have somewhere to go. Or if you already have one and that’s not working either, then declutter that drawer and island at the same time. Study what the usual culprits are that land there and make sure these items have homes. You will probably always have some degree of clutter on an island, so to help, have another landing zone – a pretty basket – and pop items in there. Then once a week give it a clear out.”
If the task seems overwhelming, remember that there are enormous benefits to having a clutter-free home. “The main one,” Sarah says, “is the sense of absolute relief you will feel. Your environment is an extension of yourself and so if you have a calmer outer environment, you will have a calmer inner self. You will also feel a little bit more in control of your life – very important if you’re going through a lot that you can’t control. You will have physical and mental space, and you will save time.”
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