We all have that drawer, closet or room that we shamefully open and close again because the task of clearing it out is just too daunting. You turn away from the chaos wishing you could KonMari the situation – if only you had the time. Marie Kondo makes it look so simple, doesn’t she? Item by item – does this bring happiness into my life? The reality of a seasonal declutter is much harsher unless you are an uber neat-freak like Marie.

For the rest of us, mere mortals, it takes copious amounts of motivation and equal parts procrastination to get the job done. Who knows, you may still need that item that’s been there for years, completely unused…

We’ve made this simple (ish) seasonal declutter plan for you, so you keep your home clutter-free going forward.

Step 1 – Get ready.

Step 2 – A little more ready than that.

Step 3 – Read the article. Yes, we know you will read it, but you need to really read it.

Step 4 – Get ready for a clutter-free home!

These steps sound simple enough. Let’s dive in (into the mess that is)!

If you are a highly organised person, make checklists to follow when starting your seasonal declutter purge. An important thing to remember when you reach this first stage in getting rid of all the excess is this – Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you won’t get this all done in a day either. That is why we are going to help you get this mammoth task done, one step at a time:

• Pick a room – it doesn’t help anyone if you run around the house looking for things to throw out. You will only tire yourself and leave the mess to exists into infinity. So pick one room to start with, whether it be the living area, kitchen or bedroom.
• Take it out – remove anything you are unsure of. Take it out of the room completely. This way, you can see what you have and what you actually need.
• Sort it – get some boxes and sort your items into three categories: Keep, donate and trash.
  • Sort the items and add them to the relevant boxes.
  • Be quick about it; if you look at an item and you don’t immediately feel that you can’t part with it, then you know it’s meant for the donate box unless it’s something that’s damaged – then trash it immediately.
• Move it – now you are going to get those boxes going.
  • Keep – put away the items you want to keep – neatly.
  • Donate – everything you don’t want which is still in good condition.
  • Trash – everything that is broken or expired.
• Store it – if you have any items you want to keep but don’t use often, you can store it in a self-storage facility.
• Now, onto the next room, and then the next!

Now we get to the good stuff. You’ve done your declutter and feel oh so proud you even want to post photos of your neat home on Pinterest so others can envy your beautiful rooms. However, unless you stick to some sort of purging schedule, you will end up at square one – in other words, it will be a mess all over again.

Enter the world of seasonal declutter! Instead of a week’s worth of work every year or ten, you can keep a neat home with only a couple of hours four times a year. Yes, you read that correctly, a couple of hours vs a week. Doing this seasonally means you will keep clutter under control and have an organised home without too much effort.

Here’s a fool-proof seasonal plan for you to ensure you have minimal work to do when organising your home.

Spring decluttering:

• Clear out your bathroom and linen closet. Chances are there are many half-full and completely unused bottles in your bathroom. Get rid of these and any linen you have not used in the last year. Also, if it’s torn, it has to go. Chances are some Christmas gifts will include new towels or pamper hampers if you ask.
• Living room and family areas, like games rooms or pyjama lounges, tend to fill up with all sorts of cosy things like blankets, heaters and so on during the winter months. Get these out of the way and back into storage.
• Again, holiday gifts are coming, so get rid of all those toys lying around unused. You can donate any undamaged toys to orphanages or your local pre-school.

Summer decluttering:

• With the end of the tax year around the corner, take a look around your home office and get all your paperwork in order.
• While sorting out your tax papers, you can also take the time to get rid of any other unused paperwork.
• Food cupboards have been stocked up to the point of bursting after year-end bonuses and holiday shopping. Check what you have and what you don’t need – this is an excellent opportunity to donate some food to those in need.
• Do you love gardening? Get those supplies sorted and cleaned for the next round of planting.

Autumn decluttering:

• Before the weather gets too cold, get into your garage or tool shed and start clearing out what you don’t use anymore.
• Jackets, jerseys, coats, boots and winter shoes. Winter is around the corner: see what was worn the previous winter and get rid of what hasn’t been used in a while.
• Party supplies, arts and crafts, hobbies – these all collect a lot of unused stock. Decided what you need and send the rest to school for use in class.
• Did you use all those pool noodles, tubes and other blow-up loungers for the pool in summer? What about all the beach supplies after your holiday? If not, you know what to do – get rid of it.

Winter decluttering:

• Go through your spring and summer clothing, swimwear and shoes during the winter months. You will be looking at these clothes from a fresh perspective because you aren’t using them and can quickly get rid of what you don’t want.
• Check your make-up and nail varnishes for items you don’t use and throw these out – in the trash; nobody wants to be unhygienic and share make-up, especially while we’re in a global pandemic.
• Unused décor takes up space; look at what truly suits your personality and makes your living space look great.
• Camping and sporting equipment. Have you used any of this in the last year? If you are low on space, you can store these items at a facility that specialises in secure storage.

This is an easy-to-follow guide to get you started on seasonal decluttering. We encourage you to throw out many things; however, sometimes things need to be kept, even if they haven't been used in a while – for instance, camping and sporting equipment. If you have enough storage space in your house to keep these out of sight, great! If not, look at a self-storage facility like Mi-Storage to keep these items out of sight and secure.

Now that you've read the article and successfully completed step three of the purge plan, make yourself a hot cup of coffee while you think about which room to tackle first.