Professional Yorkshire organiser shares tips on how to declutter your home for free in 2023

Rachel Smith, 45, from Wakefield said you must first work out how your home works for you.

She said: “Work out how your home functions and doesn’t function and how you live your everyday life and what it is that’s stopping you doing all that.”

Here are some top tips to declutter:

Make sure all your washing is up-to-date and then put it all away.

“How on earth do you declutter washing?”, Rachel said she is often asked.

Get everyone in the family involved (the promise of chocolate usually works), put some tunes on and see who can put their washing away the quickest. Maybe try some Marie Kondo folding whilst you're at it. Perhaps have a competition for the tidiest drawers.

Have a cull of all the odd socks. If your washing is up-to-date and there are still random odd socks floating around, bin them. Chances are everyone got new socks for Christmas anyway.

Rachel added: “Put the washing all away, fresh towels in the bathroom, and have nicely made beds. You'll feel instantly better about yourself, your house, and life in general.”

- Bedside tables: If you have a drawer, you will fill it. With nothing of any use. So if you have a drawer full of rubbish, let's empty it into a bin bag.

Rachel said: “Do you really need a table? Would a floating shelf suffice to hold the one book that you are reading? Do you really need to keep the three books you've already read and the two books you might read sometime in the next 6 months on/under your bedside table collecting dust?

“Could you hardwire bedside lights into the wall, or have pendant lights hanging from the ceiling? Or the easiest option (if you don't mind trailing wires) of having a plug-in light on a bracket/screwed into the wall?

“Having a tidier area next to the bed will help to promote good sleep and will be less of a dust catcher. What's not to like?“

Children will generally only play with the things that they can see. The only way of that happening is if some kind of organisation takes place so that they can see what they've got.

Go through all the toys (sometimes it's easier if they're in bed, especially if they're little) and get rid of what you can. It is important that the children are involved in at least some of the process though so ask them to give some toys away to younger relatives/friends and pick five toys to give to charity. It's never too early to instil in them the gift of giving.

When reorganising, use storage solutions that are shallow or transparent so that toys don't get buried. Also, involve your kids in the reorganisation of their toys if they are old enough. If you have their buy-in and the way it's organised makes sense to them, they are more likely to put stuff away because it's obvious where it's supposed to go.

Top tip for the millions of hot wheels cars you might have - magnetic knife holders that go on the wall. Wilko do them for as little as £2.50.

Another tip for the millions of teddies they've amassed but won't part with is the IKEA Komplement scarf holder. It will keep them off the floor and the bed.

Now is as good a time as any to have a toy cull, so go forth and make some other children happy by giving away what yours don't need/want anymore.

- The drawer of doom:

We've all got a drawer that we shove stuff in because we don't know what else to do with it. It's a pretty useful thing to have, until it's stuffed so full there's no way you can know what's in there.

So, now's a good time to empty it. Get rid of the rubbish and maybe try and find a home for what's left, or just bin it - it was shoved in there for a reason and you probably haven't missed it.

- Paperwork

Hands up if you open the post and then immediately file it? Or do you put it in a pile to file later? Or just leave it where it falls?

Nobody loves sorting out the paperwork. It is very boring life admin.

Unless you're self-employed you only really need to keep paperwork from the last 6 months (if it makes you feel better then a year is fine). Everything else, shred or recycle it.

When you thin out your paperwork and organise it, it is then much easier to put your hands on what you need quickly.

So yes, it's a boring thankless task, but going forward you will be more likely to file stuff as you get it and that's a win in my book.

Rachel’s motto is “Your home is a direct representation of your mind. Your home should be your happy place. My mission is to make people happier, one room at a time.”