Declutter tip 2. What causes clutter? Books, newspapers and magazines

In a period of one week, I had five new declutter clients, all with different reasons for the clutter problems in their homes.

Tuesday. Declutter client number 2.

My second de-clutter client of this week is having a major problem with books, magazines and newspapers.  They are everywhere – in every room, in every cupboard, wardrobe, under every bed, on every surface.  And the worst sign of all is that some of the magazines are still in their clear plastic covers/envelopes, from where magazines on subscriptions arrive and don’t even get opened!

Bringing every single book, magazine and newspaper all together into one room is the answer.  This will immediately create lots of storage space in every room for all the other items that haven’t previously fit into cupboards, so a room by room tidy-up can now start to happen.  The room with all the books/magazines/newspapers can be tackled when the homeowners are in the right mood for sorting.  They should remove anything no longer wanted, and organise what’s left. A designated space then needs to be created for these items – a series of shelving units maybe, and future subscriptions need to be carefully monitored.

In many homes, a thorough book declutter is all that is needed to sort storage problems throughout the house.  I’ve lost count of how many times I have started a declutter by collecting all the books in the house into one room. Storage in the rest of the house is then free for ‘normal’ items, and the books can be decluttered or stored more appropriately later.

Here are some examples of client’s rooms before the declutter: