I’m Oprah’s favourite decluttering pro – my 3 top tips can make anyone rich & reduce overwhelm too
EVEN if you spend hours looking at houses on Pinterest, our homes rarely look that tidy or organised.
One interior expert has shared his tips for ditching the clutter and live a healthier, happier, richer life too.
Unless you were watching TLC in the noughties, you might not be familiar with Peter Walsh.
The Aussie organiser first hit our screen with Clean Sweep, with the series following families that were desperate to declutter and whose lives were changed forever by the show.
Since then, he has become Oprah’s favourite declutter and has had a twenty-year career making over people’s homes.
While he can’t transform everyone’s space, the expert does have some advice to tackle the clutter without getting overwhelmed.
Sharing these on the Clutterbug podcast, he revealed that an organised home often starts with you.
BUYER BEWARE
When we are shopping, it is easy to get carried away and imagine how ‘perfect’ our lives will be once we have a certain product.
Rather than just buying a water bottle, you are often buying into the idea of a healthier you who loves your body and achieves your fitness goals.
Months later though, you’ll find the same water bottle gathering dust in your kitchen cupboard.
For this reason, Peter encourages people to be more mindful when consuming products – no matter what they cost.
He told listeners: “We are all caught in this belief that if you just buy the right things, you can acquire the life you want.”
“[It] starts from prenatal, if you just buy the right diapers [or] stroller, you’ll have a happier baby.
“You know you could put your baby to sleep in a cardboard box and they’ll just be as happy as in the £1,200 designer crib. It’s no difference.”
Instead, Peter suggests it’s better to use the items you already have to build a life you love rather than buying into the idea of a product.
KNOW YOURSELF
If we struggle to get rid of items, we often think it is because we have a sentimental attachment to something.
Ironically, Peter says the opposite can often be true.
Often, we can feel intense guilt about letting items go with homeowners worrying about the lost money or where your item will end up.
Keeping all this extra clutter can also hurt our mental health though.
“It’s kind of cost versus value,” he explained: “You’ve spent money on it [and] you don’t want to let it go because you don’t want to ‘waste’ money.
“That’s the value, but what is it costing you?”
Though you don’t want to waste money, it’s better to let go of items and free yourself of that emotional clutter.
PRICE POINT
Picture this: you are walking around a supermarket and you find some adorable décor for £3, which ends up in your trolley almost immediately.
We’ve all been there.
However, these cheap buys can have a lasting impact on our homes and the environment – according to Peter.
The expert explained that we can often have a mindset of ‘Oh it’s cheap, I’m going to buy it’, leading to mass overconsumption and endless clutter in our homes.
“We are global citizens now,” he told listeners, adding: “We want to be organised, it’s not about the stuff we buy but the lives we create.”
With this cheap item often adding so little to our lives, it’s better organise time to spend with loved ones than planning your spring décor.
Peter's Top Tips
Beat the clutter and reduce your overwhelm with these clever tips:
- When shopping, avoid buy ‘cheap items’ for no reason – it might seem like a great deal on the day, but often these products will clutter our homes and not add any real value to our lives.
- Question everything – often we hold on to items because we feel guilty about letting them go or how much we spent on them. In reality, you probably don’t need the extra clutter.
- Buy the product, not the idea – often we want the ‘perfect life’ sold to us by advertisers, not the actual product. Question whether an item will actually improve your life before buying.
Dirtiest Items In Your Home You’re Probably Forgetting To Clean
Research shows people are exposed to an average of 60,000 types of germs on a daily basis.
Cleaning expert and Product Development Scientist at Astonish, Olivia Young, reveals the dirtiest items in your home and how to clean them.
Kitchen sponges or cloths
Some of the items we use to clean surfaces are actually the dirtiest. From wiping down worktops, to cleaning dishes, kitchen sponges or clothes are used multiple times throughout the day. And when doing so, it’s usually wet and warm, meaning if it’s not cleaned properly, it can be a prime spot for bacteria to grow.
As a general rule of thumb, if you’ve used your sponge for around two weeks – it’s time to replace it.
Shoes
Shoes are without a doubt an item in your home that is full of bacteria. A study suggested a single shoe sole has an average of 421,000 units of bacteria, but there’s no need to panic.
Most of these germs that gather on shoes won’t come into contact with other areas of your house, assuming that you take them off as you enter or put them in a box in your wardrobe.
Pet bowls and toys
Pet bowls have actually been found to be the third most contaminated item in households, meaning they are a breeding ground for germs and bacteria that could make you and your pet unwell.
Give them a wash with warm soapy water after each use to keep bacteria at bay. For toys, if they’re plastic you can soak them in warm water with either disinfectant or soap, soft toys can be cleaned thoroughly in a washing machine on a gentle cycle.
Toothbrush holder
Your toothbrush holder is probably not something you’ve considered to be dirty – but there’s more germs in the container that holds your toothbrush, than the taps on your sink.
Clean your toothbrush holder at least once or twice a week.