musicMagpie Blog

Our lives are more hectic than ever, making it difficult to find the time to tidy up on a regular basis.

Making time to declutter is one of the most important steps in the process. But when is the best time to declutter? We've weighed up a couple of options below.

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Moving out

In theory, the best time to declutter is when you're moving house because you literally have to tidy up. If you don't, you won't be able to move and you'll lose a lot of time and money "" it's as simple as that.

However, the pressure created by a house move is a blessing and a curse. Pressure, as with most activities, is a useful tool to force you into action, which is especially useful if you've got rooms in your home you really don't want to tackle.

On the other hand, pressure forces you into snap decisions on your stuff. That might sound like a good thing, but it deprives you of the time to make an informed decision on whether to keep or sell an item. The chances are you'll keep most of your stuff to decide on at a later date if you're moving into a bigger home; in effect, you're moving your clutter from one house to another!

If you are planning to declutter before moving house, make sure you give yourself plenty of time before the big move, come up with a realistic plan of action and don't use extra space as an excuse to keep your clutter!

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The weekend

Let's start this section off with a question: do you really want to spend your precious weekend tidying up?

Most people, if they were answering honestly, would say no. No-one wants to spend their free time cleaning up when they could be watching football, spending time with friends or…well, anything that doesn't involve spending Saturday and Sunday knee-deep in clutter.

However, this is based on two misconceptions: that decluttering takes ages, and that you have to clean out your whole house at once.

Actually, just an hour or two on a Sunday afternoon can reduce the amount of stuff in your home significantly, while tackling a single room is a massive step in the right direction. You can make a few easy quid by selling Games, DVDs, CDs and Electronics with musicMagpie too!

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Your day off

You've got a day off work and you want to use it productively. Why not declutter?

As with the weekend, you first need to accept that you won't get everything tidied in a single day and that you'll probably get bored if you work flat out. For best results, work in 20 minute bursts, tackle a room at a time and remember to treat yourself for a job well done afterwards!

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Bank holiday

The bank holiday is hands-down the best time to declutter, as there's plenty of time left for fun once you've finished tidying up. That's if you're lucky enough to get bank holidays off work, of course.

Again, temptation will rear its ugly head but with some effective time management you can overcome it. Dedicate one day of the weekend to tidying up (work in 20 minute shifts and take regular breaks, though) and spend the rest of your weekend enjoying yourself. Perfect!

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After work

Let's be honest: most of us just want to crash on the sofa for the night after a long day at work. We definitely don't want to tidy up!

That said, a little bit of tidying up when you get in "" 20 minutes or so "" can make a big difference to your overall decluttering efforts. You don't even need to rush around in those 20 minutes. Just pick 5 or so items, decide what you want to do with them and spend the rest of the evening relaxing.

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In all honesty, there is no "˜best' time to declutter (unless you count bank holidays, which not everyone gets off work!). When you declutter ultimately depends on your schedule and your preferences. There are, however, a few top tips anyone can follow to make their efforts more productive.

Declutter in 20-30 minute shifts. Any longer and you might start to feel bored or agitated. Give yourself a short break for a cup of tea (or your preferred beverage of choice) and get back to work refreshed.

Don't try and declutter everything at once. Not only is trying to tackle your whole home at once time-consuming, but it's tiring too. By the time you get to your last room, you'll probably be too worn out to do a good job of it.

Little and often: you're never going to make your home look like an Ikea catalogue picture after one session, so take it easy and make decluttering part of your daily routine.

Remember, as you declutter, the amount of time you have to dedicate to each session will gradually decrease.

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If you're ready to start decluttering, sell CDs, DVDs, Games and Electronics you find with musicMagpie!