Decluttering and Space Saving work together to achieve home organisation, and allow people to utilise their spaces better, access their stuff easier and live with less stress.
Decluttering is usually the starting point. There needs to be some decluttering activities happening before space saving strategies can be used. Space saving without decluttering only gathers more stuff and leads to hoarding
Decluttering requires
Dedication and commitment
Decluttering is a discipline and requires commitment of time and mental space, to sort through and identify items to keep and dispose, as well as commitment to see the project through.
Planning
Planning that takes account of how long you have to dedicate to decluttering, both initially and quick tidyups. Planning involves gathering Interim storage for transferring between and sorting locations and also the ordering of bulk waste disposal.
Process
For decluttering to be successful, there needs to be a consistent order decided in the planning stage, ie room by room, or storage type such as all clothing, all shoes and then all miscellaneous storage
Order
Decluttering produces order, cleanliness and makes the space easier to find things and easier to maintain. Order is where everything has its place, that all family members can identify where they come from and easier pack them away after use
Assistance
Decluttering is an easy project to never finish on your own. When sorting things through, it can be time consuming when you are weighing up too much whether an item is worthy of keeping. Having a helper is good to bounce ideas off, to see if something is really worth to keep, as well as keeping you accountable so you finish the task of decluttering. For some, there are professional organisers that can help you with this
Space Saving requires
Identifying opportunities
Space saving involves identifying opportunities around the home for organisation and storage. There may be a rearrangement of furniture that frees up wall storage that consolidates your storage of certain items. There may be low level storage opportunities below desks, or overhead opportunities for lighter items. There may also be space that can be better utilized within wardrobes, attics etc
Innovation and good ideas
There can be innovation based on first design principles, custom joinery shelving or innovative products that are able to store items better than simple shelving. Space saving involves always looking at whats available, and what is developing in the storage products market.