You’ve tried to ignore it but it’s there, staring up at you from the bottom of your to-do list. And now’s the time to face the music.

It’s time for the big clean, and today is the day you make it happen.

No more shall you tread on lego bricks bare-foot, letters shall no longer be left on the side by the door, and the rooms of your house will gleam with the shine of clean perfection.

It’s the self-isolation quick clean challenge, and these 7 tips are going to help you do it. Read on to find out more.

1. Create your plan of action

Looking to cut down on clutter quickly? You need a plan of action. So, first things first – make a coffee and set aside 20 minutes to take stock.

Walk around each room of your home, make a note of anything that’s overstayed its welcome, and decide its fate. Refresh your perspective, look at your home through the eyes of a first-time visitor and ask yourself – which areas need work?

Break your Action Plan out by rooms, with bullet points to cover individual trouble spots within those rooms ready to be crossed off one by one. If the going gets tough, this list is going to keep you on task. Once you’ve created it, it’s time to dive in.

2. Split items into sell, donate and bin piles

Although some things you’ll find on your hunt are undoubtedly destined for the bin bag (we’re looking at you, pile of magazines under the coffee table), not everything needs to be thrown away.

If you’ve got a little extra time (and let’s face it, we’ve all got a lot of it spare), designate a “sorting room” and split your unwanted items into piles.

Selling unwanted items or donating to charity is a great way to declutter whilst also helping others. List old CD’s on Facebook marketplace, furniture on Gumtree, and ask your local charity shop if they can find a use for old magazines and jigsaws. Who knows – you might even pick up a bit of spare cash in the process.

3. Start with a quick sweep for magazines and newspapers

Take a step back and look – you’ll be surprised at how much newspapers, magazines and general literature contribute to your overall household clutter.

For a quick win and a little confidence boost at the beginning of your big clean, start with a bin-bag sweep for these items, but don’t forget to recycle!

4. Create Clutter-Free Zones

Kitchen sides, shelves and coffee tables are some of the prime culprits for attracting clutter. One quick step you can take to give your home an instant uplift is marking these as clutter-free zones.

Remove clutter, clean them, and let everyone else in your home know that any items they use need to be put away instead of left on these surfaces. Once you’ve got the rules down, expand it to other areas in your home!

5. Trick your kids into cleaning for you

If only there was a way to get your kids to do your cleaning for you.

Spoiler: there might just be.

If you can make cleaning fun, you’ll solve half of your problems overnight. Turn playroom toy tidying into a weekly time challenge, transform picking up clothing into “the laundry dash”, and employ any other methods you can to make cleaning enjoyable.

6. Implement a Family Filing System

School letters, credit card bills, coupons and offers – sometimes it’s hard to know where to keep paperwork.

Sadly, more often than not, this ends up evolving into a fine layer of clutter spread out around the home or, even worse – the dreaded ‘letter drawer’.

Now’s the time to put an end to this.

Invest in two ring binder folders with poly-pockets, and split all post between “family” and “finances”, with subsections in each for school, restaurant menus, coupons and offers, credit cards, household maintenance, mortgage documentation and any other categories you can think of. There you have it – every piece of wayward post in your house now has a home.

7. Be brutal with excess clothing

Don’t worry, we get it – cutting back on clothing can be an emotional process. So, remove your feelings from the situation and take a logical stance with the closet-hanger experiment.

Firstly, turn all of your clothes the other way around in your wardrobe. Then, as you wear them, turn them around so you can keep track. After a few weeks, head back to the wardrobe and take out any items that haven’t been turned around, and sort them into your bin, sell and charity piles.

Decluttering Getting the Better of you? PODS is here to help.

Delivered to your door at no extra cost, our Portable On-Demand Storage containers give you the extra space and flexibility you need when cleaning and decluttering your home. Get a quick quote – reach out to our team now.