A professional organiser has revealed five ‘weird’ things people keep that make their homes feel cluttered.
Rachel, known online as The Declutter Darling, has been organising homes across the UK for over a decade.
According to the self-described ‘queenof tackling clutter’, there are many common items Brits hang onto that are better off in the bin. She noted thatgetting rid of things like takeaway sauce packets, bread ties, and novelty kitchen gadgets will make your home feel cleaner and clutter-free.
Racheladded that people don’t need to take up room storing dozens of shopping bags and that the stash of rocks and sticks some children collect from the garden should be disposed of.
The creator, who made a video about the topic on TikTok, captioned the clip: ‘The real reason your house feels cluttered? These bizarre little treasures’ we all hang onto.’
Speaking in the video,Rachel also said she has seen many houses with drawers full 1of sauce pots and sachets – usually found in takeaway bags.
‘I have found many Nandos’ pots and ketchup pots that are kept “just in case” [and are]probably a good couple of years old,’ she said.
‘Believe me, you do not need them.’
Rachel, known as The Declutter Darling, has been organising homes across the UK for over a decade and said there are many common items Brits hang onto that are better off in the bin
Second on the mother’s list was rarely-used kitchen gadgets, that simple collect dust in the cupboard.
‘That novelty kitchen gadget that you swore you would use and then you never used, like the hot dog toaster or the avocado slicer or the cherry stone popper – it will just sit in your drawer,’ she said.
Moving on, the organising guru said she also always finds bags filled with bags people are saving for a rainy day in ‘the back of a cupboard somewhere’.
‘We don’t need all these bags in our life, people. Keep a set of bags in the back of your car for your shopping, that is all you need,’ she explained.
Another strange item Rachel said she has often found, are twist ties and bread clips that are found ‘scattered’ around the kitchen should be thrown out.
‘I see them all the time, especially the big plastic IKEA ones. How much bread are we eating, people?’ she said.
‘We do not need all of them. And they’re scattered around kitchens. You probably need four, five maximum.’
Finally, Rachel said parents have no need to hold onto the bits and pieces their children bring in from the garden or park.
Rachel said she has seen many houses with drawers of takeaway sauce sachets and bread tags scattered around kitchens:’Believe me, you do not need them.’
‘I have these – I have children…You don’t need them, but you keep them in a pile somewhere because your child collected them and you feel like you need them and they really need them,’ she explained.
‘You don’t need them, they’re not going to remember them. Part ways with them, please.’
The decluttering pro shared the sage advice in an online video, and viewers praised the handy tips.
‘My avocado slicer broke after three years, used only on the day of purchase. It broke as it got stuck in the drawer,’ one woman said.
‘Bless you. I have piles of sticks and rocks in my house because if I throw them out and they notice, I am in BIG trouble,’ a mum laughed.
‘Agree with the sauce packets, I, for some reason, used to keep them and they’d sit in my cupboard/fridge and go out of date,’ a third wrote.
‘My courgette spiraliser, tote bag full of tote bags, drawer full of clips and I feel attacked,’ someone joked.
Many disputed Rachel’s recommendation to throw out bread clips, tote bags and sauce packets.
On the mum’s list was rarely-used kitchen gadgets that are collecting dust in the cupboard:the hot dog toaster or the avocado slicer or the cherry stone popper – it will just sit in your drawer’
However, she reminded people that if they frequently have and use any of the things she mentioned in her list, she wouldn’t consider it useless clutter and it doesn’t need to be tossed.
It comes after a decluttering expert revealed the common mistakes people keen to class junk apart from important keepsakes are likely making.
Speaking on Woman’s Hour, Homes Therapist Michelle Ogundehin explained that many well-intentioned organisers are simply trying to go about the process too quickly.
You have to do it ‘slowly’, the author, who has also penned the book Happy Inside, expressed.
‘It is not about thinking “right that’s it it’s all got to go, I want clear surfaces“,’ she said. ‘It’s about really taking it one step at a time.
‘Maybe you start with a drawer. You know, we all have the drawers; they are just the kind of hidden holes of horror where we tuck everything away and ram it shut. So then it’s out of mind… we don’t think about it anymore except we do. That stuff is almost like this sort of psychological weight in our homes.’
‘Visual clutter is more exhausting than we realise,’ she continued. ‘It’s not just stuff, our brains are constantly processing our surroundings so they work overtime if they’re surrounded by chaos.
‘I love my things, I have lots of things, I think our things are like the talismans of your life. They tell your story but the key is to surround yourself with the things that actually tell the story that you want it to tell.
‘And it’s about coherence rather than chaos in editing those things and then you just keep the things that have a very positive connotations for you.’
Michelle added that ‘as much as it is about getting rid of the things that don’t contribute to the story you want to tell, it is also about setting a really clear intention to reduce the amount of things you buy, deciding for yourself when you have enough’.
‘I promise you that when you clear away the stuff that has no purpose in your life you will feel better,’ she said.
