How to declutter your space — and keep it that way

Maybe you have a new year’s resolution to be tidier and keep a neater home. Star Hansen, a professional organizer known as the “Clutter Whisperer,” bring you some tips on how to declutter your space.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Let’s talk about clutter.

STAR HANSEN: Clutter looks like anything you can imagine. Clutter looks like the way we talk to ourselves. It looks like our calendar. It looks like our Netflix queue. You know, it’s not just physical stuff. It’s anything that is causing chaos in our lives.

KELLY: That’s Star Hansen, a professional organizer known as the Clutter Whisperer. Now, maybe you have a New Year’s resolution to be tidier, keep a neater home, or maybe you just want to minimize the chaos but life gets in the way. So NPR Life Kit reporter Andee Tagle sat down with Hansen to bring you some tips on how to declutter your space and keep it that way. Ready? Here’s where Hansen says you should start.

HANSEN: So when it comes to home organizing, you do really want to start in the easiest place first. I don’t recommend starting with the most emotional things or paperwork. You know, memorabilia and paperwork are two things that I say, please save that for further down the line because those two tend to be the most emotionally triggering. We are looking at organizing as creating a skill set. Like, most people, if they have recurring clutter, do not feel like they have a handle on the process of organizing. And so you don’t want to start, you know, with the most difficult thing first.

ANDEE TAGLE, BYLINE: Star says she’s big about setting an intention for her space. So look around that messy office or living room and think…

HANSEN: What is it that I want to do in this room? How do I want it to feel? And, you know, what do I want it to look like? How do I know what to keep and get rid of?

TAGLE: For me, it’s the bedroom. I store a lot of my clothes under my bed. To be fair to me, my apartment is super short on…