Expert Tips On How To Declutter Your Home

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Does it feel like you're losing the war on clutter at your home?

There are some new and creative ways to help you declutter, and they're things you may not have considered before.

This isn't really for hoarders, but for people who just have a little too much stuff and need to pare it down.

We found some strategies from books and blogs and asked a local expert what might really work.

Space is tight in Samantha Bond's apartment in West View. Exactly why professional organizer Vickie Dellaquila is taking a look around.

While Bond loves to be organized, she has so little storage space; her boyfriend's clothes are relegated to a table in the basement.

Dellaquila starts with a simple trick to find out what you're really using in your closet:

1. Turn Hangers the Opposite Way:

Hang your clothes with all the hangers turned the opposite way of how you normally would, then after you wear them; hang them back up the normal way.

"If at the end of the season, those hangers are like that (the opposite way), then maybe you should think about whether you really want to keep that still," said Dellaquila.

2. Project 3-3-3:

Blogger Courtney Carver takes things a step further with Project 333.

Limit your wardrobe to 33 items every three months and pack up everything else. You may learn you don't need as much as you think.

"If you think about it, 100 years ago, people only had three outfits," said Dellaquila. "They had a work outfit. They had a Sunday outfit, and maybe they might have another outfit."

3. Joshua Becker's 12-12-12:

Joshua Becker is known for a blog about living as a minimalist.

He suggests finding 12 items to donate, 12 items to throw away, and 12 items to put back where they belong.

4. Take a Photo:

Dellaquila says if you have an emotional attachment to some items you should probably get rid of; take a picture of you and the item.

Maybe it's a high school cheerleading uniform or an outfit from a special dinner.

"You're letting that item go, but you're still keeping the memory because you have the photograph," Dellaquila says.

5. Does It Bring You Joy?

Marie Kondo wrote the popular book "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up," and she asks readers to ask themselves: Does Something Bring You Joy?

"Does this clothing item bring you joy, spark joy, make you feel good about yourself?" asked Dellaquila.

If the answer is yes, you may want to keep it. If no, clear it out.

6. Pantry Challenge:

Finally, if your kitchen is cluttered with cans of food you keep forgetting about, consider a pantry challenge.

Good Cheap Eats blogger Jessica Fisher tried it.

For a month, she and her family ate what was already in her kitchen, plus fresh dairy, eggs and produce. She writes that she saved $650.

"This way it's not only saving you time, it's saving you money, definitely," said Dellaquila.

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