When it comes to decluttering, it can often be a never-ending chore. This is especially the case if you don’t know where to start with the overwhelming sea of clutter.
I’ve tried every decluttering method or hack going — from KonMarie to the rather scary-sounding Swedish Death Cleaning. Naturally, it's never too long before I find myself with endless clutter again! And if you also find yourself rummaging through kitchen cabinets or drawers and spotting things that you’d forgotten you had, this next hack might be the one for you too.
The “House Hushing” or “Hushing the House” decluttering hack has been doing the social media rounds for a while now. A fuss-free method that forces you to part with items you no longer need or use in 24 hours. Sounds simple enough...
Here’s what happened when I finally tried the “House Hushing” method to declutter my kitchen cabinets.
What is the “House Hushing” method?
Essentially, the “House Hushing” method is ‘backwards decluttering.’ Created by The Nester, this simply involves relocating all items in your cluttered area to another “holding” space for 24 hours. This allows a clear space to not only deep clean, but to carefully think about what items are necessary to put back.
“House Hushing” refers to the concept of clutter creating noise — disrupting the quiet harmony in your living spaces. The whole point is to achieve a calm and peaceful environment that's minimalist and more organized.
This could range from "hushing" visually busy living spaces, to your overfilled closet or kitchen cabinets.
Here’s what happened when I “hushed” my cabinets
If there’s one area in the home I often forget to declutter, it’s my kitchen cabinets. And if you have an abundance of cookware but limited storage, things can easily pile up. I’ve been guilty of hoarding a bunch of small appliances and kitchen tools (some completely useless), without much thought.
Trouble is, whenever I want to find an item, I’d need to delve in the back of a cabinet to rummage through a messy pile of pots. The same applied when trying to find my best travel coffee mug amongst my excess cups and coffee glasses collected over the years.
Once everything was displayed in all its glory, I was able to look at items more clearly.
Following the “House Hushing” rules, I started by removing the contents of my cluttered cabinets, placing them on my dining room table. Once everything was displayed in all its glory, I was able to look at items more clearly. I even spotted things that I forgot I even had, and others that I wondered what had happened to.
This made it much easier to cull the items that I didn’t want — moving them to one side. Things like an old garlic chopping gadget, rolling pin, and a rusty wok that hadn’t been used in years were some of the first to go!
Left with my empty cabinets, I gave it a thorough clean, making sure it was fresh before moving things back in. The idea is to give yourself 24 hours to decide exactly what’s going back in — with intention. And while I wasn’t entirely sure if it needs to be that long, I was able to return and organize items that I actually use often and need.
In fact, one small gadget called a mug stacker doubled my kitchen cabinet space in seconds, allowing more storage for my favorite mugs. Once I started to put away each item back, it instantly freed up more space and looked tidier — which is much needed in my compact kitchen.
Verdict
Although the “House Hushing” decluttering method is pretty simple, it does force you to be ruthless — which can usually be tricky. Rather than procrastinating about what you need to get rid of, displaying all items in another area helped me see clearly all the junk that I really don’t need! This makes it far more effective than just going through items one at a time, whenever you feel like it.
In addition, you don’t want to put old or useless items in your newly-refreshed cabinets. And you want to keep organized and tidy as possible — just don’t add any more to it!
More from Tom's Guide
