Tips to Declutter Your Home

You know that clutter in your home causes you more stress than necessary. (Read 3 ways clutter adds more stress to your life in my previous blog post here.) Want to get rid of things but haven't gone through a decluttering phase yet? Here are a few tips and tricks for getting started, continuing to declutter, and what to do when you're finished. If this is helpful to you, join my FREE Decluttering Challenge now, starting in February, to receive more tips/tricks, structure, and motivation in your emails.

Organizing vs. Decluttering

You may read all of this and think "I really should organize everything". Here's what's wrong with that. While organizing is great, you won't stay organized unless you declutter first. If you just organize, you'll be right back where you started in no time, because you have too much stuff to stay organized. Having too many items without designated places means that when you need something, you have to move stuff out of the way to get to that one thing, and you're likely to not put those other things back right away. Repeating this leads to disorganization, which leads to a cluttered home, which leads to more stress and frustration.

So, what's the difference between organizing and decluttering? Organizing is arranging things systematically. Decluttering is removing unnecessary items. You can certainly declutter and then organize, but if you organize without decluttering you end up back at the beginning in a short amount of time. This is why we often clean our houses but shortly end up with a mess again. This picture below is of my yoga room which I have cleaned and organized previously but it keeps ending up being my dumping zone because I have too much stuff. Time to declutter!

How to Get Started Reducing Clutter

To get started, first think about why you want to declutter your home. How long have you been frustrated with the amount of stuff you have? Do you want to declutter to decrease the amount of time it takes to clean? Do you want to do it so that you and your family can live in a more peaceful and less chaotic environment? Do you want to do it so it is easier for you to find things when you need them? There are a lot of reasons why you may want to reduce clutter in your home. Think this through thoroughly and write it down on a piece of paper that you can have with you when you are decluttering to help you stay motivated when it gets tough.

Don't expect to get rid of everything in one day. Break it down into chunks so that it is less overwhelming. Just do a little bit at a time and feel accomplished for completing that small chunk. Join my free decluttering challenge now (starting in February) to get emails with structure, tips/tricks, and motivation to minimize the number of things you have in your home.

How to Keep Decluttering

When you are going through things and don't feel like you are getting rid of the non-essentials, look at your paper of reasons why, and you'll begin to look at things more critically. Use it to push through the indecisions that will inevitably happen. Speaking of decisions, you'll likely get decision fatigue if you spend too long going through things. Set a time limit or only tell yourself you're going to do one closet, cabinet, drawer, room, etc. at a time before taking a break.

Only keep what you actually need. Most of what we own we do not actually need. Think of all the kitchen gadgets that are specialized but could be done with just a knife. Statistically, we wear 20% of our wardrobe 80% of the time, so you really do not need all of those clothes you have. Think of what you really need and keep those things, then donate or trash the rest.

What To Do When You Are Done

When you have finished decluttering for that day (again, do it in small chunks), celebrate finishing that part! Ideally you won't celebrate by buying something, but if you just got rid of 10-20 unique dresses, maybe you could purchase 1 dress that can be used for many different occasions. Other forms of celebration include going to catch up with a friend at your favorite place, going for a walk, sitting down to finally read a book, taking a nap, cooking a fancier dinner at home. These things require time some, but now that you're reduced your clutter, you'll end up with a lot more time in your week due to spending less time on cleaning and looking for things.

Lastly, decluttering is an ongoing process. The first round always takes the longest but keep that mindset when you are out shopping or receive gifts from others. Every time you accept something into your house, think about whether you need it or whether it makes you happy. If it does neither, it may be more valuable to somebody else.

For more help and inspiration, join my FREE Decluttering Challenge now at this link, and start decluttering your home in February!