50 (more) Ways to Leave Your Clutter
When I read Meg’s headline, 50 Ways to Leave Your Clutter, the first thing I thought was, “why didn’t I think of that?”. The next thing I thought was “I need to use that”. I felt much better borrowing her words when I read the end of her post, “Go ahead, share your stories. After all, there’s gotta be fifty ways to leave your clutter….”
Pairing down and living with less is a journey. While it is not my goal to live with nothing, every time I let go of something, I want to release more.
This weekend, more clothes, glassware, a table and a book shelf went out the door. Slowly but surely, each room becomes a little more sparse. Instead of becoming cold and empty, our home is warmer and more inviting. Each new space opens up a world of possibility.
The cleaner each surface and space is from clutter, the better I feel.
Thanks to the minimalist woman, I bring you…
50 Ways to Leave Your Clutter
- Empty one box from your storage space.
- Donate one box from your storage space without looking inside.
- Hide something.
- Put a box near a door that you can easily place things to donate.
- Read Joshua and Ryan’s new book for extra inspiration.
- Designate one surface as completely clutter free.
- Open your mail before you come in the house.
- Don’t leave anything on your counter tops that you don’t use frequently.
- List your books on Paperback Swap
- Sell your gold.
- Give meaningless jewelry away.
- Choose one winter hat. Donate the rest of them to a homeless shelter.
- If there is exercise equipment you haven’t used in 90 days, use it or list it on Freecycle
- Give pots and pans away that you never use, even if they are part of a set.
- Check out Project 333 and dress with less.
- Stop comparing. You don’t need everything they have.
- Let go of sentimental items.
- Stop shopping sales.
- Opt out of junk mail.
- Don’t buy something you don’t want to get something free that you don’t need. (aka stay away from the make-up counters)
- Figure out where to donate your stuff.
- Give away holiday decorations that you don’t use this year. Next year, you won’t remember what you gave away.
- Conquer your junk drawer.
- Have one last yard sale.
- Hire a truck to pick up whatever doesn’t sell at the yard sell.
- If you don’t have a CD player, get rid of your CDs.
- If you get rid of your CDs, you can dump your cassette tapes too.
- Don’t worry about keeping things just in case.
- Copy your favorite recipes from cookbooks and get rid of the books.
- Don’t buy stuff to store your stuff.
- Hang with like minded people.
- Stop getting organized.
- Set gift giving expectations with friends and family.
- Decide what you will take with you when you leave.
- Stop attaching stuff to the people that gave it to you.
- Get ready to move to a much smaller space.
- Live on a boat.
- Clean off the outside of your refrigerator.
- Just use one.
- Leave your kitchen cabinet doors open for 48 hours.
- Spend time with people who don’t have enough.
- Don’t send lengthy email messages.
- Pick up an object and ask these questions. “Do I use this?” “Do I love this?” If the answer is no, let it go.
- Start a volunteer project with your gift giving friends and agree that your gift to each other and the world this holiday season will be love and time.
- Enjoy your newfound time and space.
- Clear your work space of anything you aren’t using that day.
- Instead of adding a task to your to do list, just do it.
- If it’s broken, fix it.
- Remember, if you aren’t happy being clutter free, you can buy everything back.
- Put people before stuff. Every time.
You didn’t accumulate your clutter overnight, so don’t get frustrated that it doesn’t disappear overnight. Start with one room and let the joy and calm you feel in that room or space motivate you to continue.
I have found that clutter attracts clutter and space attracts space. For that reason alone, I want to live with less. That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate beautiful things, it just means I’m selective about what fills my living areas and my life.
Thanks to Meg from Minimalist Woman for inspiring me with her clever words.
Please continue this list in the comment section with more ways to lose your clutter.
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54 Responses to “50 (more) Ways to Leave Your Clutter”
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I love this! I’m tempted to print it out and put it on my refrigerator. But then again, that would defeat the purpose of #38
I still need to conquer those extra martini and margarita glasses I don’t use! I haven’t forgotten, I promise.
Alyssa, What are you waiting for?
Alyssa, if you haven’t gotten rid of those extra martini and margarita glasses, why don’t you have a martini and margarita party and the guests can take their glass home with them??
I love list! #32 freaked me out because organization is my #1 hobby haha! I think it’s partly why I get rid of things so frequently–when you clear space, it gives you an opportunity to reorganize that space.
Clearing space is good, but not if you have to clear it again the next day. I used to love getting organized, and now I love not having enough stuff to organize.
With kiddos, I ALWAYS have spaces to clear at any moment in the day lol! Even if you have two things, those would require some organization (at least in my mind). Maybe our ideas of organization are different? I’m someone who loves to organize every minute detail, so even with less, I find a way to organize it, like having all the hangers match & clothes in rainbow order according to sleeve length, etc. Maybe I’m just too hyper-organized
I was wondering about that one too, as being organized helps me find things quicker and see what I really have to put it to good use! I’m thinking it meant why waste time organizing stuff you don’t need to keep in the first place? That would make sense to me.
Jennifer, That’s been my experience. The less I have, the less I have to organize. With younger children, more stuff is likely needed, but not as much as I had around when my daughter was young. I thought she needed everything when usually something simple was more entertaining.
I keep thinking that I have uncluttered our house enough but then I look at it in a different way and there is more that is unused or unloved. Right now I am trying looking at the place that store things – shelves, closets, cupboards, sheds – as a group. This week is shelves; cleaning as I go.
Juhli, as you declutter, your perspective changes. The less I have, the less I want.
What a great list to put together Courtney! There are so many good ones on your list I’m having a hard time choosing my favorites. #25 is indispensable if people are doing the yard sale route. When I was helping my mother-in-law do a big cleanout on her space we had three yard sales within a one year span, and at the end of the third one, we called a charity truck to come take the rest away. It was great to see so much leave at once!
Love the list, I’m off to tweet it to all my people. Happy Monday.
Thanks Tanja! It was really rewarding for us too when that truck showed up.
love the cookbook suggestion as I did that last year on my vacation between Christmas & New Years and this year as been so much easier when it comes to cooking! I went from 12 or 15 cookbooks to just two (too many recipes used in one to make copying worth while and the other was my Grandmothers – I just love making things and seeing her spidery writing in the margins!) and my one big notebook! I’ve debated putting it through the scanner & using the iPad in the kitchen instead of the notebook — but I still like to sift through it at times & maybe pull out something to take to the store … thanks for the great list!
new to the blog & couldn’t resist reading this post.
Re cookbooks/recipes – I’m ruthless about just tearing recipes out of magazines instead of saving the whole ‘zine. And this past holiday season when I had time off I went through some of my more marginal cookbooks and just tore out the recipes I’d used or that I’d tagged. I organized/store these in photo albums with sleeves. I have one set up as “to try”, and several for keepers. An advantage I found with dedicating a block of time to this is that I had multiple new recipes for specific dishes, so I could weed down to the one I wanted to keep. I’ve been working on a more permanent cookbook using one of the sites that lets you create your own & they print & send you the pages all nicely formatted, but it’s a slow process since proofreading is a bear.
What a great list! Thanks for putting this together and sharing. I find I go through cycles where “stuff” builds up then lots of stuff needs to be dealt with. Need to find a way to level out the cycle!
This is a great list. I adopted the FLY Lady’s (Marla Ciley) words as one of my mantras: “You cannot organize clutter; you can only get rid of it.”
On a personal note, #35 is the most challenging for me. In spite of knowing how much better I feel when there is clear space in my small Manhattan home, I wrestle with objects that remind me of loved ones, especially those who are no longer in mortal coil. If anyone has found an especially loving or creative way to handle this challenge, I’d love to know of it.
Deborah, this might help… http://www.becomingminimalist.com/2010/09/29/how-to-simplify-your-stuff-and-honor-your-memories/
I LOVE this! I started on the “losing the clutter” plan a few weeks ago and while I am taking it in baby steps, everything piece that I let go of is like a small lifting of my spirits, a weightlessness that I’ve never felt before. It is one less thing to be responsible for – to clean, to dust, to protect, to put away and get out, to look at, to just have…
I am looking forward to the day when clutter is a thing of the past, that there is an empty closet or two and less to worry about in general.
Colleen, IMO baby steps are the best approach. Celebrate your accomplishments and get ready for more freedom and weightlessness! Great job.
There certainly is a momentum involved. The more you clean and get rid of junk, the more you want to do! It feels great to let stuff go you don’t really want or need. Clutter also gets in the way of cleaning, I hate cleaning areas that have so much stuff I need to move every time (like the bathroom counter). #35 is a big one if you’ve inherited stuff!! My parents are starting to conquer this one finally. Just because it belonged to Grandma So-and-so does NOT mean you need to keep it. I don’t believe they would want their family to feel obligated to keep things, and you don’t need the stuff to remember the people. It’s very freeing to realize that.
Agreed Jennifer, The people that truly love us want us to be happy. They don’t want to chain us to stuff, even if they gave it to us.
This list is so great Courtney. I’ve done many of the things you suggested this year!
Even after all of the downsizing and decluttering I’ve completed this year, I seem to find something else to clear out each day. What’s really strange is that I didn’t think we had that much stuff to begin with. I guess my perspective on what we need has been the biggest change of all.
Thanks for the link too.
Jenny, me too! I can’t believe I still have stuff to give away.
Courtney I’ve been reading your blog since the beginning of the year and you continually inspire me. Yesterday I tackled the cups and glasses cabinet(s). I ended up with a sinkful of coffee mugs, sports bottles, kiddie cups and plastic cups that left my house. However, in the middle of this surprisingly short process, my husband came in. And he saw a package of humongous plastic cups (4) obviously new because they still had the plastic wrap holding them together. I remember when I bought them and they were 50 cents. I was getting rid of them because they’ve been in the cabinet for an untold number of years. years! Well, after some strong emotion, they are still on the dining table. I would love to see a post about cleaning out when you’re not the only one in the house. I wasn’t getting rid of his stuff, but he sure does have an opinion!
Thanks!
~Diane
Diane, This might help http://www.bemorewithless.com/2011/when-your-spouse-isnt-simple/
Does your husband plan to use the plastic cups? Maybe ask him what he would like to do with them? Not in a confrontational way, but in a “I could really use your input” way.
Thank you Courtney, since I read your first article, I have been changing my life gradually but steady. I have downsized both my closet and my husbands. (he still had stuff from high school, that was scary), I slowly got rid of his stuff, so it was not as noticeable, then blended other items to fill the missing. I have another difficult task, my kids are in the pre-teen stage, now getting rid of baby toys, toys, stuffed animals, you get it, but my husband is a toy collector (star trek, wars, etc), so my kids have let it go and he goes in the garage and digs it out. So fustrating. But at least I can get rid of all the other toys. This week I got rid of 4 big bags of toys, and two bags of clothes, household etc. Now taking winter coats to consignment.
I have repurposed many furniture items in my house. I like my house now, more eccletic (not sure on spelling), it has OUR personality, and not cookie cutter like everyone else.
I shop at thrift stores and love it and get more pleasure out of shopping. Shopping is limited too. I buy a 100 gift card at target at my grocery store, and get points for cheaper gas too. I feel it’s more controlled shopping and keeps me on track with spending. It can last up to two months, since I only go when needed.
Another area I have been so proud about is limiting my use of cleaning products, I reuse spray bottles, put vinegar and water and drop of dish soap for everyday de-greaser and cleaner. It works wonders. I use only baking soda and lemon juice for my toilets, borox for scrubbing. I buy recycled brown paper towels from GFS, saves money and use less.
I would like to see a topic about homemade cleaning products, I know of a few, and use them, but would like to hear from others about what they use.
But the only thing I am tackling now trying to control clutter in the kitchen. Keeping paperwork out of this kitchen for some reason is the hardest. Tips would be good.
I’m not posting on your site alot, but I read everyday and try and make changes, the most positive thing is that I am spending more time with my children and family, instead of wasting time in stores. Or I plan ahead of time what I need, and only get that and go, so I don’t have the feeling to look around and waste time. This helps.
I did splurge and get a bike hitch, and a bike rack on craigslist. Now we bike ride around the area and have picnics.
More happy living a minimalist lifestyle.
Kerry
Kerry, I am so happy to hear about your amazing progress. In terms of keeping paperwork out of the kitchen, I suggest one area where all paper goes for you to review.. mail, notes from school, other documents. Review it one time and either trash it, scan it or take care of it. Depending on the need, you might only have to do this once or twice a week. Handling it everyday and moving it from one spot to another is what gets frustrating.
If you don’t have office space, could you empty one drawer in your kitchen just for paperwork. Everyone in your family will know where it goes and you can deal with it on your time instead of letting it bother you all day.
I like the bill drawer idea. I keep it now next to my chalkboard, and that is an unsightly area. Then once a week I can grab the pile out of the drawer, and file some, or trash the rest. Great idea. Thanks.
“Clutter attracts clutter and space attracts space.” I absolutely agree. Love this blog-just came across it via Twitter. I like to travel light in life myself!
Best Wishes
Wow! #35 really hit home. “Stop attaching stuff to the people that gave it to you.” This is very hard for me! I am getting better though. My husband and I moved from our 1,200 sq. ft. house down to a 315 sq. ft. apartment, so we’ve had to significantly reduce our things, even things that have been given to us by family members that is sentimental. It’s felt good though, and nothing that we’ve gotten rid of we have missed yet. It’s liberating!
Also, #29 (“Copy your favorite recipes from cookbooks and get rid of the books.”) and #35 go hand in hand for me right now… I have a cookbook that my step-father gave me and it’s hard for me to part with it! But, with the encouragement from this post I think I will, so thanks. =)
People before stuff! Love it.
Wonderful post Courtney! My mother and I have been struggling to clean clutter out of her house and I will have to share this with her. I’m inspired to put a box by her front door tonight. Thanks for sharing!
Love this, but can you explain #40? Open cabinet doors look cluttered to me unless you remove them from the hinges
I’m also curious about this one – I have had no doors on my kitchen cupboards for years but it doesn’t do anything to declutter the space…. it sure does make me realise how much dust and dirt floats down through that area though!
Another option for #10 is to put your gold in a safety box at the bank if you are holding onto it for investment purposes. That way, it is not taking up room at home and can be sold for a higher price at a later date.
Interesting I ran across this website at this point in my history. Thinking I need to get rid of some stuff. Anyone know how long I ought to keep the following: utility bills, bank statements, credit card statements?
Okay, okay … I get it! You were talking to ME weren’t you? Well, point taken. Thanks for the 50 Ways! You are amazing.
Great post. My only issue is with #42. Kinda makes me sad that we need to limit our communication with others because we’re so “busy” and it’s not “a good use” of our time to devote precious moments to reading what others are going through in their lives. It’s that type of post that gives people the idea (rightly or wrongly) that minimalists are able to detach so well because they tend to be people who feel little real connection to others to begin with. I know this isn’t necessarily true, but there is a perception that many minimalist folks are self-absorbed and often self-righteous (present company excluded!). Personally I want to get to where I feel overly attached to stuff (and wanting more of it) and being someone who tells others “your communications with me are a waste of my valuable time. Please limit them to five sentences or I’ll ignore them.” How about saying that if you have people in your life who are only worthy of 5 sentences or less, it’s time to dump them as well…? Thanks for letting me rant a little
. Keep up the great inspiration!
Thanks so much for this post. My family has a housing inspection in two days, and I just now came across this. Figuring it would be easier to declutter, then clean, me and my Mom set to work. Out of my bedroom alone (I’m 16 years old) I’ve already dumped over 6 boxes of crap into the get rid of! I stayed up till 3am doing this, I had so much fun, and I feel amazing~! I still feel like there’s too much stuff in our house, but we made huge progress so things are going great. Thank you so much! I reduced my closet to the Project 333 Standards and it’s going to stay there.
But, I have a question. Both me and my mom are writers, and I have a massive amount of loose-leaf papers with various writing ideas. It would take me an entire summer to type it all up, and I’ve gotten rid of as much of it as I could. But the rest, to me, isn’t stuff I can get rid of. So should I get a filing cabinet? Or do you have a better suggestion?
Renee,
Just read your post about your massive amount of loose-leaf papers with various writing ideas. Some thoughts….scan them and put them on disks – get rid of the paper or organize them in 3-ring binders. After you do this, you can find a better instrument to keep your writing ideas on for the future.
I’d be interested to know what ends up working for you.
I just had palpitations when I read number two! Maybe a little sign that I need to let go?
This is a great article for de-cluttering your life. I love the list of tips, 50 is alot, but you can pick the ones that are simple and make a huge impact. This really works well with the blot I wrote about de-cluttering your life in order to improve your business results.
Thank Courtney for sharing these ideas and great book! You’re making a difference.
Cook book: scan recipes you like. Store in computer.
I really like the idea of having a box near the entryway to use for collecting items to donate. On top of helping get rid of the clutter in your house, it will be a reminder to help others out by cleaning up your own house.
I also think it would be motivating to see that you are making progress by adding things to the “donation box” – it would probably help most people continue to add to the box until it is full and ready to donate.
It appears u actually understand a lot related to this particular subject matter and it all shows via this amazing posting, termed
“50 (more) Ways to Leave Your Clutter | Be More with Less”.
Thx -Francesco