Declutter your home not only for more space around you, but for more space within you. Decluttering leads to more space, time, energy which all result in more clarity to figure out what you really want.
It will be easier to figure out what you really want if you declutter your home. I know it’s a big claim but I’ve seen it happen time and time again when people declutter their closets or wardrobe. It happened to me! It makes sense that if you have less to think about, clean, organize and stress over, you have more time and energy for what matters more.
When you declutter your home, keep it low stress so you can stay open to what’s unfolding on the inside. If your go to decluttering method is quickly trying to get rid of things before an event or guests visiting, it likely stresses you out. If you declutter at the beginning of the year and then again to “spring clean” and then find yourself filling the empty spaces, you might be wondering why you bothered in the first place. Or maybe, every time you try to declutter, letting go feels impossible. Instead consider a new approach and soon you’ll be celebrating a better outcome. Below I’ll share some different ways to approach decluttering along with decluttering tips and how to get started.
How to declutter your home with a low stress approach
Usually, thinking about doing something is more challenging than actually doing it. You might be thinking about everything you need to get rid of, wondering what’s in those drawers, piles and hidden storage spaces. By the time you begin to mentally sort through the stuff in cupboards, baskets and storage containers, you may feel a little overwhelmed.
For now, instead of stressing about how much there is to do or how long it’s going to take, consider creating a decluttering plan or decluttering checklist of sorts so you can move your thoughts of closets stuffed with hangers to a plan for a clutter-free living room, kitchen and other spaces.
1. Use a decluttering challenge to make it more fun to declutter your home.
Finding or creating a decluttering challenge to declutter your home will help you move through procrastination more easily. A decluttering challenge will give you a small set of rules so you don’t have to figure out the how, what, where parts of getting started. You can also take things a little less seriously by gamifying your decluttering. Here’s a few challenges to consider:
- 21-Day Use It or Lose It Challenge: This will help you with your most difficult clutter categories.
- The Minimalism Game: Find a friend, family member, or coworker who’s willing to minimize their stuff with you next month. Each person gets rid of one thing on the first day of the month. Two things on the second. Three things on the third. So forth and so on.
- Project 333 Challenge: This closet specific challenge will inspire you to let go in every room of your home.
- Decluttering Burst: Let go of 100 things in an hour. This challenge will definitely help you declutter your home!
- 30-day Decluttering Challenge: See how much progress you can make in a month!
If a challenge feels to big to start with but you want a list of things to declutter, try these 52 things or these 70 things. Remove any pressure about doing it the best way. It really doesn’t matter if you start in the basement or with the kitchen counter. You might start with pots and pans or cords and cables. In the end, you’ll get to the lamp you don’t love, jewelry you never wear and a home office full of things you might not want anymore.
2. Create a declutter your home map.
For this declutter your home map, you can make it in a list form or if you are feeling more creative, draw out an actual map. Make a quick list of rooms in your home. Add the areas of each room that need to be decluttered. For example:
- Bedroom: nightstand, dresser, closet, under the bed
- Bathroom: toiletries, medicine cabinet
- Office: shelves, desk, filing cabinet
- Kitchen: pantry, junk drawer, utensils drawer
It will take less than hour to jot down this general detail for every space in your home. Whether you have three rooms or thirty, creating this outline of the spaces you’ll need to address when you declutter your home will eliminate some overwhelm if only because it’s written down and not spinning around in your head. Trying to think about everything that you need to do will add stress to the project. Writing it down and seeing it clearly will relieve stress. This is the time for less stress! Have fun making the plan. Snacks and music always help.
3. Make it easier.
You can declutter your home with more ease. The thought of decluttering may feel hard, but you can make it easier by creating some rules to eliminate decision fatigue and remind you of what’s important as you work towards living with less clutter and stuff.
When we were decluttering, it was a little overwhelming to decide what we’d keep, sell, trash or recycle. Instead of having to make that decision for every item, we created a rule. We decided to sell anything worth $50 or more. Otherwise, we’d donate it. If it wasn’t suitable for donation, we’d trash or recycle the item. Another good rule is to start with your own stuff. If you’re worried about how you will live a life with less stuff when your partner is a hoarder, or you have kids and stress about their stuff, come back to your own stuff. That will probably keep you occupied for a while. Demonstrate your desire to live with less stuff by living with less of your own stuff first.
You can make the process easier by creating a routine or schedule to declutter your home. For instance, commit to one area of your home for a certain time frame each day. For instance, Monday’s decluttering commitment is for 20 minutes in the laundry room or bathroom, on Tuesday, you spend 20 minutes decluttering the kitchen, Wednesday is 10 minutes decluttering mail and other paper clutter. Then, on the weekend you commit to an hour in the garage or another space. The trick is to keep your momentum up with a little bit everyday, but not to wear yourself out trying to do too much at once.
4. Honor your personal time and energy availability.
Depending on how much time and energy you actually have, you may have to move more slowly. You may have to let go of other commitments to make more time and energy to declutter your home. Pushing through and wearing yourself out will only make the process take longer. Instead, pace yourself, ask for help, and take really good care of yourself along the way. Slow progress is still progress. Simplifying isn’t always easy but remember that it will make everything easier.
Answers to your decluttering questions.
I’m not a professional organizer but I did declutter most of my stuff and have learned so much about why letting go is hard and what we can do to make it easier.
Decluttering is one part dealing with your stuff and three parts dealing with your heart. This is why letting go is hard. Because stuff isn’t just stuff in our hearts. Stuff is the moment someone said hello or goodbye. It’s a pair of shoes we never thought we could afford or decades of photos that remind us that we had a life. Stuff is dozens of report cards and yearbooks and it’s also 49 coffee cups (even though we always use our favorite one).
All of that is true about stuff in our hearts AND there is a possibility for fuller lives, less stress, moving with more ease, more clarity about what matters, more time to engage in what you discover matters to you, more presence and connection with the people you love, better sleep, space for creativity and room to take care of yourself.
How do you declutter your home when you are overwhelmed?
If you aren’t feeling your best, it’s important to ask yourself what you need. Is this the time to push through or is there a gentler path? Ask for help, take things more slowly or take time to feel better before you get started.
What is the 20/20 rule for decluttering?
According to this article, when struggling to make decluttering decisions, the 20/20 rule says you should consider letting go of an item if: you can replace it for less than $20 and you can replace it in less than 20 minutes.
What is the 80/20 rule for decluttering?
Who knew there was so much math in decluttering?! The 80/20 rule is also called the Pareto Principle that explains 80% of results come from 20% of action. You hear about the 80/20 rule in business and time management but the way we apply it to decluttering is thinking about how we use our things. For instance, we wear 20% of our wardrobe 80% of the time, or we use the same 20% of our things 80% of the time. In other words, we generally use our favorite things over and over again and the rest of the stuff becomes clutter.
What should I declutter first?
This answer varies for everyone but if you want to figure this out for yourself, I’d recommend decluttering the most annoying thing, the most stressful thing or the thing you never notice until it is time to clean.
Declutter, make space and then set aside time to think about how you want to live in your new cleared space, and in your life.
