Take a break from the news and anything else that is stressing you out in this moment for this simple decluttering article. You’ll learn how to make decluttering easier and can choose from five decluttering challenges.
There’s never a bad time to get rid of stress and believe or not, clutter can be stressful. If you want less to manage, less to clean and less to worry about, consider less clutter.
Most of us are spending more time in our homes than ever before so you may start to notice what you own and what owns you. When you look around at your stuff, what’s serving you, what’s unnecessary, what weighs you down?
Here are five decluttering challenges to consider:
- 21-Day Decluttering Challenge
- Anti-procrastination Decluttering Challenge
- The Decluttering Burst (let go of 100 items in less than an hour)
- The 30-day Minimalism Game
- Minimalist fashion challenge Project 333
If you’d rather take things day by day instead of jumping into a challenge, think about these three things to make decluttering easier.
1. Why is more important than how.
We all know how to declutter (and if you aren’t sure, here’s a list of articles to help), but knowing why will make it stick. Why do you want to live with less? Why are you making space — what are you making room for in your life?
2. One thing at a time.
You didn’t clutter up your home overnight and you aren’t going to become clutter free overnight. This is a step by step, inch by inch, scarf by book by measuring cup process. If you place 5 things, one thing at a time in a box each day to donate, by the end of a month you’ll be 150 items lighter and by the end of a year, 1825 things lighter. Your one thing at a time efforts will make a difference.
3. This is not a race.
Slow and steady change will be more sustainable than the fast and furious version you’ve attempted before. (Here are 10 slow and steady strategies.) There’s no benefit in comparing either. Just because you read about someone who decluttered their life over night doesn’t mean that pace is right for you. You have to consider your home, your family, and your heart. Drop the competing and comparing and make this an adventure, not a race. Curiosity and consistency will serve you better than stress and speed.
If it doesn’t feel like the right time to let go, and sell stuff or make donations, simply begin to separate the stuff that owns you from the stuff you own. Try to get it temporarily out of sight at the very least and when it’s time to let the clutter go, not seeing it for a while will make it much easier.
