As with anything, getting rid of clutter can be made incredibly simple: just go through your stuff, one section, closet, drawer, or shelf at a time, and get rid of everything that isnt absolutely essential, that you dont love and use often.
Of course, simplifying a process like that isnt terribly useful to many people who struggle with clutter. So, with that in mind, I present to you 15 fabulous tip for decluttering. These tips arent mine theyre from you guys, the readers, repackaged into a useful little post.
Recently I asked you guys for your best decluttering tips and I pulled some of the best of those (there are many more good ones I wasnt able to use). Theyre reworded here slightly, and a couple have been modified indiscriminately by me. :) But theyre great tips nonetheless. Enjoy!
Declutter for 15 minutes every day. Its amazing how much you can get through if you just do it in small increments like this.
Dont allow things into the house in the first place. Whether youve begun decluttering the living space, or youve just completed it, stop bringing in new stuff NOW. Even if thats ALL you do and dont start decluttering immediately, if you can only establish one habit at a time, establish the no-more-stuff habit first. This way, when you do get to decluttering the existing stuff, youve already stopped making it worse. Think of bailing out a boat with a hole in it. You can bail and bail, but it wont do anything for the leak.
Donate stuff youre decluttering, so you dont feel bad about wasting it.
Create a Joes Goals chart with decluttering on it either daily, or 3 times a week. Check off the days when you declutter, and youll feel a great sense of accomplishment.
Start at the corner by the door and move your way around the room, doing the superficial stuff first - surfaces, empy the bin etc. Repeat, but do more the 2nd time around - ie. open the cupboards.
Whenever youre boiling the kettle for tea, tidy up the kitchen. If the kitchen is tidy, tidy up the next room - its only 3 minutes but it keeps you on top of everything (helps if you have an Englishmans obsession with Tea as well!)
Use the one in, two out rule. The rule: whenever you bring in an item, you have to throw away two other items. First you cheat, by throwing out two pieces of paper, but soon you will have to move to big stuff.
Make your storage space smaller and more minimal. If you have lots of storage, youll fill it with stuff.
Clothing rule: If you havent worn an item in 6 months, sell or donate it.
The One-Year Box. Take all your items that you unsure about getting rid of (e.g. I might need this someday), put them in a box, seal it and date it for 1 year in the future. When the date comes, and you still didnt need to open it to get anything, donate the box WITHOUT OPENING IT. You probably wont even remember what there was in the box.
Declutter one room (including any closets, desks, cabinets, etc.) before starting on the next one. Spending time in that room will feel *so* good, and it will be so easy to keep clean, that it will motivate you to do more!
Keep a list in your planner labeled Dont Need It - Dont Want It. When youre out shopping and run across some kind of gadget or other item you crave, note it down on the list. This will slow you down long enough to reconsider. Also, seeing the other things on the list that you nearly bought on impulse really helps.
Internalize that your value is not in your stuff. It is just stuff. And realize that your value grows when you share your stuff. Hoarding is a selfish act.
Have someone else (who you trust!) help you go through things. They dont have the (sometimes irrational) emotional attachment that you might have, but can still recognize if something should be kept.
Gift everything. Books youve read immediately get recycled among friends, family or local libraries. If you buy a new gaming system, donate your old one and all the games.
