Cleaning up a giant mess is more overwhelming than decluttering a mostly in-good-shape home. It requires patience, dedication, and consistent action.
The good news is that if a monstrous clutter pile consumes a closet, room, or whole house, it’s possible to clean it up without wallowing in overwhelm. Below, we’ve broken down the most crucial steps to systematically reduce the clutter in your home for a tidy space.
Decide Where You’ll Start
The biggest decluttering mistake is taking on too much at once. To start, pick a room or a spot within a room (say, a bookshelf). By narrowing your focus, you’ll avoid creating an even bigger mess as you work through your clutter.
Work in Zones
With your first room selected, divide the area into zones. These zones should be small and manageable. Ideally, you’ll want to tackle each zone in thirty minutes or less. For our bookshelf example, you’ll select a single shelf or half of a shelf, depending on the level of clutter.
Tackle Trash Immediately
When decluttering (or cleaning), tackle trash first. Grab an old plastic bag and fill it with all the trash in the zone you’re clearing.
Organize Items in “Keep,” “Trash,” or “Donate Piles”
Before decluttering, grab two trash bags or boxes and an old laundry basket. Immediately toss out the trash, put donatable things in a box, and put any “keep” items in the laundry basket. When you’re finished decluttering your zone, put everything in the laundry basket away.
Make Quick Decisions
With the trash gone and a zone selected, go through your items one by one and make a quick decision. Start with the easy items. If there’s something you clearly don’t want, use, or love, set it in the donate pile. Trash anything in bad condition and neatly place all your “keep” stuff where it should belong.
Keep Decluttering Sessions Short to Maintain Focus
Decluttering requires making dozens of quick decisions, which is mentally taxing. Keep decluttering sessions short, at about 10-45 minutes, or however long your attention span allows. Tackling five quick ten-minute decluttering sessions per day will yield better results than hours worth of sorting.
I recommend setting a timer or turning on an episode of your favorite podcast while you work.
Make Clear Rules About What You’ll Keep and What Will Go
When you’re having trouble deciding what to keep and get rid of, a set of rules comes in handy. Here are some of my favorites:
- Donate any kitchen utensil, small appliance, toy, or piece of clothing that hasn’t been worn or used in the past year
- If you can’t remember the last time you used something, let it go
- Donate all ill-fitting clothes and trash everything with holes, rips, or stains
- Create a bin for “Maybe” items. Put the items in the bin and store them. If you didn’t reach for those items within the three months, donate the full bin.
The good news is that you get to set your own rules, so you can be as strict or as lenient as you want, depending on your personality. Just make sure you stick to whatever rules you set.
Get Help If You Need It
Decluttering is mentally and physically taxing. When you’re surrounded by stuff and feel guilty about getting rid of it, an outside perspective can help.
Invite a trusted friend or family member to be your sounding board and help you make decisions. For large messes you don’t want to deal with, consider hiring a clutter-free service to handle the heavy lifting.
Drop Donations Off at Least Once Per Week
Many hopeful declutterers start with good intentions but create larger messes, especially when they don’t deal with their donate piles. Don’t let this happen to you.
Drop your donateable stuff off at your nearest thrift store at least once per week. If you have lots of stuff to get rid of, including furniture and other large items, you can have a local organization pick up your donations.
Implement Some Easy Organizational Systems
After clutter is cleared, implement organization systems that make it easy to put things back where they go. Always prioritize function over form. Belongings should go where you’d naturally reach for them (for example, place spices by the stove, etc.) You don’t need anything fancy to organize. Baskets and bins you grab at thrift stores or dollar stores will work fine.
Tweak your organization system as time passes to ensure it works well for your household.
