Decluttering Is Not an Extreme Sport
Decluttering Is Not the Same as Austerity
For a lot of people the word decluttering brings up images of giving up everything you love, only having five interchangeable outfits to wear, and doing without the little luxuries that make life fun. For certain people, that might really be what decluttering is, but for most of us, it’s simply a process of getting the stuff out of the way that causes us stress so that there’s room for the stuff we do enjoy (and the time to enjoy it). Here are some tips to help you declutter without feeling like you’re making huge sacrifices.
Decluttering Doesn’t Mean Getting Rid of Stuff You Enjoy
Decluttering does not mean living in a hospital-like environment where there are nothing more than a few pieces of functional furniture, five outfits in the closet, and one pair of shoes. In fact, even if you embrace minimalism and want to have a more clutter-free space, most people will not enjoy the extreme minimalism that is sometimes touted as the best lifestyle. It might be the best lifestyle if you live out of an RV or travel full time and have to keep everything you own in a suitcase that weighs less than 50 pounds, but most of us have more space to fill and want to surround ourselves with items we do love – whether it’s a record collection that lines a wall or artwork.
So How Do I Declutter without Feeling Like I Have to Get Rid of Everything?
There are several things to keep in mind as you’re decluttering your space that can help you effectively reduce your clutter without creating an austere environment you no longer enjoy living in.
Start with Reducing Stress
For us, decluttering isn’t about getting rid of things just to get rid of them. It’s about recognizing what items you’re keeping in your home that are causing you stress, keeping you from enjoying your space, causing you to waste time finding things you need. Areas that often cause our clients stress include:
Junk mail that piles up on the counter or dining room table
Junk drawers
Pantries
Bedroom closets
Linen closets
Bathroom drawers and cupboards
Emotional clutter – stuff you keep because you feel obligated to keep it even if you don’t want it or just keep moving it from storage space to storage space
Toy rooms/kids rooms
Garages
Regardless of what’s causing you stress, decluttering is about getting rid of stuff you don’t want or need so that you have room for the things you do want.
Pick Your Battles
If a pile of junk mail on your dining room table doesn’t stress you because that’s just how you like to work through it, then don’t focus on that. This isn’t about making you conform to a specific way of doing things – it’s about helping you find your personal stress triggers and then teaching you how to manage the clutter better so that you can enjoy living in your space.
Make Decluttering a Habit
At the end of the day (or when you have the energy) go through your home with an empty laundry basket and grab things from each room that don’t belong there. As you move through the house, put things back in their space. 10 minutes a day can make a huge difference. In fact, lots of little things can help with clutter –
Do the dishes every night after dinner so that you don’t wake up to a mess
Make your bed every morning
Wipe down bathroom counters every day
Pick a laundry day and commit to getting what you wash and dry put away
Work through the Emotion of Clutter
Sometimes the things we keep are with us because they remind us of someone or were gifts from someone special. It can be hard to let go of things like that, even when they add clutter and stress to our lives. There are ways to honor the emotional connection and still let go of the thing itself:
Take photos of the item
Give it to someone in your family who will appreciate it
Donate it to a good cause
Create a display of the items you do want to keep contained to shelf or cabinet
Learn that letting go of the thing doesn’t change the connection you have/had with the person
Decluttering Is an Ongoing Process
For some people, decluttering is the first step to minimalism. But decluttering is for everyone. It’s an ongoing process that can help you stay more organized and find the stuff you need on a daily basis. It’s a matter of mindset – when you start to see the areas of your home that are causing you stress, you can start to sort through the stuff that’s behind that stress. Do you keep it? Donate it? Throw it away? Find a new space for it? There are no wrong answers.