How to declutter when overwhelmed, one step at a time
Trying to declutter when overwhelmed feels impossible. For many busy mums, clutter isn’t just about having too many things, it’s about feeling like there’s never enough time to deal with it all.
Luckily, decluttering doesn’t have to be an all or nothing project. By tackling one small area at a time, you can reduce clutter in your home and slowly create a home that feels calmer, and easier to manage.
Here are some simple ways to declutter when you feel overwhelmed, including how to break tasks into manageable chunks, discovering the easiest areas to declutter first, and even implementing daily habits to avoid clutter building up.
Whether you only have five minutes to declutter, or you’re ready to make big changes to the amount of clutter in your home, these easy tips will help you make steady progress, without adding more overwhelm to your busy life.
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Why clutter feels overwhelming
When every room in your home feels cluttered your brain struggles to decide where to start. So instead of taking action, it feels easier to avoid decluttering altogether.
When your home’s cluttered, you can feel:
- Stressed
- Exhausted
- Distracted
- Constantly behind
How to overcome decluttering overwhelm
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by clutter, here are some things you can do to start decluttering without feeling overwhelmed by it.
Don’t declutter your whole home
One of the biggest mistakes many of us make when feeling overwhelmed by clutter, is to start decluttering everything in one go.
Decluttering everything in your home at once will make decluttering overwhelm reach high levels. To avoid this, break decluttering tasks into small manageable sized chunks.
For example:
- When decluttering the kitchen, start with one drawer or shelf
- Declutter excess décor items and cushions during a living room declutter
- Tackle toys before you declutter your kids’ bedrooms
- Declutter paperwork each night
Breaking large decluttering tasks into more manageable smaller tasks will give you the motivation you need to continue decluttering your home.
READ MORE: How to declutter your home
Use the 5 minute rule
The 5 minute rule is one of my favourite ways to declutter when overwhelmed, because it’s a quick way to get started.
All you need to do is set a timer for 5 minutes, choose one small area to declutter, and once the timer finishes, stop decluttering.
Once the 5 minutes is over, you may even decide to continue decluttering for an additional 5 minutes, or even an additional 10 minutes, because often the hardest part of decluttering is getting started.
Start with easy wins
The best way to start decluttering is to declutter easy wins first.
Some easy wins include:
- Expired food
- Old magazines or manuals
- Duplicate kitchen utensils
- Broken toys
- Expired toiletries and makeup
- Worn out linens and towels
- Junk drawers
Make quick decluttering decisions
One of the best ways to declutter when overwhelmed is to make quick decluttering decisions.
When deciding what items to declutter from my home, I ask myself the following questions:
- Do I use this?
- Do I love this?
- Do I need this?
If the answer to any of these questions is no, then I declutter the item and add it to one of the following piles:
- Donate
- Sell
- Recycle
- Bin
Don’t empty entire areas
Removing every item from the area you’ve decided to declutter creates a lot of overwhelm, especially if you run out of time mid declutter, and are left with an area that’s more cluttered than before you started.
Some examples of how you can declutter parts of an area at a time include:
- Finish one shelf before moving to the next
- Finish one drawer before opening another
- Put items you’re not decluttering away immediately
- Take donation bags straight to the car
Create a donation habit
Another great way to prevent decluttering overwhelm is to keep a donation box in your wardrobe.
I do this by adding any item I decide to declutter into a donation box I have in my bedroom, and once the box is full I drop the contents at my local charity donation bin.
Declutter while you wait
Another great way to keep on top of clutter is to declutter while you’re waiting for something.
For example:
- Declutter one food shelf while waiting for the kettle to boil
- While supervising homework declutter bills
- While dinner cooks declutter one kitchen shelf
Let go of guilt
Feeling overwhelmed by clutter can happen if we feel guilty about wanting to declutter a certain item, such as:
- Gifts you never liked
- Items your children have outgrown
- Clothes that no longer fit
- Expensive purchases that were never used
To lessen feelings of overwhelm about these items, it’s handy to remember that you’ll never get the money back that was spent on these items, or you don’t have to keep something just because it was a gift, and that by decluttering and donating them, they’re going to a better home.
Quick daily resets
A 5-10 minute reset at the end of each day is a great way to declutter when overwhelmed.
Some activities you can add to your daily resets include:
- Clearing surfaces
- Folding blankets
- Placing paperwork in a paperwork holder
- Putting items back where they belong
- Putting toys away in a toy box
Seasonal resets
Another reset you can do are seasonal ones, where at the start of each season you declutter items you no longer need like coats, wellies, summer dresses, or outdoor furniture.
Decluttering checklists
One of the best ways to make decluttering less overwhelming is to use decluttering checklists.
Here’s an ultimate declutter checklist with 100 things to declutter, which you can start using today.
Think about your why
Thinking about why you want to declutter your home is often enough incentive to start.
Maybe your why is that you want:
- To find things easier
- Fewer arguments with family members about clutter
- To clean your home faster
- A calmer family home
- To spend more time doing the things you enjoy
How to declutter when overwhelmed – a recap
Decluttering your home in ways that work for you is the best way to approach decluttering, without adding more overwhelm to your already hectic life.
Focussing on small areas and easy wins, setting timers, making quick decisions, developing donation habits, decluttering while waiting, letting go of guilt, and resets, will help you develop the habits you need for a calmer and less cluttered home.
Ready to get more organised?
If you enjoyed these decluttering ideas, don’t forget to download your FREE toolkit full of printables to make decluttering and home organisation easier. Get your FREE toolkit here.
What’s the biggest obstacle that stops you from decluttering your home?
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