How to get into a decluttering mindset
Is the amount of stuff in your home making you stressed, and your home cluttered, but you just can’t seem to get rid of any of it? If so, getting into a decluttering mindset will help you to not only feel less stressed, but finally clear the clutter from your home.
It’s so easy to accumulate stuff, toys, laundry, paperwork, clothes, shoes, school supplies, and so much more, which makes having a clean, organised home tricky, especially if you’re short on storage space.
This post will help you to find the decluttering motivation you need to finally tackle your household clutter, even if you don’t have a lot of storage space.
Here you’ll learn what decluttering is, the benefits of decluttering, why decluttering can be hard, why having a decluttering mindset is important, and how you can get into a decluttering mindset, even when you feel overwhelmed by the idea of it.
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What is decluttering?
Decluttering is the process of removing stuff from your home, so you have less things to care for, clean, and tidy.
Benefits of decluttering
Some of the benefits of decluttering include:
- Reduced stress levels
- You can quickly locate items
- You know what you own, so you won’t accidently buy duplicate items
- It provides a sense of accomplishment
Why decluttering can be hard
There are many factors that make decluttering hard, some of these include:
- No time to declutter
- Not knowing where to start decluttering
- Family members don’t want their things decluttered
- Struggling with decluttering guilt
- Not knowing what to do with items you want to get rid of
- Not being able to identify decluttering jobs that are more important than others
Why a decluttering mindset is important
Having a decluttering mindset before you start decluttering, forces you to focus on the task of decluttering, and not get distracted by past memories, reorganising areas of your home, or anything else that takes your time and energy away from your decluttering tasks.
How to get a decluttering mindset
Here are some ways that you can get into a decluttering mindset.
Work out your why
Before you start decluttering, work out why you want to do it.
Having a reason, or a purpose for decluttering, helps you get the motivation you need to continue with it when it becomes challenging.
Some reasons why you may want to start decluttering include:
- More time to spend with family
- To downsize your home
- To make moving house easier
- To make your home feel less chaotic
- To make your home somewhere you want to spend time in
- To simplify your home
Decluttering takes time
Decluttering is an ongoing process, you can’t declutter a whole house, or undertake a massive decluttering project in one day, and then be done.
Items constantly come into our homes, and there will be things that you love one day, and don’t love the next.
If you tell yourself all it will take is one day to declutter your home, you’ll be frustrated and demotivated when it doesn’t, which will stop you from decluttering again in the future.
Remembering that decluttering is something that takes time, and is a long term process, will help you stay focussed, and work towards achieving your why.
Be prepared to get rid of items
This may seem obvious, but decluttering is about getting rid of items from your home, not storing them away, but getting them out of your home, never to be seen again.
This can feel scary for many people, especially if you feel attached to your belongings, but making sure you know you’ll be getting rid of items prepares you for when you actually do it.
Overcome your emotions to items
There will be items in your home that have sentimental value, that you keep just in case, that you feel guilting about decluttering because you spent money on them, were given as gifts, or that remind you of a certain life event, or person.
You can’t let your feelings keep you from decluttering items, or working through your decluttering checklist, instead acknowledge your feelings, work through them, and emotionally detach yourself from these items, otherwise you’ll find it tough to declutter them.
If you’re having a hard time decluttering a certain item that you want to declutter, then think about your why, and see if that helps you to declutter it.
Start small
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by clutter that has built up in your home, and feel like you don’t know where to start, or if you want to start at all.
My favourite way to get into a decluttering mindset is to start small, start with a cluttered drawer, declutter your wardrobe, declutter your entry way, or just start with an area that doesn’t feel overwhelming.
It may help to set a timer for 15 minutes and declutter a small area of your home, it’s amazing how much you can declutter in a small amount of focussed time, which will then motivate you to continue on your decluttering quest.
Break decluttering up into zones
Another way to tackle decluttering is to break your home into zones, and declutter one zone at a time, overtime.
Here’s some zones that you can break your home into:
- Living rooms
- Toy room
- Kitchen
- Laundry
- Bedrooms
- Bathrooms
- Office
- Wardrobes
- Storage areas
- Garage
Here’s a decluttering checklist that you can refer to, to help you break your home into decluttering zones.
Set decluttering goals
Before decluttering, think about how much time and energy you have, and choose areas within your home that you can declutter within these amounts.
For example, if you have 20 minutes to declutter, then your decluttering goal for that day may be to declutter a junk drawer, because it can be finished in 20 minutes.
Decide quickly
As you’re decluttering make quick decisions about what to do with an item.
For example, quickly decide whether you’ll keep, donate, sell, or throw away an item.
If in doubt, donate it.
Have a sorting system
Have a sorting system ready so you have somewhere to place your keep, donate, sell, or throw items.
You can use cardboard boxes or storage containers to do this, or simply create piles in the room you’re in.
Remove any items in the donate sorting system from your home as soon as possible, otherwise you’ll be tempted to keep them.
One of the ways that I do this is by placing my donate items in a garbage bag, which I immediately place in the boot of my car, so I can take it to a donation centre the next time I’m near one.
For any items in your to sell sorting system, list them for sale as soon as possible, and throw out items in your throw sorting system straight away.
Don’t clean and reorganise
When decluttering, stick to just decluttering.
Don’t be tempted to clean and organise the area you’re decluttering.
Cleaning and organising a newly decluttered area can be done at a later stage, because once you stop decluttering, it’s hard to get the motivation back to continue.
Make decluttering a daily habit
A great way to keep your home as decluttered as possible, is to make decluttering part of your daily habits.
You can do this by:
- Regularly walking through your home and decluttering items that no longer serve their purpose, or that you no longer want
- Decluttering your home at the start of each season, like what you may do with a spring clean
Having a decluttering mindset – a recap
Decluttering involves removing items from your home, so you have less things to care for, clean, and tidy.
It can be hard to declutter, but decluttering your home reduces your stress levels, and makes you feel more relaxed in your home.
Some of the ways that you can get into a decluttering mindset include:
- Working out why you want to declutter, and remembering your why when you find decluttering hard
- Remembering that decluttering is an ongoing process
- Being prepared to get rid of items, even if you have an emotional attachment to them
- Starting with small decluttering projects, like a drawer or wardrobe
- Breaking your home into zones, and decluttering a zone at a time
- Setting some decluttering goals that align with your time and energy levels
- Deciding quickly if an item should be kept, donated, sold, or thrown away, and having a sorting system to help with this
- Focussing only on decluttering
- Making decluttering a daily habit
Decluttering really is one of the best ways have a more peaceful, less cluttered home, which goes a long way towards reducing your stress levels, and enjoying where you live.
How do you find the motivation to start decluttering?
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