I know you’re in the mood to declutter because you are reading this post.
If you’re anything like me, inspiration more-often-than-not translates into huge bursts of determination.
And then I crash and burn.
Build momentum. This means starting small. Y’know, the easy stuff.
I know how it is. You’re inspired to declutter, so you determine that today is the day you will finally decide whether you will re-start the career you left years ago. You’ve fretted over the boxes and tubs full of career-related stuff in the attic long enough. It’s time to make this huge, monumental, life-altering decision.
Today is NOT that day. If that’s the first decluttering decision you attempt to make after reading this, you’re almost certainly doomed to failure. Big, daunting decluttering decisions can stop even Normal People in their tracks.
Start with the visible stuff. Work your way through everyday spaces that need to be made more livable.
As you do this, you’ll become more comfortable with the skill of identifying clutter.
And naming clutter.
And parting with clutter.
You’ll enjoy the space left behind when clutter is gone. You’ll see the value in that space, and eventually you’ll find that you value space more than some of the things that caused your heart to ache.
Decluttering decisions get easier.
I feel ever-so-much less angst now than I once did. But I’ve been living a lifestyle of decluttering for a long time now. My attitude toward stuff has changed.
I’ve let go of things I once thought I’d never purge.
Experience one tiny decluttering success right now. Maybe three by the end of today.
Declutter something else tomorrow. Or next week.
As you gain momentum, you’ll be able to declutter more easily.
Not easily. Just more easily.
Need help decluttering? Don’t feel like you’ll ever gain decluttering momentum? My book, Decluttering at the Speed of Life, will teach you everything you need to know to make progress (and never a bigger mess) in your home. It’s available wherever books are sold in whatever format you prefer (paperback, digital, audio). Learn more here.
There’s also a lot of free information here on the site to get you started. Learn more about that here.
Happy New Year Dana! We’ve already got three donatable donate boxes filled from pulling things out of the closet to make room for the new things we got as Christmas gifts (container concept), and I’ve loaned your books to a friend so that she can get started decluttering too.
Thanks so much for your help. I am currently reading “How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind” I have been following you for several years and had several crash and burn times. This year I am determined to get out of this mess!
I had a friend that came over to help me declutter. She is great at this and knocked out an entire room in about 4 hours (it was BAD). When she asked where I wanted to start I said a highly visible area cuz I’ve read your blog and working on the book. We picked the dining room cuz you literally have to walk thru it to get to the rest of the house so I see it daily. I love how real you are and I can relate so much. I’m also working on keeping my daily stuff (dishes, sweeping, etc) done.
Having trouble conceiving? Donate your baby things. Works EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
Susan; so funny but true! It works because “what you resist, persists” & as soon as you stop “resistance” & get to acceptance, then it happens!!!
I’ve been working on my home office/storage room. I was making good headway and then my hubby went under the house and brought up boxes/bins full of paperwork, which all needs to be looked at and decide what needs to be shredded/trashed/kept. I felt some hope until I saw the additional boxes to go through. It takes about 4 hours or more to go through a box/bin. So when the decluttering mode is in effect, I work on it at least several 1/2 days a week. Never thought decluttering would take so long with the paperwork, but I’ve got stuff from the 70s (so almost 50 years of paperwork clutter).
Yep, got rid of 8 books to day to make room for the new books I have lying around on my coffee table/stacked on top of other books on the bookshelf because I had no room. I’ve weeded my books often enough that I am getting dangerously low on books I want to get rid of, but there are still more on the shelf that I thought I’d read/use, but haven’t yet. Right now all my books fit (barely) so the room looks better. Not perfect, but better.
Thank you! Again! Just one more idea of yours that changed me forever. I was always a back of the closet kinda declutterer. It never got me anywhere besides maybe a few old unused sentiment things moved out. No one ever noticed the “Hard work!” And I was never further ahead in my house tidying.
One day I read your book and so many things clicked. This idea of visible places first, start small, and the container method have changed my home and my world.
Everyone who has a cluttered house needs to hear your message. Thanks again for sharing!!
God gave you the gift of writing and I am so glad that he did!! He blesses us through your words.
I started decluttering my kitchen last week, oh my goodness, I have one cabinet that has nothing in it. I can’t believe I actually did it! Now on to my closet, that is going to be a large undertaking. Have no idea how many shoes I have, but more than I wear, so goodwill here I come Thanks for giving me the push I needed
I take so much time reading and getting rid of emails, that I don’t seem to have time to declutter, how can I declutter my emails? My spare room is a mess!!!!!
A trick I use is to search on the word unsubscribe – no one uses that in personal communications – so everything will be from someone who bought your name or some website that required an email before letting you see what you were looking for. Then I look for groups of the same name.. DELETE – went from 38K in my box to about 5K in under an hour. (because really – even if I signed up for those things consciously – they are gonna be too old to bother reading now.
DJ, I feel your pain! I have boxes and boxes of paperwork that I need to go through that has been accumulating since I got married in 1981. Also, for a time my husband had his own business, and all that paperwork needs to be gone through. My sewing studio was looking pretty good until boxes of stuff started getting piled in there. I hope by now that you have been able to get through your stuff. I am still pushing forward!
I love the do the dish bc I can get them done in 20 minutes every night but I’ve been trying to teach my teenager daughter to unload and load. The loading takes forever. I so desperately want to jump in and do it but it’s so hard not to. At first their is not many dishes but her procrastination lets the dish rise. How do I maintain my home with teaching kids responsibilities.
The kids take turns each week with different room and my 11yr boy always keep the kitchen clean. So I know it’s not a hard job. My hardest job is not jumping in. Any advice?
A timer to show her it doesn’t take that long if she stayed focused.
Thank you, Dana, so very much for inspiring me and creating in me a “burning ring of decluttering fire” because I started with a couple visible places that were driving me crazy and your methods really worked and got me started! Where I started was under my kitchen sink because it drives me crazy and was just a heck-zone of chaos. When I sat myself down with a garbage bag and a donate box, it took me 45 minutes to turn it into a thing of beauty. That launched me. I started with easier cupboards after that, leaving the harder ones for later. I did gain momentum! I have two left to go (the final frontier!) and I will do those today. I spent about 4 hours for two days and my kitchen is amazing. I am just going to keep going. And yes, I take my donate box out and put it in the car when I’m done and I throw the garbage in the can and my house looks good again. I would add that last week I was able to go to a discount store and I bought a bunch of cheap plastic organizing containers (no lids) in different sizes and I’ve used all but two and they really helped me to group things in my cupboards and with the CONTAINER CONCEPT this helped me to let go of some stuff that didn’t fit. I did a lot of consolidating, too. It really really works. You are a Goddess, Dana.