The number one frustration people have about decluttering is that they end up making a bigger mess. Traditional organizing strategies do often result in making a space worse before making it better, but my five-step No Mess Decluttering Process does not. It guarantees progress and only progress, and never a bigger mess.
I had to figure out a way to prevent the “bigger mess” because dreading it made me avoid decluttering.
If you want the whole process spelled out and applied to all of your home, you need my book, Decluttering at the Speed of Life.
But whatever your preferred method of learning, there’s help for you. We’ve put together lots of different links to places where I’ve taught how to declutter without making a bigger mess through blog posts, podcasts and videos. Listen and watch as you work!
Blog Posts about Decluttering Without Making a Bigger Mess:
How to Declutter without Making a Bigger Mess
Just Decluttering a Kitchen Cabinet (Step by Step, Without Making a Bigger Mess)
Putting the 5-Step No Mess Decluttering Process into Action – a reader’s story
The Worst Decluttering Strategy Ever
How to Not Get Distracted from a Decluttering Project (by Other Decluttering Projects)
Decluttering Basics is a list of blog posts that will help you get started decluttering and build momentum.
Podcasts that Teach How to Declutter Without Making a Bigger Mess:
Declutter Without Making a Bigger Mess Podcast (Podcast 033)
My 5 Step Decluttering Process (Podcast 285)
The Worst Decluttering Strategy Ever (Podcast 196)
Videos that Show the No Mess Decluttering Process:
Live Q&A Videos:
When you click on the link, you’ll go straight to the timestamp in the video where I answer the question.
Decluttering Q&A 3.5.24 (beginning at 37:13) – “I have a question about your no mess method. I was cleaning off a shelf in a bookcase. It was full of mostly vases. I wanted to take all the vases off the shelf so I could wash it. I have MANY vases. Then I put some of my favorite ones back. Then my time was done. I still had several vases on the table and no time left to decide where they would go so I left a bit of a mess. Your advice?”
Decluttering Q&A: Jan 9, 2024 (start at 39:43) – “”I’m about to start decluttering kitchen cabinets. How do you do ‘no mess’ decluttering of spaces when you need to wipe down/clean the containing space?”
Decluttering Q&A with Dana K White 12.19.2023 (starting at 8:03) – “I really want to apply the no mess decluttering method, but there are areas I think have to absolutely be completely simplified to sort through. What do I do? Do you have a way to deal with these?”
Q&A 11.24.2023 (And Black Friday Sale on Take Your House Back) (begin at 4:21) – “I still freeze up when I have something to put away in an overfilled closet or shelf. I keep telling myself I should empty the whole shelf or closet but that leads to more mess. Any advice for me?”
Decluttering Q&A: 11.7.2023 – (beginning at 58.56) – ”I know your “not make a mess” philosophy – on the journey for years …but wonder if to curate what I want in the space, I need to pull out everything.”
From My “Audio Product” Series, Decluttering Deep Dives:
Tortoise and Hare Decluttering: The Whats, Whys, and Hows of Every Angle of Decluttering (Decluttering Deep Dives)
What are my “audio products”? They are a series of six 40 minuteish single audio products in which I go deep into answering decluttering questions I get regularly. They are very similar to podcasts, but they aren’t podcasts. They are paid products available on platforms where audio books are sold. And they were professionally recorded and edited in a studio (as opposed to my homespun podcasts). They are also often available from library systems that offer digital audiobooks. PLEASE NOTE that these “audio products” cost significantly less than an audiobook, usually around $5 (determined by my publisher and the audiobook seller so I can’t say for sure), so don’t use audiobook credits to purchase them since those are often worth around $15.
Additional Resources:
Take Your House Back is a thorough online course I teach with Dawn from The Minimal Mom and Cas from Clutterbug. Thousands of people have truly transformed their homes going through this course. It is on SALE through January 17th! Learn more here.
My book, Decluttering at the Speed of Life, spells out my decluttering strategies in thorough, step-by-step instructions to help you work through your clutter, no matter how overwhelmed you feel.
The 5 Day Clutter Shakedown Video Course