Decluttering is the most therapeutic thing you can immediately do for your personal environment. You know how looking out at the vast ocean makes you feel a deep sigh of relief; that’s because you can see space! And the space feels excellent!
Beyond just unveiling open space, decluttering optimizes your day. That’s what we all want, right? Not to fight through the day, but to have what you need where you need it when you need it.
I’m not here to tell you to get down to 33 pieces of clothing. I’m here to help you breathe a little deeper in your space, all day, every day.
I started with ‘Minimalism’ and found myself here. Downsizing my home, offloading excess, and learning to be specific within my space.
My goal is to have a functional space. A space that serves my life, energy, and joy. And to pass that habit on to my girls if they want it.
I knew I was bothered or energized by my space. I would go through things feverishly at times, not knowing why. I wanted to order, but what I was missing was the connection and the why. This was not natural to me. In my 20s, I owned an absurd amount of clothing. ABUSRD. I was a thrift store addict in Los Angeles, CA. I have broken many closets.
In truth, Minimalism is having what you need with no excess in your way. It’s been twisted to include throw pillows, and that’s great if it works for you.
From my perspective, Decluttering is optimizing your space to serve you and your life best.
But the ideals of Minimalism reach beyond Decluttering.
Cozy Minimalism. Financial Minimalism. It’s like everyone just latched on to become #1 on Google.
It’s a great one to earmark. From bras to diapers, I have you covered.
You will need a container for donations and one for garbage. I have an entire post on where to donate various items as you declutter.
What is the difference between Decluttering and Minimalism?
Declutter vs Minimalism
I started my journey, sure, I was heading into Minimalism. Minimalism sounds sexy. It can, conversely, be easy to dismiss because it sounds like a 30-year-old man in a black t-shirt. It’s a hot word right now. It’s everywhere.
From my perspective, Decluttering is optimizing your space to serve you and your life best. Unlike Minimalism, decluttering might include three pairs of scissors and an art collection. Decluttering might consist of a library of books or only an Audible subscription. Decluttering your space is making your belongings work FOR you, not against you, rather than just not having them at all.
Stop, breathe, and go one step at a time.
When you find yourself white-knuckling that sticker book from 4th grade, or lost in a sea of clothing, don’t discredit those feelings.
The one that makes you nod the most, do that one. Do not start with sentimental items!
There are two ways to pick the first category. This will depend on your personal preference and lifestyle.
The same feeling sinks deep when there’s a knock on your door and that speed clean hasn’t been done.
But like the Tell-Tale Heart, you could hear it knocking. You hoped the guest wouldn’t open that door or ask for anything from that cabinet.
What Do I Need to Start My Decluttering Process?
I want to say nothing, but truly, you’ll need a large box, trash bag, and/or garbage can. I wholeheartedly believe in clearing out as you declutter.
How do you eat an entire elephant? One bite at a time. Same with your space. You are going to go through it bite by bite.
Breathe!
When it’s time to declutter, either you’ve had enough of your chaos, or you are in the midst of a massive life change. Before you dive into the steps, stand in your space, close your eyes, put one hand on your heart and one on your stomach, and take 2-3 deep breaths.
You can start there. Or start from eyes-open to eyes-closed.
Whenever you are feeling overwhelmed in the process, hand to heart, hand to belly… breathe.
Know that this process sounds surface-level, but decluttering is deeply emotional. There are entire well-researched books on the connection between clutter, our minds, and emotions.
Step 1: Work in Categories.
You are going to go through your space category by category.
Option 1: Start where your guests enter.
The last time you speed-cleaned was likely when a guest was coming over. You took a bunch of stuff and threw it or stuffed it somewhere else.
Option 2: Start with your daily Time Killer.
Spend one day noticing where YOU run into unnecessary frustration because of your clutter. It goes like this.
You wake up and go for a coffee mug.
The cabinet is so overstuffed that you worry about breaking mugs as you open the door. You pour yourself a cup of coffee and head to get dressed.
You find one of the shoes you want to wear, but not the other.
Oh, man, you are supposed to wear a blazer today. You go to grab one, and the suits are pressed so tightly together that it’s hard to squeeze one out.
Where is that necklace?
On to makeup. You pull out the drawer of makeup accumulated over the years. You dig for your concealer but can’t find it. Or maybe you bypass that makeup cabinet and use the five products sitting on your counter. Your counter is overflowing, but you can’t put anything in that medicine cabinet full of oldies because it’s a tightly stuffed time capsule.
Keys. Car. Desk… roadblocks.
As you go through this audit day, notice which zones set you off the most.
Clearing out the last category completely before moving on to the next assures that those items won’t just be playing musical chairs in your house.
Clear the space of what was cut. Move on to the next category.
Great! Now you have picked the category you are going to start with.
The more often you edit here or there, the less likely you are to be fighting your space again.
As a coffee mug, chips, or another mug comes in, edit the space.
Some people want to believe that decluttering is a permanent solution. But like anything else, it needs regular maintenance.
Step 2: Pull everything out!!!
I align with Marie Kondo on this to some extent. You need to pull out every single thing in the space. I know this is wildly overwhelming at first. I promise you it will help you.
Let’s imagine you started with that overflowing coffee mug cabinet. Coffee mugs come out, random pieces of paper, stir spoons, and spoon dishes. Get your container (in this case, your cabinet) naked as the day it was born.
Lay everything out like with like. Glasses together. Mugs together…
Now you have the visual of everything laid out. It’s time to put things back into your space.
Step 3: Start with what you love.
This is the most vital step. Start with love. So often, we look at decluttering a space negatively. It’s a subtraction mindset. I spent years adding up all the dollars on the table as if they were still money I could use. Those dollars are spent. Your space is your space. So start with love.
Look at the items individually and put back the one you love most. As you pull the roses, you will be ok with losing the weeds. You’ll also start to realize that you might not need more than 15 coffee mugs. Maybe those other 15 can go elsewhere.
Starting with what you love encourages the mindset of creating the space and flow you want your life to reflect. Focusing on what items of clothing make you FEEL good is how you curate a positive environment for yourself.
Step 4: You either have an item or the space it takes up.
Everything you love is back in its container, or as The Home Edit would say, “it’s Zone”. You look around at the rest with a gut punch. As Marie Kondo would say, you have picked what sparks joy. Thank the rest and excuse it to its new home outside of your space.
You can keep what you have space for. As you look at the items left on the table, decide if you would rather have that item or fight that battle against it daily. Would you rather be nervous about opening the cabinet or about tossing the mug?
To be kept, it should be loved or used/needed.
Once you have added everything you use/need/love back into the space, you can feel the difference.
Everything else is just lying there. The idea of adding it to this functional space makes you feel yucky. That is where the magic clicks in.
Step 5: Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
You nailed a category down! Hooray! Feels damn good.
Now go to the next zone.
The Final Reveal
Can we get a collective Amen! While it’s only 5 steps, the process takes as long as the stuff you have divided by the motivation you have. Whether it’s been a weekend or 6 months, you’ve done something huge.
Note: Edit Regularly!
Some people want to believe that decluttering is a permanent solution. But like anything else, it needs regular maintenance. As a coffee mug, chips, or another mug comes in, edit the space. The more often you edit in a bite here or there, the less likely you are to be fighting your space again. Packing up holiday decor is a great time to edit. What did you use? What didn’t you miss that season?