“People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.” - Dale Carnegie
The idea of living a simplified, uncluttered life with less stuff sounds attractive to many. They have considered the benefits of owning fewer possessions: less to clean, less debt, less to organize, less stress, more money and energy for their greatest passions. They are ready to declutter but some get quickly tripped up by the very next question… where in the world do I begin?
Many begin to feel overwhelmed, anxious, and defeated around the idea of decluttering their homes. That’s too bad. The decluttering journey doesn’t need to be as painful as some make it out to be. In fact, there are a variety of people who have come up with some pretty fun, creative ways to get started.
Consider this list of 10 creative ways to declutter your home:
1. Give yourself 5 solid minutes. Leo Babauta at Zen Habits recommends 18 different 5-minute decluttering tips. Pick one today that sounds appealing. Or better yet, pick a random number 1-18, read the specific tip, and commit 5 minutes to completing it.
2. Give away one item each day. Colleen Madsen at 365 Less Things gives away one item each day. Over the past several years, she has experienced quite a transformation simply reducing her stuff one day at a time.
3. Fill one trash bag. Early in our journey towards simplicity, one of my favorite decluttering techniques was to grab a simple large trash bag and see how quickly I could fill it. While much of what I collected was trash, this could also be used to fill a bag for Goodwill.
4. Try the Oprah Winfrey Closet Hanger Experiment. While this idea didn’t originate with Oprah, she was the one to help give it notoriety. To identify wardrobe pieces to clear out, hang all your clothes with the hangers in the reverse direction. After you wear an item, return it to the closet with the hanger facing the correct direction. After six months, you’ll have a clear picture of which clothes you can easily discard. This experiment could also be applied to a number of clutter areas in your home (cleaners, toys, linens, tools, hobbies and craft items).
5. Make a list. Dana Byers recommends creating a list of places/areas in your home to declutter beginning with the easiest… which doesn’t sound all that creative until she adds this note, “When you’re done with one area, STOP.” This list could be made as easy or difficult as you desire based upon what areas of your home make up the list (drawers/closets/rooms). And could easily fit into any schedule.
6. Take the 12-12-12 Challenge. A simple task of locating 12 items to throw away, 12 items to donate, and 12 items to be returned to their proper home can be a really fun and exciting way to quickly organize 36 things in your house. On more than one occasion, this challenge actually became a quick competition between my wife and I… and your kids don’t have to be too old to participate as well.
7. Change your perspective. Unclutterer offers a powerful approach to decluttering when they offer a number of strategies to help you change your perspective and begin to notice some clutter you may have missed. Among their ideas: take photos of your house, invite over a toddler, or ask the boss to meet in your office. With all of the examples, the hope is to cause you to see your home in a new light.
8. Experiment with numbers. For example, Courtney Carver invented Project 333 to challenge people to wear only 33 articles of clothing for 3 months. If 33 articles of clothing seems too little, adjust the rules as you need by picking a new number. The important thing is to challenge yourself to live with less and see what you learn from the experiment.
9. Use your imagination. Psychology Today recommends using your imagination to help declutter objects that may seem difficult to remove. Try asking yourself unique questions like, “If I was just buying this now, how much would I pay?” These creative techniques may prove to be very helpful for some with difficulties removing unneeded clutter.
10.The Four-Box Method. As we first set out on our journey to minimalism, this was the technique most often used in our home. As I set out to declutter an area, I brought four boxes: trash, give away, keep, or relocate. Each item in every room was placed into one of the four categories. No item was passed over. Each was considered individually. Some projects took an hour… others took days or weeks. But the technique and principles remained the same.
No matter what you choose to help you get started – whether it be one of these ten or one of countless others – the goal is to take your first step with excitement behind it. There is a beautiful world of freedom and fresh breath hiding behind that clutter. How you remove it is up to you.
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Special thanks to each of you who have purchased a copy of Simplify: 7 Guiding Principles to Help Anyone Declutter Their Home and Life. This past week, it debuted as the #1 Self-Help book on Amazon.
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Remember, all that stuff didn’t come into your life in a single day! It’s hard to make it all go away quickly!
Great post. I love industry posts that discuss more psychological aspects, so I loved reading about the two types of disinhibition.
That is so true! So, peel one layer off at a time, like you do an onion. And, don’t get discouraged or compare yourself, but use the example of others for inspiration.
Something in here inspired me — I’m thinking theme music! A decluttering playlist (or perhaps a few of different lengths) would be way more fun than setting a five-minute alarm, more like racing the clock while still singing along.
I agree w your music inspiration. As a child I woke up every Saturday am to Abba dancing queen on my moms 8 track player while she cleaned. Today that is my cleaning cd.
Mmmm! that is what I will do… Think I will use Queen, and The doors
Hi Joshua, thanks for this compilation of useful tips and tricks. However, I feel sometimes overwhelmed when too many weblinks clutter a blogpost. I sense this is starting to be a problem with many blogposts on the web – of course I do understand the necessity to do that in order to optimize search engine results and popularity ranking. Nonetheless, it leads to a somewhat paradoxical situation when these links clutter a blogpost about decluttering on a minimalist’s website.
I mean this as a general remark. I really enjoy your blog. Keep it up.
May your ways and deeds be blessed.
Elmar
Thanks for the comment Elmar. The links do serve a number of purposes… not the least of which concerns proper citation of my sources.
Hi, thank you for this post. You inspired me to celebrate my son’s 9th birthday today by doing a 9-9-9 challenge in his bedroom. Nine was a workable number for him & he like the parallel to his birthday. You were right … creativity makes tasks more fun! Thank you.
Claire.
Thank you for sharing these tips, I love the feeling of being able to throw away useless things. The hanger experiment seems very efficient to me, will definitely try that one!
Hi Joshua and thank you for the link and the tips. One tip I always recommend is to start with the easy stuff first. Don’t bother to chose one particular spot in the house to work on, just observe things as you go about your daily routine, as you notice something you don’t want put it aside to be decluttered by whatever method you choose.
I’d love to see some before/after pics of your area now for motivation, encouragement, and challenge. ;-) Love this post!
Great tips! I often ask myself, “How much will I miss this item if I throw it out/ donate it?” The problem comes when I decide I want to keep more than I’m tossing. I also find that it depends on my mood– declutter when you’re not in a sentimental mood! You’ll make more progress.
Thanks, more great inspiration. I particularly like number 9. Miss Minimalist suggests a similar approach which has worked for me:
http://www.missminimalist.com/2011/11/twenty-questions-to-clear-your-clutter/
It’s fun to talk to your possessions and maybe helps us to take them less seriously!
Oh, how I want to share your books and website with a few folks…but, I’m afraid I would insult them…but, if I don’t they miss the chance for true freedom…but, if I do they may get hurt by it…but, if they are truly my loved-ones they will know I give it to them out of love and concern…
I am exploring minimalism and your postings are my favorite source of information. I have downloaded quite a few of your books and am reading them for the second time. I have just cleaned my closets for the third time, I had to do this in stages and I am now following your suggestion of the turned around “hanger”. I am feeling ashamed right now at the amount of clothes we hung onto that we did not wear. St Vincent De Paul will be receiving a blizzard of clothing this week. I will continue to de-own (not just de-clutter) and keep you advised.
In the comments Evelyn mentioned moods affecting her success at decluttering. I have found this to be true also and I now purposely tackle a decluttering project when I am mad. Not only am I more relentless in my decluttering, I also find the activity to be therapeutic! By the time I have cleaned out that drawer/closet/cabinet, I feel calmer and can look at a tangible accomplishment (which is better than looking at an empty ice cream container, as other comfort eaters can identify with!). Thanks for your continual encouragement to simplify…because it’s not a one-time event, but an evolving mindset!
Hi Joshua, thanks for another great post. I agree that decluttering can be a lot of fun. And I think it gets even more fun the further you go along the path toward simplicity.
I hope you don’t mind me linking to a post I wrote about my favourite strategy for decluttering – the benchmark principle – http://www.extraorganised.com/2012/05/the-benchmark-principle.html
I use the benchmark principle as a way of comparing things to my favourite, most-loved item in its grouping. I find it gives me fresh perspective and makes decluttering decisions much easier. For example, when I’m holding all my jeans up to my favourite pair, it’s clear which ones fall way short of the mark!
What I best liked from all these points is making a list of the areas in your home that require de-cluttering. Giving away one item each day is also a good idea. This way you won’t feel that your stuff at home is being reduced drastically.
Wow! What a content you have given to us. I like the 12-12-12 challenge concept very much. Thanks for inspiring me. Keep it up.
I like these ten different ways to remove unwanted material from our home. I will also utilize them to remove unwanted material.
I like these ten different ways to remove unwanted material from our home. I will also utilize them to remove unwanted material from my home.
I spent the day cleaning, organizing ,throwing out stuff, as a means of procrastinating on my research work for a homework assignment… Naughty, yes? But it worked. I organized a tremendous amount of my house.We have a small house, but I want to eliminate as much as possible. One trick I have for the ladies(or men for that matter), is to take a shower, shave, put on makeup and do your hair ,as if you were going out for a night on the town.Then…throw out every single cosmetic that you didn’t use;barring of course makeup remover,moisturizer and facial cleansers if you use them.I used to have a ridiculous amount of makeup in a large case. I am now down to one tiny bag, which includes foundation, Boom stick products(which has one product that can be used on cheeks, lips ,eyes) and it takes me all of three minutes to get ready to go out. I also keep vitamins and medications in the drawer next to the kitchen sink(near water, and more likely to remember to take them!). I am helping a neighbor with a Hoarding problem in the coming year, and will et her in on my little secrets.I hope I helped someone in sharing these ideas, Happy New Year all, Carolyn in New Hampshire
You forgot to mention: buy less! The best way how to declutter!
I’m moving. The clutter has even moved with us from house to house and I’ve kept curtains etc from one house thinking ill use them again. I came across them once again. They are great well made. And yes I did use them in two houses. As I a stood contemplating whether to keep them or not I had a flash back to this summer when I was cleaning out a closet at my mom’s. That was enough to make me let stuff go! I think I’m single handedly stocking the shelves at goodwill. Might as well let someone else use them before they dryrot!
To declutter your home you need to start by doing it in a very little time chunks. Your 5 minutes tip is awesome. 5 minutes a day can keep the clutter away. Thanks for the great list Joshua and for being my guest in the Midway Decluttering show.
I’ve been following you for about three months, and I’m on the same journey – to simplify my life and own fewer things. But one particular pile of clutter has me stumped because I have trouble calling it clutter.
When my parents died, I inherited the pictures. All the pictures. Hundreds of photos, slides, and albums. Several large plastic bins full of them.
Some of them date back to the late 1800s.
How do I deal with this? I’ve thought of having them all scanned and loaded onto CDs (probably months of work or loads of money), but then what do I do with the actual photos? Is it acceptable to toss them?
Do you or any of your other readers have suggestions?
Liz, this is what I’ve done with my batch of photos.
1. Narrow down the overwhelming amount of pics by throwing away ALL the negatives, you have no plans to redevelop them, why keep them?
2. Look through the poses: Throw away ALL of the duplicates, throw away ALL of the same/similar poses of the same thing. In this digital era, we would have deleted them!
3. Sort them by: a) people you know/recognize, b) people you don’t recognize. To me, only the pics of the people *I* recognize is meaningful to me. So, in my case, I threw away ALL the unrecognizable people’s pics. But alternatively, you can offer those up to family members (give them up as a batch!).
4. Lastly, out of all the pics of the people you know/recognize, choose only the nice shots of them, the flattering shots, the intriguing shots. The rest? Throw them out! They wouldn’t have wanted anyone to keep their unflattering shots anyways.
Hope this helps!
REPLY
Liz ~ I have siblings, but I was the one who lived nearest my mother when she died. Her photos were not organized in any way — just all mixed together in a jumble in an old suitcase with her other paper keepsakes (like the program from her 1933 high school graduation ceremony). Like Cynthia, I found it helpful to batch together all photos with their copies &/or same or similar poses. In each case where one of those batches contained enough photos to permit them being shared (more or less equally) amongst all us siblings, I divided those up & distributed them among envelopes (of which I had one available for each of us). I retained all negatives until I’d distributed all the photos & confirmed with the recipients that there wasn’t some special one of which it seemed everyone should have a copy. Keeping the negatives meant I could easily have copies made if any were desired. (There was, I admit, only 1 photo in that category, but it was nice to have everyone feel included by getting enough prints made of it so that each of us could have one.) My feelings ran opposite to Cynthia’s as far as which of the photos among my mother’s seemed significant after she had died. The ones that intrigued me most were the old photos of people I did NOT recognize. The oldest of those photos in particular were compelling to me: Who were these people in photos my mother had kept all through the years whose identity was a total mystery to me and all my siblings? I couldn’t bring myself to put really old photos in the trash, thinking that discovering one of those might mean a great deal to a great-great grandchild, for example. So, I set up a separate photo album on Facebook (one with limited access), then I gave all my relatives I could find on Facebook whom I thought might have a clue access to that photo album. Every day or few, I would post 1 or 2 of those “Heirloom Photos – Help Requested Identifying Subjects,” with comments inviting input, thoughts, suggestions, guesses. (If I had it to do over again, I would certainly do this via creating a separate Facebook Group.) What happened was really enjoyable: Someone would see a photo & be uncertain about it, so he or she would then involve another cousin or older sibling in the effort to identify these people. Family members liked being invited to see the photos, & commenting back & forth about them. I ended up connecting with several cousins I had not known. A few of those unidentified people in the really old photos turned out to be my grandparents in their very early youth — photos I truly treasure now. This process got me interested in finding out more about my ancestry, & I eventually joined ancestry.com, where I’ve since made it a point to post to my ancestors’ profiles (on my family tree) any photos I found, and to contact a “family tree owner” of a tree that includes people who’ve been identified as subjects in any of those photos — & offering the photos to them. It’s been a long, but very pleasant process, & I’ve learned quite a lot about my family. Good luck to you.
I just reduced our items last week to a minus 300! This weekend we took out 8 bags of trash (the 33 gallon ones) and about 200 items. This next weekend, more is on the chopping block! My new theme “get used or get out”. Thanks for the inspiration to continue the work for “less is more”.
Another version of the four box from my friend Eva. Keep, throw away, donate, don’t know. I have used ths method and it helps me get through things without getting hung up on decisions I’m not ready to make.
Liz, this is what I’ve done with my batch of photos.
1. Narrow down the overwhelming amount of pics by throwing away ALL the negatives, you have no plans of redevelop them, why keep them?
2. Look through the poses: Throw away ALL of the duplicates, throw away ALL of the same/similar poses of the same thing. In this digital era, we would have deleted them!
3. Sort them by: a) people you know/recognize, b) people you don’t recognize. To me, only the pics of the people *I* recognize is meaningful to me. So, in my case, I threw away ALL the unrecognizable people’s pics. But alternatively, you can offer those up to family members (give them up as a batch!).
4. Lastly, out of all the pics of the people you know/recognize, choose only the nice shots of them, the flattering shots, the intriguing shots. The rest? Throw them out! They wouldn’t have wanted anyone to keep their unflattering shots anyways.
Hope this helps!
Love this information, I have found that when I work with clients on healthy eating they typically aren’t letting go of other things are people in other areas of their lives. You advice rocks and I will refer clients to this site often!
Sounds fantastic but I really need a professional by my side. I become stuck or distracted or I shop my closets or decide to have a yard sale or send a ton of denim to third world countries or make a necklace or unpack the suitcase from that 2009 cruise or maybe just walk the dog on my way out as I toss the six wire hangers from the pile of sweaters in the donated pile that has been in the laundry room for twelve years. I need professional help. I want to live the life I live in hotels-bare necessities. I am 65 and I want my life back.
I love finding new ways to make decluttering fun and interesting such as imagining i’m moving to a smaller house or packing the essentials to go on a short holiday. This motivates me to look at the things which are truly essential and valuable in my life right now.
I need to say the blog post is simply useful for everyone else reading it considering that the information and knowledge it contains is critical. I like the publish! Excellent job! Keep sharing such precious information through your blogs.
I thought you might find this decluttering related infographic useful / interesting!
http://www.becomingminimalist.com/creative-ways-to-declutter/
In answer to pitbullmom, I feel the same way. I’m so ashamed but I know it will take a professional to get me out of my hell. I’m trying to get up the nerve to bring “someone” in because I just am so overwhelmed and hopeless. I just want to be like a normal person.
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