“Get rid of the trash to make room for the treasures. Let the things that are important take center stage.” —Peter Walsh
Decluttering can be tough work.
We spend years and years collecting and accumulating more and more things. We should not be surprised then, if it takes considerable time to make decisions about what to keep and what to remove.
But it’s always worth the effort. Possessions weigh us down and add extra burden to our lives. Owning less results in more freedom.
If you are feeling overwhelmed about where to start or experiencing frustration with your progress, consider some of the ideas on this list to jumpstart your decluttering process.
7 Helpful Tips to Speed Up the Decluttering Process
1. Start easy with a clean sweep. Rather than attempting to declutter your home room-by-room, try going in “waves” instead. You will find this method to be far more impactful—especially at the beginning. Grab a box and walk around your home room-by-room. Fill your box with anything you find that you no longer need. No hard decisions, just noticeable impact. Once completed, try a second wave. But be advised, it gets a little more difficult each time through.
2. Find motivation with built-in deadlines. When we first began the process of minimizing our possessions, I did a lot of the work in the early morning. My kids usually got out of bed at 7am, so I would begin at 6am. Because I wanted to be there when they got up, I knew I had 1 short hour to get as much done as I could. This helped me find extra motivation to accomplish as much as I could during that hour. I also found some extra motivation the night before garbage pick-up.
3. Donate more. If you don’t need the money, you can declutter your home much quicker by deciding just to donate everything. The extra income from reselling your possessions can be nice, especially if you need the money. But selling items can really slow down the process and add extra burden to the journey. If quick impact is more important to you, dropping a few boxes off at Goodwill is far more efficient.
4. Include some help. Contrary to what you may think, you don’t need to do all the work yourself. In fact, if you have a family, you’ve got extra help built right in. You might not be able to convince them to declutter an entire room with you all-day on Saturday, but you can surely find some creative opportunities for them to help. For example, ask everyone in your family to find four things from their room that can be donated. Try again in a few days. The work adds up quickly with 3+ people involved.
5. Find freedom in temporary storage. I know a lot of people get hung up on hard-to-remove items. These vary from person-to-person, but common examples include sentimental items, books, kitchen gadgets, or toys. To keep from getting slowed down by these things, try an intermediate step of packing a box, labeling it with a date, and storing it out of sight. It will be easier emotionally. Six months later, revisit the box. You may be surprised how much easier it is to part with these items after not seeing them for six months.
6. Tell a friend and invite them over. Telling others about your decision to declutter/minimize is an important step. In our book, Simplify, we even included it as one of the most helpful principles in the simplifying process. Sharing your desire brings accountability and forces you to articulate why you made the decision. To add extra urgency to your decluttering progress, invite your friend over for dinner or coffee. Give yourself a few days to prepare the house before their arrival. Trust me… you’ll find motivation real quick.
7. Don’t confuse intent with action. With all things in life, it is important to not confuse a desire to change with actual change. Thinking about decluttering or talking about decluttering won’t result in any positive benefits. These benefits can only be experienced when the excess clutter has been removed. Remind yourself today that talking about change is not the same as implementing change. And take one small step in the right direction because of it.
Decluttering can be tough work. But it’s always worth the effort. If you have been struggling to find momentum, I hope these ideas will encourage you to find some today.
Additional Resources:
Jan Schmidt says
Help! I always intend to declutter after I complete my daily chores and errands. Then errands the social life happens and decluttering is just a gleam in my eye. What can make me prioritize it? It seems to be an EXTRA thing to do!
Gaylene says
Just my opinion but I find I do better if I run errands after spending some time getting rid of stuff.
Carly says
I would walk into a room before my errands and find 10 (or however many you’re comfortable with) things to get rid of. Put the rubbish in the bin and the things you want to donate in the car. Drop in to a charity shop one day a week and you could potentially get rid of 70 items in one go (assuming there was no trash in your initial collections!). It is definitely something extra but you will save yourself space and time in the long run :)
Judy says
Thank you, Joshua. We here count on your support and tips. :)
Michael Austermeier says
Following the advice of JB Glossinger from morningcoach.com I purchased a Duplex scanner to get rid of my paper clutter. There are some good products on the market (Neat, ScanSnap etc).
I threw all letter and desktop trays and after screening my paper files I disposed the folders and sorters.
I bought a new glass table with a clear space. Instead of sorting the incoming mails, invoices etc into the folders and sorters, I am scanning my docs every night before going to bed.
The scanner helps me to save the files in a directory. I preserve the information but get rid of the papers. When I go to bed the table is clear. I observed that files and sorters do the opposite of what they supposed to do. They make clutter worse. Out of sight- out of mind. So save your files in your pdf directory and all files are searchable.
I cleaned out a cabinet of 4by 4 feet and finally disposed the cabinet. It created space for a stand good for 7 guitars now…….
Linda Torres says
Michael can you tell me where J.B. talked about the paper purging ideas? Thanks.
Toni - Reclaiming Your Future says
I struggled to do this when I was beginning my countdown to my indefinite travels but when I needed to go home after five months, I found I was able to get rid of so much stuff because I hadn’t missed it in that time so I really love the idea of the temporary storage with a date!!
Jessica says
Love all your posts! I read all of them and share with my friends. I have made massive changes in getting rid of all my extra stuff. Thank you! :)
Also, you may want to fix the typo on #6 “delcutter/minimize”
Stacy says
I’ve got a better idea…. Get your lazy a$$e$ of the computer!!!!!
LL in Prescott says
Hahahaha! Maybe a lean & mean house = the time we stay off FB (or tv, or talk on the phone). Stop liking the idea of minimizing, but actually do it!
Petra says
I don’t take advice from anyone who uses that kind of language.
Tamara S. says
It has been a year and a half since we downsized. We had our first yard sale three months after committing to the idea. We did quite well, but then we organize our items and barter. We also invite the “early birds” to help set up, have first pick and FREE coffee! Yes, it worked. Three months after that first yard sale, we sold our 2,000 sq ft home and moved into a 600 sq ft apartment! We had a “moving sale” and using the above methods, did well again. After moving into the apartment we still had too much, so the great give-away began.
Thank you Joshua, for your encouraging blog, your enthusiasm and simple steps to simplify. Whenever I have the desire to purchase something, I merely have to watch a hoarder program, hyperventilate a bit, and dig in to purge even more.
Gladys (The Pinay Mom) says
This is perfect timing! I started decluttering last weekend and it feels pretty good to see how much stuffs we have to get rid of. We always donate them at Goodwill store.
Lexie says
My biggest issue is my past use of retail “therapy”.
I have a lot of stuff. I don’t really want most of it anymore, but I feel terrible just donating it, because so much money was wasted/spent on it.
I have things set aside to sell online, but I seem to never get around to it, and I don’t know that I would really get that much money back.
I guess I am stuck and feeling guilty.
LL in Prescott says
Oh gosh, you sound like my husband trying eek every penny out of everything we ever bought! When I have a really great garage sale (a yearly event in my decluttering) I see how much people are thrilled to have my stuff. It’s a win/win. If I take it a step further, how great is it to donate to a worthy organization AND a shopper in their store is thrilled to have your stuff? Pretty great! I love the karmic circle of it all. Believe me that guilt is a weight that never allows joy.
erica says
I used to have that feeling too until I started realizing the “depreciated value” of the item. Say I bought something for $100, but i’ve owned it for 5 years, I effectived spent $20/year to own it. Then I ask myself, did I get $20/year of use out of this thing? – if the answer is yes, (it usually is) then I am fine with donating it, because I’ve gotten the “value” out of it that I paid for it.
And my favorite day is the one right before trash day, to fill that bin up!!! :)
Ellen Schwendeman says
Whenever I struggle to get rid of un-needed items that I spent a lot of money on, I refer to that lost money as “tuition”. After all, we spend obscene amounts to attend post-secondary institutions for education and learning important lessons….. If I learn my lesson after having wasted a lot of money on an item that is now just clutter, I refuse to feel guilty. The cost of that item was just tuition to the school of life.
Susan says
What a great way to look at the ‘cost’ of keeping the item. Tuition for a lesson learned!
Heidi says
My aunt is a professional organizer…Rule #1: Throw quilt out the window! That one rule has helped me greatly!
Tina says
Lexie, I know how you feel about the amount of money spent/wasted on the stuff you no longer want. I now see money as a renewable resource. So I lost money on item A, but there will be more money in the future, and I will feel so free with less stuff getting in my way. Don’t let lost money discourage you.
Audie says
What works for me is clearing out a room completely (mayb leave in needed furniture) and then only putting back the needed/wanted items. Then what’s left outside the room gets throw out/donated/moved to correct place in home.
carol evans says
another great idea
Judy says
That IS a good idea! :) I usually do it that way too, but one shelf/drawer/cabinet at a time.