There is a wonderful freedom in owning less.
The beginning of every new year brings excitement, anticipation, and opportunity. It also brings resolution.
People around the world will use January 1 as motivation to make changes in their lives. They will decide to lose weight, eat healthy, quit smoking, or declutter their home.
Some resolutions will last. Most will fade away within the first ten days.
This website reaches a large community of people from every walk of life. But we are united in our belief that life is too valuable to waste chasing possessions. Some readers have already decluttered their homes and return here for continued inspiration.
Some are in the midst of their journey toward owning less. And others will be introduced for the first time this week.
My hope is that your resolution to declutter will not fade away. But instead, that you and your family will enjoy all the benefits of owning less.
To those who are just beginning, welcome. Here are 7 helpful tips for your decluttering resolution.
1. Start easy. Your first step in the right direction does not have to be a big one. Our personal journey began by removing the clutter from our cars. Literally. The first things we minimized were ketchup packets, Happy Meal toys, old receipts, and rarely used music CDs. It wasn’t big, but it got us moving in the right direction.
Our next projects included the living room, the bedroom, and our wardrobe. Each room or closet was a little bit harder than the previous. But we found important momentum in the early steps to help carry us through the difficult ones down the road. Use this Declutter Your Home Checklist to really make it easy.
2. Choose a lived-in area to begin. When you first begin to declutter your home, choose an area that is often used. There are many benefits to owning less—clear, open spaces with fewer distractions is one of the best. As you begin to remove clutter, you will quickly experience them.
And the best way to fully understand these benefits is to begin decluttering a room that is used often. This could be a living room, a bedroom, an office, or a bathroom. Start decluttering in an easy, lived-in area. You’ll love it. And find increased motivation.
3. Touch every item. Your decluttering journey is not a race. It took years to accumulate all the clutter in your home and it will take more than an afternoon or weekend to remove it. My own family of four took 9 months. You won’t regret taking your time. And you won’t regret taking the extra effort to physically touch every item in your home.
Physically handling each thing forces our minds to make intentional decisions about them. After touching each item, place it in 1 of 3 piles: keep, relocate, or remove. From there, handle immediately. And then repeat.
4. Prefer donating over selling. You can make more money by selling your unneeded clutter. And if you legitimately need the money, go for it. There are countless websites that can help. But be aware that trying to sell your clutter is time-consuming, cumbersome, and often adds to the stress of decluttering.
If money is not an immediate concern for your family, sell your valuable items on Ebay or Craigslist, but donate everything else to a local charity. You will find joy and fulfillment in generosity—and that experience will be important going forward as you seek to overcome the trap of consumerism.
5. Read a book. The first book I read on decluttering was Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui by Karen Kingston. While feng shui never became a guiding principle in my home, the thoughts in the book were helpful for our journey. It is important to be reminded that others struggle with the same problem. And it is beneficial to hear new solutions to these problems.
The book was good, I still recommend it. But I also recommend The Minimalist Home, The More of Less, The Joy of Less, and The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Any one of them will be helpful and motivating.
6. Tell a friend. Joy is most fulfilling when it is shared with others. Tell your story about your resolution to declutter. You will find people are excited to try it themselves. They will cheer you on. They will motivate you by holding you accountable and ask you how things are going the next time you see them.
As an additional benefit, when you share your story, you will be reminded again of the reasons you decided to declutter in the first place.
7. Be okay with imperfection. Don’t let perfect become the enemy of better. The first time you go through your home, you won’t remove all the clutter. You’ll keep stuff that didn’t need to be kept. You’ll find it too difficult to part with some items. You may even remove a thing or two you’ll end up wishing you had kept.
But you will make progress. In just a few short weeks (or even days), you will begin to feel different about your home. You will enjoy it more—as if a burden has been lifted from your shoulders. It won’t be perfect, but it will be better. And that’s the best any of us can hope for in this life.
The journey to clutterfree can be difficult at times. But it is always worth the effort. Trust me, you’ll be happier owning less.
Karen says
I so agree with the concepts of tip 3-take your time! I began the path the minimalism last year and I’m still making adjustments. Instead of hastily removing things, I give a lot of though to it. And reading different stories gave me good strategies to follow. For big changes (like removing furniture or my knife block from my counter), I put it away first and make sure I can adjust and like the change before getting rid of something. The key, to me st least, is everything finds their strategy and what level of minimalism works for them and their life.
Sharon says
Thank you for these tips.
In favor of donating: Yesterday we got a new sofa and we could have listed the old one on craigslist but we just put it out on the tree lawn since we live on a pretty busy street. A guy rang the bell a couple of hours later and my husband helped him load it on his truck and we got the joy of blessing someone who was in NEED with something we no longer needed. Much bigger payoff than any little bit of money we would have gotten from selling it.
ren says
As new year starts, we are paring down, I see people with so much stuff…. Room after room…full basements…full garages,…then renting storage…and just wonder why…seems like they are trying to fill a void. So sad.
As we start new year, I am reflecting on all I have decluttered and all that we have yet to go.
Kim says
I have been on this journey for a while. I sold a lot of stuff that had significant value and therefore was worth the time and effort required. I also have given away and donated at least 20 car loads of stuff. It is so freeing! I am out of town but when I return I am starting a challenge. For 30 days I will be getting rid of more stuff. On day one I will get rid of 30 items. Day two 29 items. Day three 28 items and so on. That is 465 items in 30 day. I think Thai will be a great way to start 2016.
Karen Brothers says
Thanks…always love your posts….a couple of thoughts on selling your stuff….giving away is best because I do believe it is rewarded and if you need the money the best and easiest thing to do is drop it off at a consignment shop and let them do the selling….I do both…since I have the rule that when anything new comes in the house something has to leave…this year we plan to put any money made at consignment in a jar and at the end of the year we will treat ourselves to something special…probably an event!
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Kelly says
This may not be new to everyone, but was to me, and it goes along with donating rather than selling. It’s called the Buy Nothing Project.
http://buynothingproject.org/about/
I plan to see if there is one in my area.
Saad Asad says
Back when I was an addicted to hash, My room used to be filled with junk and a very bad smell. I was in an environment that was depressing itself, So the first thing I did when I quit drugs and cigarettes was to make my environment less cluttered. This not only helped me become more productive, it also made the withdrawal much easier. I even had to change the whole furniture setting so my room looked a bit different. Now I only have two items on desk. My laptop and a notebook. Notebook is what I used to collect insights and thoughts and laptop well for work and stuff. Less distractions = More work.
Tina says
I hadn’t bought a new item of clothing in years. I recently gave away at least 5 shirts and sweat shirts and bought a new sweater.
The last item of clothing I received was an old sweater from my son. I have a very hard time spending any money on myself because I grew up in a family with a hoarder. I try to fill a bag a week with give away items.