Note: This is a guest post from Colleen Madsen of 365 Less Things.
I have never considered myself a natural organizer. But in 2007, my family moved to Australia from the USA. Because we were moving into a smaller home, I found myself needing to unclutter a large number of items. Fortunately, we were able to accomplish the task…but mostly, because I had no other choice.
Shortly after the move, a new stage of life surfaced. My husband was about to begin semi-retirement. And to prepare for our new life together, I set a personal goal to again reduce our possessions. Coincidentally, on January 3rd, a segment aired on morning television about people abandoning their New Year resolutions. Turns out, on average, most people only stick to their resolution for three days. Even though I had never been one to take on resolutions, I found great motivation in beating those narrow odds… in fact, the challenge was nearly irresistible to me
I decided at that moment to set a new resolution to minimize our possessions. I determined to remove one item each day for the next 365 days. I started with three items to make up for the missed days, and promptly began removing one thing a day for the rest of the year. I am happy to say I not only completed my resolution successfully but it was so simple and satisfying that I continued uncluttering in my slow and steady pace (an average of five items per week) for an additional two years!
Over these last three years of clearing clutter, I have removed over a thousand things from our home. Also, through the process and through my writing, I have had the opportunity to help many people realize their own goals as well. These conversations have sharpened my desire for simplicity and taught me important insight about uncluttering. I have learned that understanding just a few key principles can help anyone just learning how to declutter.
The 10 Most Important Principles I Have Learned to Help Anyone Unclutter:
1. Stop the Flow of Stuff Coming In. Uncluttering is a waste of time if you simply replace the old stuff with new. You’ll need to begin by slowing the flow of things entering your home. Determine today to buy less. Trust me, you won’t regret it. The freedom from desire to acquire is a beautiful thing.
2. Remove at Least One Item a Day. The process does not have to be a mad frenzy that disrupts your entire household. Over the years, my home has become quite minimalist by simply choosing one item a day to get rid of. This gradual process began to change the way I think about stuff. Eventually, it became a way of life rather than just a crash diet of stuff.
3. Get Rid of the Easy Stuff First. There is no need to make things difficult by trying to get rid of the hardest things first. Most likely, it will simply deter you from the task altogether. Instead, start with the easy stuff and then as you strengthen your will to reduce, the harder decisions will become easier.
4. Put a Disposal Plan in Place. Before you begin, investigate selling, recycling, donating and give away options for the items you choose to remove. The more prepared you are for the task, the simpler it will be… and the more likely you will be to follow through. Ebay, Freecycle, and our local thrift store became my favorite disposal options. However there are endless others to explore.
5. Decide to Not Keep Things out of Guilt or Obligation. Your home should only contain the things you love or use. Don’t let incorrect thinking or other people dictate what you should keep or give away. Remember, if the items are yours, it is your choice to decide what to do with them.
6. Do Not Be Afraid to Let Go. The urge to hold on to items you think you might need someday can be eliminated simply by being realistic about what need really is. Many items in our homes may be useful, but they are not particularly necessary to our happiness, well-being, or the functionality of our homes. Seek to understand the difference.
7. Gifts Do Not Have to be Material. There are so many ways to honor loved ones without giving gifts that end up as clutter. Encourage people to follow this concept when buying gifts for you. Some alternative gifts are gifts of experience or adventure, a gift of time spent together, even cash gifts are appropriate in some instances. I have two clutter-free gift guides at my blog if you are looking for ideas.
8. Do Not Over-Equip Your Home. A home does not need enough linen, crockery, cutlery, or pantry supplies to serve as a hotel. Be realistic about your true needs. In the rare event an unusually large number of guests arrive on your doorstep, you can always borrow from friends, family or neighbors.
9. Do Not Throw Out Things that are not Yours Without the Owner’s Permission. Everyone should have a choice about their own belongings, even small children. Honor them by allowing them to choose. You can encourage hoarding tendencies in others by ripping things away from them before they are ready to let go.
10. Do Not Waste Your Life on Clutter. Every item you own takes time out of your life: time to manage it, clean it, repair it, and maintain it; time to choose between objects of a similar category; time spent shopping for it… and that doesn’t even mention the time spent earning the money to pay for it in the first space. Decide to sacrifice less of your precious life on the pursuit and ownership of stuff.
These ten principles have kept me resolute for the past three years. I had no idea when I began this mission how much stuff I would relinquish over the next three years. What I originally thought was going to be an arduous task quickly became a way of life… so much so, we have just put a deposit on a beautiful, even smaller, apartment with fabulous views of our coastal city, a swimming pool, and gym all within walking distance of everything we want. Semi-retirement is becoming a beautiful thing. Uncluttering made it possible.
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Colleen Madsen blogs regularly at 365 Less Things where she inspires others to reduce their stuff one day at a time. You can find her on Twitter.
Further Reading:
The Declutter Your Home Checklist
Image: Yorick…
Robert Nguyen says
Next, cut out letters from newspapers and such to make a message of your choice. Since the card has a ransom letter look to it, you may want to make your message pretty ransom-ey.Robert Nguyen
kate george says
Hi Robert I’m tring to find a way to reduce paper clutter from articles from special periodicals, specialty magazines, and even newspapers. I do not subscribe to these items, so I go to my local library. However I have copied these articles sometimes 10 pages or more, so paper clutter has built up anyway. The articles I have chosen are inspirational, perspectives on life, etc.
My goal is to DECLUTTER all those articles, yet KEEP THEIR MESSAGES ACCESSIBLE. Do you have any suggestions? By the way, What’s a ransom letter? Kate mykat21st@yahoo.com
Fiona says
Scan these items, save to your computer, back each file up and recycle the paper.
Jeff Starke says
Scanning is my favorite thing. But before you start scanning think of a way to organize your scans so you’ll be able to find that article. And save the files to your computer and a second copy to an external hard drive. I also keep a third copy at work. And take the external drive to work and sync the drives about every 2 weeks. Not as good, but you can use your camera phone to snap a photo of the article.
Sarah says
“Dropbox” would be perfect for scanned items, accessible anywhere, and you can create and organize all your articles by file name.
Pamela says
I have a beautiful notebook given to me by a dear friend. In that notebook I write quotes from magazines and books that I want to keep, then toss the article and donate the book.
BCard says
What a great idea!
tj says
I luv all the helpful declutter info. This is one of my favorites.
Click Here!
Paul Brady says
This is great advice, really ruins homes design – have you ever considered storage beds, they are a great space saving way to remove clutter from a house!
Ruth says
Paul Brady, I think the idea is not to need more storage, but to have fewer things. Not fewer things visible, but fewer things, period.
Karla Morrison says
Thank you for this post! I’m planning my parents’ move and decluttering is my great target right now. The house is full of unnecessary items that should be sold or given. My parents understand the idea very well, but it’s hard for them to leave all this stuff just like that. As we have enough time for planning and organizing I suggested the “date” declutter, and it seems fine for them. I’m glad I found your post, because of all the helpful information and tips, I think I’ll do better with these new ideas. Thank you!
Char says
I love the idea of 1 item per day, but can you give more suggestions on the logistics of that. I am guessing that you do not literally get rid of 1 item per day, but choose 1 item and place it in a pile of items to get rid of. Do you keep different boxes based on the end location (Salvation Army, library, sell on eBay, etc). Can you give more info on what to do after you have selected the item of the day and getting literally out of the house?
Thanks!
Pamela says
I keep a bag in my closet where I place one item per day. When it is full, I take it to Good Will.
Pat says
I have a large hamper basket upstairs. It is not ugly so we keep it available. Every unwanted item is placed in it. When the lid is popping off I go through it, list for tax purposes, and bag it for charity.
Poppy says
I have been living in a hotel with my husband and two teenage daughters for 2 months now as our house undergoes a major renovation. I can honestly vouch for this as a great means to declutter! Having access to our possessions still has taught me that I do not need much kitchen wise besides a fry pan and sandwich press – be gone complicated appliances! Also we have only relied on a bare bones wardrobe etc. So much has been thrown out and I am determined to keep this minamalist way of life going even when we return to our house – it is so freeing and life seems easier!
Debra says
Oh no…I was about to donate my sandwich press when I read this!!
Fiona says
This made me laugh…
Pamela says
I am living without the sandwich press – we gave up bread.
Pat says
What’s a sandwich press? Really, not joking!
Chrissy says
Before we owned a sandwich press, I used to call my ‘cooked sandwiches’ Pan Fried Sandwiches. Same principle but you don’t squash your sandwiches. In effect, you can live without a sandwich press :)
Etta says
My local AMVETS calls ever 6-8 weeks about scheduled pickups in my area. I have made a commitment to always say yes when they call, and make sure I have at least one box or bag of items for them to collect. Often it is several.
SHELLEY says
i always suggest use pic to recall memories istead of the useless items that lay around…. kep scrap books of those memories
Rose says
this is something I have been dreading, but need to do so badly. I have to get over the guilt of parting with things. It’s going to be a Fall/Winter project for me.
Christina says
My problem is that I have a ton of stuff to get rid of, and I would like to make some money on it, but I don’t have the time! Our local thrift stores throw so much away. I have seen them toss whole bags of stuff without even looking in them! So I don’t want to give there. My neighborhood doesn’t do well for yard sales, either. So I would have to list everything on eBay, which when I do, makes me a bit of money. So my conundrum is: when is it better to just clear the stuff out rather than trying to get a return on it?
Antony says
Hi Christina,
I’ve managed to collect valuable things from around the world, and not-so-valuable items. In thinning out (which has gone well), I often think “that must be worth something”. I’m self-employed, so it was easy to see that my time spent trying to get value out of something is the equivalent of money: how much is your life’s time worth to you? Are you willing to nickel-and-dime your life? For fun, I decided that my time is worth at least $20 per hour. Anything that is going to take some time to get money out of it will take *at least* an hour (trying to eval the value, prep, selling, moving to temporary holding place, re-handling it, taking it to a store/mailing it, arranging pick-ups, etc.). Will I get at least my $20 back? If not or if I can only answer “maybe”, then it’s not worth it. Having gone through a lot of hassle for $20-30, I’m now up to a $100 limit. Ebay is a good place to check what something might be worth. Turns out it was easy for me to let go of a lot of “nice” items that allowed me to focus on my “great” items while feeling like I was really valuing myself. While I use for items I have decided to give away, over time it has helped me see and understand some of the personal value of items that I am keeping, too.