Decluttering Your Home {Series}
Finding Your Path To Peace
Here are tips for decluttering your home so you can find your path to peace in your life and your home.
Don't let clutter rob you of another second of joy.
Instead, use this series of articles below, along with my whole Declutter 365 program, to conquer your clutter, and gain the habits and skills to keep you from letting it back into your home again, once you've banished it.
Clutter is a complex topic, since to really get a handle on it you've got both some mental work to do in your head, and physical work to do in your home. Therefore, that's how I've designed this series of articles (this page is your roadmap that let's you see the big picture).
First, I focused on the mental and emotional aspects of clutter, plus tips for identifying what is and is not clutter within your home. And second, I then focused on the practical aspects of getting it out of your home, and out of your life.
You can pick and choose the articles you want to read, or you can read them in the order presented, since my aim was to lead you from one topic to the next in a logical sequence.
However, before I share the list of articles below, I want you to know the benefits of decluttering, and how it can improve your life so that you'll be as enthused to tackle this challenge as you can be.
How Can Getting Rid Of Clutter Help Me Organize My Home And Find Peace?
This site focuses on finding the right home storage solutions and organizational products for all around your house, so why would I suggest you declutter? Can't your problems just be solved by buying more boxes, bags, furniture and more stuff to store all your stuff in?
That last question suggests the answer, doesn't it? Although creating, repurposing and buying storage solutions is definitely a part of the process of home organization, more fundamentally organization is about putting things back in their place in your home.
You've heard the slogan, "A place for everything, and everything in its place."
I like that slogan, and have adapted it here as my tagline for Home Storage Solutions 101, where we try to find "A place for everything that matters."
Realistically, if you're even remotely interested in the concept of decluttering, it is because you know you don't have enough space in your home to hold everything you currently have crammed in there. Plus, whether you realize it or not, all that clutter is stressing you out.
Trying to cram stuff into too tight of a space, or seeing stacks of stuff all over the place because there isn't even room to try to cram it somewhere out of sight, makes things hard in our lives.
When there is visual chaos, as opposed to clear flat spaces in our home, it creates tension that keeps us from truly relaxing and enjoying our homes. That's why clutter has got to go.
Clutter robs us of peace, tranquility, time, and enjoyment, and instead gives us stress. Get rid of clutter and home organization becomes a heck of a lot easier and more enjoyable too, because it is easier to find appropriate places for all the stuff you've got left in your home, the stuff that really matters.
Part 1: The Mental & Emotional Aspects Of Controlling Clutter
As I said above, there are two parts to dealing with the clutter in your home. Before you can deal with the physical objects you've got to get your head around why you're holding on to things in the first place, and also why you now feel the need to get rid of it.
These mental steps are helpful for everyone, whether you've got a lot of junk in your home you're holding onto, or just have a little more stuff than you can comfortably fit into your home space.
Here's my articles on the mental and emotional aspects of clutter:
Quiz: Are you a clutter bug? Take the quiz and find out, plus if you are, the article provides a strategy for what to do about it, while accepting and still loving yourself.
How to identify clutter: 5 guidelines to help identify clutter in your home, so you know what you need to get rid of.
Emotional reasons you're holding onto clutter: How to deal with your mental hangups holding you back from getting rid of this extra stuff in your home.
Worksheet: Why do I want to declutter?: It's often easier to stay motivated, when the going gets tough, if you remember "why" you wanted to do something, in this case, to declutter your home. Here's a printable worksheet you can use to write down your very personal reasons for why you want to declutter, which you can save and look back on to get yourself motivated on a tough day.
What to do when a loved one is a clutterer: What if you're not the only person that is accumulating clutter in your home? This article discusses how to deal with family members who are (at least partially) the cause of the clutter problem in your home.
Can't I just organize my clutter?: Finally, this article is meant to convince you, once and for all, that you can't organize clutter! There's no point!
Part 2: Practical Tips For How To Declutter Your Home & Then Keeping It That Way
Once you are mentally and emotionally ready for the decluttering process, it is time to actually begin, and that can be just as daunting as dealing with the mental stuff.
Here's the articles in part of the decluttering tips series, with practical tips for making the process of decluttering and smooth and easy as possible:
Decluttering in small steps: The secret to getting to a clutter free home is the process of decluttering in small steps, 15 minutes at a time. Let me tell you why, and how you can start today.
Why to use a timer for decluttering: Here are 5 reasons why using a timer for decluttering works so well, and is so effective, plus my two favorite timers for the doing the Declutter 365 missions.
Top 10 decluttering supplies: Here is a list of the top 10 decluttering supplies you may need when clearing clutter from your home, using the Declutter 365 system, including what to wear, and what to have on hand. Be sure to also grab your copy of the free printable supplies list, to add to your household notebook.
How to declutter your home: This article gives a simple formula with the details of how the process actually works to acheive results. Most importantly, I introduce the concept of working 15 minutes at a time, and how this will help you not to become overwhelmed with the process, and also how you can use the 15 minute time periods to keep yourself from making a huge mess while you declutter!
FAQ: What to do if a mission takes longer than 15 minutes: The idea behind the Declutter 365 missions is that you should work on each mission for 15 minutes. Here's the answer to the frequently asked question of what to do if a particular mission will take you longer than 15 minutes to complete.
Defining decluttering progress: Use this definition of decluttering progress to make sure you continue to head to your ultimate goal, a clutter free house, and avoid the trap of shuffling around your clutter.
Top 10 types of items to declutter fast: List of the no brainer things you should get out of your home right now.
7 Strategies for clearing clutter: Tips for where to begin the decluttering process in your home if it all seems like too much, and you don't know where to start.
5 rules for reducing clutter: Live by these five rules and you'll slowly remove clutter from you home without even really realizing you're decluttering.
Clutter control tips and strategies: Tips for keeping clutter at bay in the future, so that after you've decluttered more clutter does not re-accumulate in your home.
Clutter solution for online shipping boxes: Use this simple rule to keep your online purchases, and the shipping boxes they come in, from overfilling your home.
How {and why} to adopy a daily tidy up routine: Even when you've gotten rid of clutter, everyone in your household will still pull out items for use regularly, so here's why you must adopt a daily tidy up routine, to keep things put away when not in use, and from piling up to be visual clutter.
Reminder: Make Sure You're Doing The Daily Declutter 365 Missions
While you're doing the hard work of decluttering, make sure you've joined (for free) the Declutter 365 missions here on the site. I give you a free printable calendar for each month, plus remind you about the day's 15 minute mission, that will slowly, over the course of the year, get your whole house decluttered!
You can get this year's full Declutter 365 calendar, as a printable, here, when you sign up for the free newsletter.
If you want to get each month of the calendar separately, as it is released, you can find those monthly calendars here:
More FAQs About The Declutter 365 Missions
I've added some articles and links about some of the most commonly asked questions about the Declutter 365 missions above, to get you started with the program, but once you have started there are often some more questions asked as well.
If you want even more information about the Declutter 365 missions, make sure to check out this set of answers to frequently asked questions about this program here.
Decluttering By Season
You can also get all four seasonal decluttering checklists (including free printables) here:
 Spring Decluttering Checklist |
 Summer Decluttering Checklist |
 Fall Decluttering Checklist |
 Winter Decluttering Checklist |
Benefits & Perks Of Decluttering
Decluttering can be hard work, but it has its benefits, some expected, and sometimes unexpected. Here are some of them:
Top 10 Ways Organizing & Decluttering Your Home Saves Money: List of some obvious and perhaps less obvious ways that organizing and clearing clutter from your home will help you save money both while you're doing it, and once you've got it accomplished.
Finding Long Lost Treasures & Surprises: When you remove excess stuff from your home, as well as look through piles of items you perhaps haven't touched in quite a while, it isn't uncommon to rediscover items you'd forgotten or didn't know you had, or to find long lost items.
This is always a really fun and unexpected surprise, when it happens. In the article linked above I've rounded up a lot of photos and quick stories from Declutter 365 participants who've found items, and been really excited about it!
Tips For Where To Get Rid Of Your Clutter
Finally, deciding what you'll declutter from your home, and then actually getting it out of there, can really be two separate things. However, sometimes what stymies us most is figuring out where we can get rid of something. Sure, there's the trash and landfill, but other possibilities including donations, recycling, or selling something. Here's some articles to help you with these decisions.
Do's & Don'ts For How To Donate Household Items To Charity: Ideas for where to donate certain items in your community, and how to decide if it should be donated in the first place, or just trashed.
Garage & Yard Sale Strategies & Tips: How to make the most out of getting rid of your clutter, and considerations of whether it is worth it to take this extra step while clearing out your home.
Other Articles With Tips On Decluttering Your Home
The articles I've listed above hit the highlights of the decluttering process, but there are always other things to learn and consider as you work through this process, since clutter is something you must combat every day in your home.
Here are some additional articles on the site which touch on the topic of clutter control, that you may also find helpful.
 Books On Organizing & Removing Clutter: Reviews & Recommendations |
 Join The Getting Clutter Free In 15 Minutes A Day Hall Of Fame |
 How To Stop Junk Mail: Instructions To Opt Out & Eliminate It |
 Strategy For Organzing Paper Clutter |
 How To Declutter Your Piles Of Paper |
 Which Documents To Shred |
 How To Set Up Clutter Donation Box |
 What To Do With Used Christmas Cards |
 How To Dispose Of Cleaning & Laundry Products |
 Questions When Decluttering Books |
 Top 10 Places To Sell Books For Cash |
 Questions When Decluttering Kids' Art & School Papers |
 Questions When Declutter Clothes |
 How To Declutter Your Wardrobe |
 How & Where To Recycle Batteries |
 How To Dispose Of Car Care Products |
 Electronics Disposal Guide |
 Appliance Disposal & Removal Guide |
 OTC & Prescription Drug Disposal Guide |
 Uses For Plastic Bags |
 Uses For Old Socks |
 Uses For Newspapers |
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Share Your Comments, Tips & Ideas
I would love to hear from you, sharing your thoughts, questions, or ideas about this topic, so leave me a comment below. I try to always respond back!