An entire set of tools that haven’t been used in years can be whittled down to 5 items or so. As I said earlier, an entire set of dishes that haven’t been used in a long time can be brought down to 1 plate or 1 setting. The memories and the sentimental value will still remain, it just doesn’t have to include everything in the set. So now that you know I totally get it, and that I’m not going to make you do anything you’re not ready to do, let’s jump into how to actually start making real progress with the hardest category to declutter: sentimental stuff. Before Decluttering Sentimental Items: 3 Things To Do Before You Start 1.
I was drowning in clutter. It made me mad. Miserable. And ashamed of my own home.
I spent hours – whole weekends – trying different decluttering approaches, including Marie Kondo, but they didn’t help.
And the clutter kept coming in.
UNTIL I discovered simple methods for letting go of all the stuff I am happier without. Backgrounds 7 10.
I still don’t have a squeaky clean home, all minimalist and pristine. Far from it. To be honest, I rather like life a little bit messy.
BUT I have let go of hundreds of bags of stuff:
- In just a few minutes everyday.
- Without ANY big stop-my-life for the weekend declutter sessions.
My declutter journey has created a space I can organize and clean and look after simply. A space I actually enjoy living in again.
And it has eased my deep down anxiety and explosive anger. I am simply happier with a simpler, less cluttered life.
If you struggle with clutter I hope I can help.
I am sharing here the easy ideas and tips that help me declutter and organise, including:
- Simple declutter methods – alternatives to Marie Kondo – you can follow when you’re busy and tired and overwhelmed
- Declutter checklists
- Declutter challenges for each room in your home including kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms and closets
- Step by step guides to clutter hot spots
- My approach to selling clutter
- Practical ideas to keep clutter out
- Motivational support to get you started and help you succeed
These resources will hold your hand through each step of your declutter journey AND they are all completely FREE.
So do save this page for easy reference. Grand total 5 2 6.
I’ll briefly introduce each declutter tool below. For the quick index whiz down to section 8.
KonMari Didn’t Work For Me
I tried the KonMari method to decluttering because so many people swear by it, but it did NOT work for me. My 3 big problems were it:
- Was overwhelming – starting was hard, keeping going even harder
- Made an enormous mess
- Demanded time I didn’t have
Marie Kondo didn’t help me either with:
![Declutter Declutter](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/511lB1JQFnL._SR600%2C315_PIWhiteStrip%2CBottomLeft%2C0%2C35_PIStarRatingFIVE%2CBottomLeft%2C360%2C-6_SR600%2C315_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg)
- The rest of the family’s clutter
- Selling stuff to help with family finances
- Letting stuff go responsibly, so it didn’t all end up in the tip polluting the planet
AND it did not make me happier. Yanking everything out actually made me more anxious. And that made it harder to let stuff go.
Luckily, I discovered two simple methods that addressed all these challenges and made me happier in the process. They are called:
- Just 10 Things
- and The Power Purge
Just 10 Things
I love the Just 10 Things declutter method.
It takes only 5 or 10 minutes a day, but helped me clear thousands of items of clutter.
It’s amazingly powerful because it turns decluttering into a simple habit we can succeed at even when we’re exhausted.
AND it makes us feel happier every single day.
Read this simple guide to get started.
The Power Purge
I top up Just 10 Things with the Power Purge method. Especially, when I am fuming and furious with my family.
It channels all our angry energy BUT doesn’t create a big old mess on the floor.
We all have our own variety of crazy clutter. You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff I hoarded.
But these handy checklists open our eyes to lots of the obvious clutter we are ignoring:
Use these checklists with either of my declutter methods or with one of your own.
And you can get the whole family involved by turning them into bingo sheets – whoever says goodbye to the most, wins.
For more hands on support, use these daily declutter challenges to turn decluttering into a simple daily habit, you can follow as easily as cleaning your teeth.
Each day’s challenge focuses on just one area. This stops us from being overwhelmed by all the possible stuff we could let go.
And helps us get down to true essentials.
Every day we let stuff go, it becomes easier the next day to let go of even more.
Clutter gets everywhere, doesn’t it? And that’s one of the horrible things about it.
But we also have hotspots don’t we? Huge clutter monsters we are scared to take on.
So I have step by step guides to tackle biggies:
- Kitchen – an easy 30 day challenge
- Garages – also works for basement & attics
- Paper – all those piles we daren’t touch
- Boxes – of forgotten stuff
![Declutter 1 6 0 Declutter 1 6 0](https://www.mother.ly/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTA2NTc2NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2NDM0MzI3OH0.GcGxD_tfzAt4s4BHwt1_GAyyNMyUDIoW29h9v3PTZZs/image.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C66%2C0%2C66&height=700)
PLUS help with cleaning stuff & bathrooms.
We all know about selling on eBay but most clutter is low value and not worth the effort.
The thing is, it all adds up. 100 things worth £10 or $10 is a £1,000 or $ we can use to pay off debt or start an emergency fund.
And with Just 10 Things we can easily let go of thousands of small value items that could help our families financially.
So I developed this simple trick for selling clutter on Facebook with very little effort.
It won’t sell everything but it will help.
Clutter sneaks into our homes every day in so many different ways, doesn’t it?
From the grocery store. In the mail box. In kids’ bags. And partner’s cases. Off Amazon. After shopping binges. And THEN there’s Christmas. And birthdays. And Easter. And Valentines. Wifi explorer pro 2 3 2 download free. And Halloween. And Mothers’ Day.
An endless trail of new stuff, we don’t have time to enjoy or space to look after in.
To help you shut the door on clutter I have got two clutter free gift guides:
I have also got some practical simple tips to help keep every day clutter out.
But we also need to change our mindset about stuff, and I found these four simple ways to enjoy living with less particularly powerful
We all know we want to declutter, don’t we? And that’s why Marie Kondo is such a hit. She seems to offer us a clear path to letting stuff go.
But I know so many people who are desperate to declutter and bought the book, then never got started. Or managed one drawer.
Because it needed hours of free time and created – initially – more chaos. Yanking everything out – or even the thought of it – made them crumple. It was too much for them.
That’s why I am passionate about sharing a simple alternative for those of us for whom Marie Kondo just didn’t work.
We truly can reclaim our homes with a gentle decluttering rhythm that lets a little go daily.
Declutter Rhythm
I found that this habit of daily decluttering was amazing motivation in it’s own right; every day we can feel the calm of letting things go:
And the daily declutter prompts helped build the habit, but I also found it motivating to truly acknowledge the pain clutter causes me and focus on the key benefits of letting clutter go:
These have helped me clear hundreds of bags and boxes of stuff I am happier without.
But like most people I did cling on initially to sentimental things from loved ones.
Sentimental Clutter
They were tucked away in boxes, so no they didn’t bring joy but recognising that didn’t make it any easier to let go.
What helped much more was to weave a wealth of other ways of remembering into my daily life. To help you with this I’ve shared:
My final secret for successful decluttering was everyday support from friends who:
- Suffered like me with a chaotic home
- And truly wanted to reclaim their life
BUT felt life was far too short to spend endless weekends yanking everything out, making a mess and interrogating every item we own.
Every Day Support
Knowing I wasn’t alone with my clutter truly helped. Friends inspired me to keep going even when life was hectic and to believe in my vision of a simpler more joyful life.
So please do:
- Join me on Facebook where I share easy inspirational ways to enjoy living with less
- Sign up for my free newsletter to receive more easy decluttering tips
Hopefully, you will find here all the resources you need to reclaim your home. Do save this planner so you can dip in when you need to.
And please share with friends.
And spread the word that Marie Kondo may be wonderful for some, but there is another way. And it’s a whole lot simpler.
Simple Declutter Methods
Declutter 1 6 0 Download
Declutter Lists
Daily Declutter Challenges
Declutter Hotspot Guides
Sell Clutter Easily
Keep Clutter Out
Motivational Support
Original image sources : rawpixel.com
“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.
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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: