Easy decluttering is not only possible, it’s important. Decluttering your home may take a while so if it’s too complicated, you may not follow through. Why not make decluttering easier?
Early on, my decluttering efforts were only about making space for more stuff. Have you ever done that? Have you ever decluttered a shelf or a room, or cleaned out a bookcase and thought, “let’s fill that beautiful space with better stuff?” When I finally decided to become clutter-free for good, I was very motivated. I was on a mission to eliminate as much stress as possible from my life. After a scary diagnosis, I wanted a clutter-free life in every possible way.
I remember I really wanted to do it the “right way” or discover “the best way” but as it turned out, I had to do it “my way” and even that changed over time. I continued to find motivation and inspiration for decluttering in articles and books but reading those articles and books was a decluttering process in itself. I had to take what I was interested in and let the rest go. After years of practice, I started writing about it and have shared numerous articles about decluttering and becoming clutter-free. My goal is never to push one method or form of decluttering but instead to offer a variety of approaches so depending on your lifestyle and the way you do projects like this, you can find something that works well for you.
How to create a path for easy decluttering
When approaching decluttering, there are two big factors to consider. The first is the decluttering project and the second is you. We often dismiss the latter and attempt to do the something the same way it seems to work for other people. It’s more important to understand what works best for you. Honoring your personal time and energy availability is crucial if you want to make decluttering (and most things in life) easier. There is more than one way to create a clutter-free life but usually decluttering is a big part of it. Creating space around you opens up new ideas and inspires more decluttering in other areas of your life.
Easy Decluttering: 8 Simple Ways to Let Go of Clutter
These suggestions will help you make decluttering easy (or easier). It’s time to make simplifying simpler! Find something that resonates with you and try it. Leave the rest behind. If things get tough with decluttering come back and find a path to make it easier. You are always allowed to change your mind and try something new.
1. Easy decluttering includes fun decluttering challenges.
I’m all for the slow and steady approach to change and simplifying. It took me years to completely declutter our home, donate our stuff, empty our closets and drawers, become debt-free, resist filling our calendars and over scheduling myself each week. Each change took longer than I thought and there always seemed to be more piles of paper and clutter to sort through. Once it was complete though, I knew it happened at just the right pace.
Even though my usual pace when it came to decluttering and simplifying was slow, I did add in a few simplicity experiments and a decluttering challenge here and there. Interspersed in all the slow and steady were little bursts of fast and furious action. While it was the exception, these little bursts helped me maintain motivation to stick with my tiny shifts that were contributing to years of massive change in all categories of my life. Read more and try this Decluttering Burst here.
2. Try these 10-minute decluttering projects
10-minute decluttering projects are small enough that you can finish them quickly. That means easy decluttering. That feeling of accomplishment will make you excited to move on to the next 10-minute decluttering project. This approach will also help you overcome procrastination. When it does feel challenging to move forward, think about the time and space you will be creating to do the things you really want to do. From taking a long walk to reading a new book, learning something or baking cupcakes, you probably have a long list of things that make you smile. Instead of devoting hours sorting through your stuff, start with one of these 10-minute decluttering projects.
3. Work from a list of things to declutter.
Remove all of the decisions for easy decluttering. Use a specific list of things to declutter so you don’t get frustrated trying to decide what to release. That way you can get things started with more fun and ease. If you get stuck with decisions about what to do with the stuff you declutter, simply box it up and get it out of sight for now. Slow progress is still progress. Get the list of 52 things to declutter from your life here.
4. Music makes for easy decluttering.
Listening to your favorite music can make decluttering so much easier. Music can improve our mood which makes the tasks at hand more enjoyable. I especially like that music helps our relationship with time. Noted in this Psychology Today article, “Music shows that time perception is essentially subjective — music can distort “clock time”. Music is a powerful emotional stimulus that changes our relationship with time. Time does indeed seem to fly when listening to pleasant music. Hearing pleasant music seems to divert attention away from time processing.” Enjoy this 11-minute decluttering playlist or this 30-minute one. Here’s another playlist to help you let go.
5. Prioritize your favorite things for easier decluttering.
How many coffee cups, holiday ornaments, water bottles, t-shirts, jeans, candles, vases, and other “things” do you own. I used to have so many of all of those things even though I always my had my favorites of each. When it all matters, none of it matters. If you want to enjoy your favorite things, only own your favorite things. Hold on to what matters, let go of the rest.
Decluttering your life will take some time but it will be time well spent. As you let go, you’ll begin to really understand what matters to you. You will notice that the stuff that surrounds you, demands your attention and energy and wonder how you might better use that attention and energy. Easy or easier decluttering will leave more of that time and attention for you.
6. Save some decisions for later.
When we downsized to an apartment less than half the size of our house, I wasn’t ready to let go of some things. I sealed up five boxes of stuff I thought were important. I wrote the following in big letters on the top of each box. “Put in storage. Decide later.” You might be thinking, “wow, procrastination at it’s finest” and that was part of it, but there will be moments in decluttering your life when you want to (or need to) take your time. I recommend honoring that and going at your own pace.
When we found our new apartment, there wasn’t any storage space so I let those five boxes go. Today, if you offered me one million dollars to tell you what was in those boxes, I couldn’t do it. I don’t remember. The stuff wasn’t important. I realize that stuff and clutter is only one part of decluttering your life but the lessons learned as you let go carry into every other stage and phase.
7. Sleep well for easier decluttering and a gentler life.
Everything is so much harder when you are tired. If we could sleep well consistently, we could change the world and definitely declutter our homes with more ease! I know that sounds dramatic but when you sleep well, everything feels better. When I enjoy a good night’s sleep, I feel happier, have more clarity, and I’m in a better mood.
Sleep researcher and author of Why We Sleep, The New Science of Sleep And Dreams, Matthew Walker says, “Sleep is probably the single most effective thing that you can do to reset both your brain [and] your body’s health. I don’t say that flippantly against the notions of diet and exercise — both of those are fundamentally critical — but if I were to deprive you of sleep for 24 hours, deprive you of food for 24 hours, or deprive you of water or exercise for 24 hours, and then I were to map the brain and body impairment you would suffer after each one of those four — hands down a lack of sleep will implode your brain and body far more significantly.” If you want to feel better and decluttering easier, avoid these 8 sneaky habits that are destroying your sleep.
8. Experience easy decluttering with more support.
Every month in The Simplicity Space, we come together for a Declutter Hour. Members show up for our virtual call with a decluttering intention in mind. Some people work on their closets while others declutter paperwork. Our collective decluttering energy and the time spent together makes it easier to let go of the things that weigh us down. Even though you can probably do it alone, it’s such a joy to know you don’t have to.