Why Declutter Your Home?
The Pareto principle states that for many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes.
In terms of our homes, that means 80% of the time we use 20% of our items. That means, 80% of our homes are not used on a regular basis. Some of those items are used on occasion, but many are never or rarely used.
This is when decluttering comes into play. Decluttering is my first step when I organize a space. As we live in our homes, we accumulate items for different times in our lives. As we continue living in our home, we keep the items we used to need and store them somewhere (hopefully). This is how we create clutter with too many items in our home. So periodically, we need to take the time to declutter our items and make sure we have just what we want and need in our homes.
When you declutter your home, you get many benefits from having less stuff. This doesn’t necessarily mean you are a minimalist, that isn’t the goal of decluttering. But it is helpful to get rid of items you no longer need. Getting rid of clutter makes your home easier to clean. Less stuff means less cleaning.
It also helps you use your space for it’s highest use. Consider this closet, at first, you couldn’t even walk into the closet. My client couldn’t see what was in there and couldn’t get to the back where her work items were. The goal for this space was to declutter so we could make it useable. What used to be a clutter closet turned into a gift and wrapping closet, with holiday storage up top and work storage in the back.
By decluttering the space, it opened up the potential for this space to be useable.
Why Declutter Your Home?
My biggest reason for decluttering is to create a calmer living environment. Gretchen Rubin uses the phrases “outer order, inner calm.” When I get home from work and there is clutter everywhere, it is stressful and does not leave my home as a calming environment for me to live in. When I get home (let’s be honest, after my kids go to bed), I like to relax. I want to look around and feel a sense of calm, not a sense of overwhelm. When I decluttered our home, I was able to get rid of items that couldn’t be put away and would leave clutter on the counters. Now, I come home and have a calm environment to spend the evening in.
Another great reason to declutter is the organizing of your items will take less time. When you have less stuff, you have fewer items to organize. It also takes less time because you know what you have. You don’t have to worry about wasting time trying to figure out what you actually have. And you will know where everything is when you’re done.
How to Start Decluttering Your Home
When it comes to decluttering, the biggest issue is how to get started. And sometimes, you just have to start. I like to start in an area that’s bothering me and I’m the only one in charge of. That could be your closet or, if you’re the only chef in your family, could be the kitchen. Pick a place to start and block it off on your calendar to get done. Either take 10-15 minutes each day or block off 1-2 hours to get through it all in one sitting.
If you only have time to do small sessions, keep it manageable. Only take out a little bit at a time. There is nothing worse than getting through the 10-15 minutes and having your stuff all over the room! Keep most things in the cabinet or drawer and only go through a little at a time, just make sure to have a process for what you’ve already decluttered and what you haven’t.
Just make sure to keep it manageable. Do not do too much or you’ll get overwhelmed and quit. If you get stuck, give us a call and we can come help you out!
Home Decluttering Examples
My favorite place to do a big declutter is your own closet. Most likely, there are many clothes in there that you just don’t wear (think about the 80/20 rule). You wear 20% of your closet, 80% of the time. So that means, there’s 80% of your closet you don’t wear on a regular basis. When going through your closet, there is probably about 50% of your closet you can get rid of, that doesn’t fit your size or current lifestyle. When you declutter, you create more space in your closet. For me, it is incredibly calming to have blank space in my closet. It creates space for me to breathe.
After you declutter, you can organize it so it looks pleasing to you. This closet had so much useable space, but a lot of clothing. After the declutter, I organized the clothing so the owners could find everything they needed!
This medicine cabinet was also a great decluttering option. Medicine cabinets and pantries are easier to declutter because the main things that need to be eliminated are expired. This project streamlined their daily supplements and medications so the family knew exactly where their products were.
Another place that catches a lot of clutter are hallway closets. These are places you stick things when you don’t know what to do with them. These are projects that will take a little more time on your own but can make a big difference. This is storage space that will work well if utilized properly. These are two closets where the client decluttered and I was able to make the closet a lot more functional!
Sometimes, you don’t even need product. Just decluttering can create the space you’re looking for and make the space look more organized and be more functional.
How to Maintain Your Decluttered Space
When you do a big declutter, you only want to do it once, right? So you need to maintain your space. This means, high traffic clutter areas (junk drawer, desk drawer, kitchen counter, kids’ rooms, etc.) need to be decluttered regularly. I like to declutter common areas at least once a month. This includes my junk drawer. I reset my kitchen counters every night and make sure everything is in its place. I reset my desk during my weekly review.
If you create routines for periodically decluttering your main clutter spaces, you won’t have to do a major declutter again! Need help creating those systems? That is what we do! Click below and we can talk about what systems will work best for you!
