The sheer amount of stuff in our lives can be completely overwhelming. Simply cleaning and maintaining our homes is a job in and of itself. Worse still, once you get behind it seems impossible to catch up. If you’re wondering how to reduce clutter in your home, begin the journey with me here.
How to Reduce Clutter in Your Home…
De-cluttering is essential to creating a space that my family can thrive in. Removing clutter from our home has kept us organized and contributes to a more relaxing, stress-free environment. Over the years I’ve become an expert at creating this simplicity for my family and now I’m sharing my simplification secrets with you!
…With the Art of Simplicity
If you make my easy recipes you know that I worship the art of simplicity. I have a passion for uncomplicated comfort. I’ve shared that passion with my boys and husband and now they’ve built this habit as well.
That’s not to say that when the boys are home from college, running around town, catching up with friends that their rooms are clean. Often nowadays I walk in and there are clothes all over the place. But when they lived under my roof full-time we had rules! And of course consequences.
It’s Not About Perfection
The anecdote above is to let you know it’s not about perfection, it’s about function. So let’s get started!
1. Determine What’s Essential or Do I Use This
“Determine what’s essential” sounds fancy. Basically, this is what I call the “use it or lose it” rule. Your possessions don’t have to be exceptional to be worthy, they just have to be useful. It’s that simple. Forget about asking yourself “do I need this?” because we don’t need 90% of what we have. Instead, ask yourself, “do I use this?” If you don’t, it likely doesn’t belong in your home.
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2. Treasure or Trigger?
I remember helping a friend a couple of decades ago. We cleaned out her New York City apartment after she went through a painful divorce. The process required a lot of time, and a lot of sorting and the emotional baggage that some of the items contained was intense. Your space holds stuff, that stuff holds memories, and those memories hold energy. It’s ok to give things away that you don’t resonate with positively. In fact, it’s ok to give away anything! A special family heirloom could be your treasure. It could also be a trigger, an anchor that activates memories you don’t want to hold onto and be reminded of (even unconsciously) every single time you look at it. Making space in your home will make space in your heart. And your brain too.
3. Tackle Types of Stuff, Not Rooms
Tackling types of stuff rather than rooms will conserve a lot of brain power. This is something I’ve done for as long as I can remember. I take on clothing, for example, so I can get a full inventory of what everyone needs, or rather no longer needs. Same for books. I like to look at all of the books we own in totality to get an idea of what we have and what needs to go. I’ve heard this is a Marie Kondo strategy so I must be doing it right!
4. Do the Visible Clutter Before the Invisible Clutter
I like to work on the visible clutter that’s on surfaces before I do anything else. This keeps areas free to become important work spaces. It will also give you immediate results, or at least results after a couple of hours if your house is really full of stuff and in need of some de-cluttering love.
5. Sort Your Stuff
Sorting is the name of the game when it comes to de-cluttering your home. It’s the first thing I do when I get down and dirty! I make piles for these four types of items:
- Keep
- Relocate
- Giveaway
- Discard
We put away the “keep” and “relocate” items, and whatever we’re letting go of into a giveaway box or a trash bag for items we’re discarding. When I sort stuff with the boys in their rooms we also use a recycling bag for unwanted papers.
6. Forget Spring Cleaning, Frequency = Your Friend
Last summer, one of the boys wanted to go shopping for clothes with his friends. I told him I’d help him clean out his closet prior to the shopping trip. An hour later, he and his friend Jack came downstairs with arms full of clothing he had outgrown. Last year he grew 6 inches and is now well over 6 feet tall. We’ve been cleaning out the boys’ closets since they were very little and I’m grateful that this habit has become so contagious that the boys now do it themselves!
7. Less is More
This is a photo of my favorite neighbor’s pottery cabinet. We did a big clean out of it on New Year’s Day, eliminating four bags of pottery and trays that she took to Goodwill later in the week. She was so much happier with the cabinet after this clean out and reorganization. Having all of these useful items that she loves, at hand and easily accessible, made her more relaxed and optimistic about entertaining. Now it’s full of her favorite beautiful and functional pieces. Cleaning out and editing made this collection feel so much more abundant.
8. Get a Giveaway Pile Going
I have a designated area in our garage for items I’m giving away. First, I offer the neighbors clothing in good condition that the boys have outgrown. I don’t give our neighbors dirty, stained, or ripped clothing, which I use as rags or for patching other clothes. Sometimes these items get thrown away. Store your giveaway pile in the basement, or if you live in an apartment, in the bottom of a closet. All of the leftover items go to a local thrift store.
9. Don’t Let Clutter in
I don’t accept free gifts and other things I won’t use and politely say “no thank you” when stores have promotions. When we’re sent samples or holiday gifts from companies they go in the giveaway pile. Unless it’s wine which is amazing and useful for entertaining. We also don’t go shopping as an activity, and we don’t shop to pass the time, so we don’t end up buying things that are useless. Another habit is that I keep a certain number of hangers in my closet so that when I buy a piece of clothing, I give away something else to keep inventory as low as possible.
10. Use the Buddy System
Using the buddy system is fantastic because de-cluttering can be emotional. You may want to hire a professional organizer if it’s in your budget. Or, like me, you may want to do these types of projects with a friend. When we were evacuated due to a forest fire in 2017, we stayed with friends. During that time, I helped them clean out their pantry. The buddy system is great for a few reasons. First, cleaning, sorting, and organizing your belongings can be stressful, so having a friend hold your hand is wonderful. Second, it makes the entire process fun and time flies by. Finally, you can also bounce ideas off your friend and they can hold you accountable, asking if you really need to keep something or give you permission to let it go.
Your Tips for Reducing Clutter
If you’re a regular reader here, you’ve experienced the theme of healthy simplicity that is woven into my recipes and my life. Now, let me know how you feel about de-cluttering. What are your biggest challenges? What are your favorite strategies for simplifying your stuff?
Suzy says
Thank you so much Elana! You are such a giver, not only with your fabulous recipes but also with most areas in life.
I love this idea and I feel like I’m constantly decluttering! I try to keep my pantry organized but it’s not an easy task!
I’m in the middle of some renovations and I’m currently purging.
Thank you for this awesome article!
Keep healing!
Elana says
Suzy, thanks for your wonderfully heart felt comment! So happy we’re on this life journey together :-)
Valorie says
One thing I do that helps me get rid of things that hold good memories but aren’t being used and aren’t likely to ever be used is to take a picture before I move it along. It’s also been helpful to give things that have meaning to someone else who will love them and have a use for them. Last but not least, we’ve just moved and cut our square footage in half and I’ve sold a lot of things on OfferUp and Facebook Marketplace. Easy sites to use and we’ve met wonderful people who are excited to have things in good shape that we no longer need. I’ve sold things from $10 to close to a $1000. A fun bonus to downsizing and decluttering.
Elana says
Valorie, I LOVE that idea! Taking a photo of sentimental items that you are not keeping is genius. You sound like you’re a pro at all of this, thanks for sharing your strategies here :-)
Rainbow says
In addition, once you’ve taken the photo, put it in one computer file and use that file as your screen saver. That way you get to see the old sentimental things you let go of regularly! Maybe even more often than when they were stuffed in a box somewhere.
Elana says
Rainbow, that is absolutely brilliant! Thanks so much :-)
April Rose says
I Love this article! I just got back from taking things to a thrift store.
My biggest challenge is doing just what I did! My donate pile in the garage had items that had been sitting there for months and a few new things from de-cluttering my bedroom last week.
Sometimes, I pretend my house breathes a sigh of relief at being made “lighter” when I take things away.
Elana says
April, congrats on your trip to the thrift store, that is amazing. So glad to hear you conquered your biggest challenge and I hope you’ll keep me posted :-)
M. Susan Tucker MD says
Your post is so timely. Just what I needed to read at thus moment. We sold our very large house of 25 yrs fairly suddenly & have 2 weeks to get out. Renting a small apartment starting TODAY while our new home is being remodeled will help me use your tips immediately so that a simpler life will be practiced when we enter the next phase. Thank you!
Elana says
Dr. Susan, you’re welcome! Good luck with your move and keep me posted on how it goes :-)
Michelle says
Some great ideas and tips to make the whole process go a bit smoother. And hopefully not end up in the same place again. :)
Elana says
Thanks so much Michelle!
Donna James says
Hi Elana,
Love the Keto Chipotle Lime Salmon.
Just one more new “favorite”, simple, flavorful and extra delicious!
Whenever I try a new Recipe I feel confident of success.
Thanks for continuing to help me enjoy healthy, nourishing food even while avoiding all of the foods that are no longer in my life.
Donna
Elana says
Donna, I’m so happy to hear you love the Keto Chipotle Lime Salmon and I hope you enjoy this post on clutter too!
Stacey LoSacco says
My biggest challenge is giving away things that I might need or want later and things that have sentimental value.
Elana says
Stacey, I totally agree, same here!
ameldolesi says
susan says, thanks! And thanks for sharing your great posts every week!
Elana says
Susan, you’re welcome! I am so blessed to have this website and to get to interact with people like you!
susan says
A very timely post. I just finished watching “Tidying Up” with Marie Kondo and I’m in the middle of reading her book. Yes, she tackles entire categories vs locations, as do you. I think that you’re in the “graduated” category because you haven’t allowed clutter to accumulate and you continually weed out when you bring new things into your home (and have a well-trained family that does the same). I think it’s huge that you’ve trained your sons how to do this so that they are set with good skills in their own future homes.
In terms of the biggest challenges — for me it’s parting with things that are very high quality but not used much or ever (some still with their tags on!) and things that evoke warm memories of time spent with people or pets who are gone now and I don’t want to forget them. But of course that’s silly — I don’t need all of those items to remember them — just a few key items will suffice.
Elana says
Susan, thanks for your amazing comment! I really appreciate your taking the time to share your tidying journey with me :-)
Elle says
Thanks for the little push (motivation always helps).
Elana says
Elle, you’re welcome!