How To Break Bad Habits Contributing To Your Clutter

Before we start talking about how to break bad habits contributing to your clutter I want to give you some encouragement. The fact that your reading this tells me you already know you have some habits you need to change. This awareness is HUGE, trust me, not everyone gets to this point. So know that you’ve already won half the battle when it comes to getting rid of your clutter!

I suppose your question is: “if you’ve won half the battle how come your house is still filled with clutter?” Great question! You see knowing that you have some habits you need to change and actually changing them are two very different things.

Learning to change the habits that lead to a cluttered mess can be tricky. It’s not like quitting most bad habits. Someone who smokes knows it’s a bad habit they need to quit so they don’t buy cigarettes. Or if you want to quit drinking you stay away from bars.

But you can’t just stop buying everything. We all need a certain amount of items. Heck, even the most dedicated minimalist still has to shop every now and again. Since you can’t just stop shopping, the key to breaking the bad habits that lead to clutter is to be intentional in pursuing good habits!

You see, bad habits ensure you stay stuck in a cluttered mess. On the other hand, when you intentionally pursue good habits they put a clutter-free home on autopilot for you.

So let’s look at 7 good habits that will help you break bad habits contributing to your clutter.

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1. Have a Solid Why & Do It For You

Breaking bad habits is hard under the best of circumstances.  Without a solid reason as to why it’s next to impossible.

What I mean by having a reason “why” is that you need to have a clear understanding of what you have to lose if you keep your same bad habits. Will your bad habits keep you feeling stressed and overwhelmed? Will you feel like you have no control over your time and no time for the things that matter to you?

It’s also important to have a clear understanding of what you gain by doing the hard work to change those habits. The rewards of living clutter-free are huge. All that hard work will result in a sense of calm and peace. You know you’re in control of your days rather than having them dictated to you by the constant pull of the urgent. You spend time doing those things that matter most to you!

When you breaking bad habits contributing to your clutter you’re taking ownership of your life. You now know that your desire to live clutter-free lines up perfectly with what you find important!

Not only that but by taking the time to think about what you’ll accomplish in your life you know you’ll be doing the hard work to live clutter-free for you and not just because someone told you, you should. YOU are worth the effort!

2. Set Small Goals With a Deadline

Setting short term goals or deadlines helps set you up for success. The reason deadlines are effective is because they help us take large tasks, like decluttering your entire house, and break them into manageable pieces.

Don’t misunderstand me. having a big goal is good. And I think it’s important that we regularly set big goals. However, those big goals usually take months or even years to reach. If we just leave those big goals as our only target we’re far more likely to procrastinate. Of course, procrastination increases our stress and leaves us waiting until the last minute to try and do it all. And I know you know that never works.

Yet, when you break that big goal up into a short-term goal with a shorter deadline, you’re able to prioritize what’s most important at that moment. Plus, let’s face it smaller projects are way easier to finish. This means we’re more likely to get them done quickly.

As you work on these small tasks you are actually moving closer to your ultimate goal every day. Until the day you look around your house and realize you’re living clutter-free and loving your home.

3. Keep Visual Reminders

One of the hardest things about trying to break bad habits contributing to your clutter is that it’s easy to lose focus before we get there. When we lose focus we naturally fall back into the familiar. To avoid this and keep focused, have constant reminders all around you.

This is especially important if you are a visual learner. Having visual reminders of what you what to accomplish is huge and will help you stay focused.

I have a lot of quotes and positive word art around my house. I do this because it keeps me focused on what’s important to me.

To help you stay focused consider creating a vision board. Find pictures of your ideal clutter-free rooms. Print them out and place them on a foam board.

Or go back to your “why”. What it is you have to gain when you break bad habits contributing to your clutter? Find a few pictures or images representing that.

You can also follow some of your favorite social media accounts or hashtags that focus on living clutter-free.

Pinterest is a great source for this. I have a lot of Pinterest boards on living clutter-free you can check them out here.

If your goal is to live more simply and enjoy life more there are some really cute signs you can get from Amazon to put around your house to help you stay focused.

If you happen to be more of an auditory learner, subscribe to podcasts that talk about simplifying your life and living clutter-free. Here is a good one. If you have young kids this one is excellent as well.

The point is to remind yourself often of all that you have to gain when you replace those bad habits contributing to your clutter.

4. Know Your Triggers

Almost all of us have some type of trigger that causes us to revert to certain behaviors without being consciously aware of the reaction. These triggers apply to everything from emotional reactions to making unnecessary purchases that contribute to excess clutter.

I know for me there are certain stores that I’m gonna be far more likely to make unnecessary purchases at (Hello Target). The key to breaking bad habits contributing to your clutter is to avoid those stores that trigger you to buy things you don’t need.

Stay out of these stores while your working on clearing the clutter from your home. If you do have to make a Target run, or whatever store it is for you, go in with a list and make a commitment BEFORE you leave the house to stick to that list.

Walk into the store with tunnel vision and a determination to only purchase those items on your list. As you discipline yourself to buy only what is necessary you’ll see a decrease in your clutter and increase in your bank account and most importantly in your free time!

5. Set Yourself Up For Success

At this point, you have a clear understanding of why you want to break bad habits contributing to your clutter. You’ve set some clear goals to achieve this and you know how to avoid your triggers that lead to accumulating clutter.

The next step is to set yourself up for success as you work to eliminate these habits.

Here’s the thing to be aware of, when we purchase unnecessary stuff that leads to clutter it’s usually emotionally based. There’s a need we have that we try to fill by making purchases.

Now I’m not saying you should only ever buy things you absolutely need to have. It’s okay to buy things just because you want them or they bring you joy. You work hard and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with having fun things.

However, it is important not to use shopping to fill a void. It’s time to get creative and find ways, other than shopping to fill that need.

Start by making a list of things you enjoy doing when you’re tempted to use shopping as retail therapy. Some ideas to consider are taking up gardening or cooking when that urge to shop comes up.

Also, consider ways to treat yourself that don’t involve clutter. Would you enjoy getting regular manicures or regular lunch dates with a good friend? How about taking a dance or an art class?.

Really the possibilities are endless. It’s about what brings YOU joy. Be willing to think outside the box and get creative in finding things to do that will help you avoid emotional shopping. This will set you up for success in breaking those clutter habits.

6. Focus on Quality

Another way to break bad habits contributing to your clutter is to focus on purchasing quality items. Because quality items are better made, they tend to last longer which saves you money and time in the long-run.

Buying “cheaper” items can require you to constantly replace them because they don’t hold up. If you’re not diligent in getting rid of the item you previously had, this causes clutter to accumulate. The truth is that low-quality items just add clutter to our homes. Quality items, on the other hand, create less need, less waste, and less clutter.

7. Take Action Every Single Day

I think we’ve all seen those posts that promise you can declutter your entire house in a weekend. It would be great if you could, but it’s not remotely realistic. Decluttering and most importantly staying clutter-free is an ongoing effort.

This, of course, doesn’t mean that you’ll have to devote the same amount of time to declutter as you did in the beginning, however, you do have to stay on top of the incoming.

The good news is that if you spend just 5 to 15 extra minutes a day to stay on top of your clutter, you’ll break the bad habits contributing to your clutter.

For me, I’ve found that by simply adding a few extra minutes to my regular cleaning routine I’m able to stay on top of things. As part of my cleaning schedule, I focus on one main room in my house each day. I make sure to stay on top of any clutter that may be showing up in that room.

For example, Tuesday’s I focus on cleaning the bedroom. By spending an extra 5 minutes I’m able to take any extra accumulated items out of one area in that room. I also have a 15 minute tidy up built into my schedule. This is a time I set aside devoted to picking things up and putting them back where they belong so my surfaces stay clutter-free.

By using just these little moments of time each day, you’ll make significant progress toward eliminating your clutter and keeping your house clutter-free.

Breaking bad habits takes work, but I promise you, the benefits are so worth it! Learning to take control of your clutter allows you to take control of your life. Break bad habits contributing to your clutter by doing it for YOU. All it takes is setting some short term goals, using some visual reminders to help you stay focused, and setting yourself up for success. You got this, I promise!