How To Motivate Yourself To Declutter And Clean

Most of us want a home that is clean and decluttered. However, the problem is we don’t always have the motivation to do the work. This in turn leaves us wondering how do you motivate yourself to declutter and clean? 

I’m one of those weird people that actually like to declutter and clean — at times. Usually, it’s when things are stressful, I find that while I’m organizing my home, my brain naturally starts organizing all those thoughts. Things just start to feel a little lighter.

However, last month I had a serious lack of motivation. I was looking around at the mess promising myself I’ll do it tomorrow. To be honest the clutter was piling up and the idea of tackling the mess was not nearly as appealing as the latest episode of The Voice.

But I knew the longer I put it off the bigger the piles would grow. I thought “you need to motivate yourself to declutter and clean this place”.

It took a little bit of work but over the next couple of days, I returned my home to a more normal state.

How To Motive Yourself To Declutter And Clean Your Home

I know I’m not the only one who has suffered from a lack of motivation. But the truth is the longer we let the clutter and mess go unchecked the bigger the job becomes.

Here are the 11 things I did, that may help you motivate yourself to declutter and clean your messy house.

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1. Focus on the benefits of decluttering your home 

The actual definition of motivation is “the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way”. So you see, motivation itself must have a reason behind it.

In other words, to successfully motivate yourself to declutter and clean have a clear reason as to why it’s important to you. What does having a clutter-free and tidy home mean to you? How will it benefit your life or your family?

Before you begin decluttering, ask yourself what you want to achieve by decluttering your home. After all, it’s much easier to reach a goal when you know exactly what you want to achieve.

Maybe you want to spend less time cleaning up “stuff” in your house. Or maybe you want a home you’re proud to invite friends to, instead of worrying about how messy your home is when a friend stops by. Whatever it is, get clear about the reason, or reasons, you want to declutter your home in the first place.

There has been a significant amount of research done on how someone’s emotional state is dramatically affected by the clutter in their home. These studies have found that simply clearing away the clutter and cleaning up reduces stress and increases contentment and peace of mind.

But this is just one reason to motivate yourself to declutter and clean your home. The benefits of decluttering your home really are endless.

Whatever it may be, write down  YOUR reason for keeping a clutter-free and clean home. Remind yourself of this truth when you’re tempted to plop on the couch with Netflix and a bowl of ice cream rather than tackle those looming piles.

2. Create a Vision For Your Home 

Here’s a random fact for you. The majority of car accidents happen within a few miles of your home. The main reason is due to the repetition of driving through our own neighborhoods stops us from noticing sudden unexpected hazards.

The clutter in our home can be the same way. After days of moving piles around or stepping over mount laundry, we stop noticing it.

But when you set a specific vision or plan for how you want your home to both look and feel, you’ll begin to notice those things that are out of place for that vision.

Pinterest is a terrific resource when you’re looking for inspiration. An excellent way to motivate yourself to declutter and clean is to make a board on Pinterest of rooms that you love.

Do you have a favorite decorating style? Do you love the boho look, the industrial or farmhouse vibe, or do clean and airy spaces inspire you? Whatever your favorite style is, do a quick search and you’ll get lots of inspiration.

Pinning images of beautiful spaces is a great motivator.  It lets you know what’s possible. By keeping regular visuals of clutter-free and tidy homes you’ll want to get your house in order, that just maybe all the motivation you need.

3.  Set Realistic Expectations For Your Home When Decluttering

As you get solid on the reasons why having a clean and ordered home is important and have a vision for your home, make sure you are setting realistic expectations.

It will be impossible to motivate yourself to declutter and clean your home if you set an impossible standard.

Keeping your expectations realistic is important.  Your home did not become cluttered and messy overnight and you’re not going to unclutter it overnight.

And remember as much as those Pinterest beautiful homes can inspire us, keep in mind that those photos are staged. Your home is lived in and shared with other people, it’s going to get messy and that’s okay. Your goal is to eliminate the excess and overwhelm, not create a show palace.

Keep your expectations realistic and the actions you take to declutter your home will add up big time.

4. Focus On Decluttering One Area at a Time

When it comes to decluttering and cleaning your home, the number one thing that causes that feeling of overwhelm and loss of motivation is viewing your home as one giant project.

However, the best way to take on a big project, like decluttering your entire home, is to break it down into manageable steps. By doing so you’ll be able to focus on that one do-able step.

Start breaking down your decluttering and cleaning tasks by answering these two questions:

• what are the areas I want to declutter and clean?
• what area of my home causes me the most stress right now?

Next, pick that one area that you just identified. Now break that area down into zones. For example, I need to work on my bedroom. So the first thing I’m going to do is focus on the flat surfaces. This way I can see immediate visual progress.  I’ll start with the top of my dresser and move around the room like that.  Next maybe the closet, or under the bed.

The point is to create specific small areas to focus on one at a time.  As you make progress in these smaller areas you’ll motivate yourself to declutter the next project.  Before you know it, the entire room will be clutter-free.

5. Schedule Specific Times for Decluttering

There are those times I find decluttering and cleaning therapeutic.  However, not when I’m lacking motivation. And when I’m lacking motivation, if there’s no specific time to do the job, I will keep putting it off.

To avoid this, set specific days and times to declutter and clean your home.  Write it in your planner the same way you would any other appointment.

Some days you may be able to schedule a 30 minute or full hour appointment. Other days it may be as little as 5 -10 minutes. The key is to treat it like a real appointment.

By working through one task for a set time you’ll have a good idea of what you can accomplish. If you have a 5-10 minute appointment scheduled, you can declutter a small drawer or area or wash some dishes.  When you have a longer appointment scheduled you’ll know you have time for a bigger project.

Also, try to tackle as much as possible within the time frame you’ve set. When you know you have a set time to work, you tend to move faster and actually get more done.  And success is one of the best ways to motivate yourself to declutter!

6. Set up Simple Routines To Maintain Your Home

Let’s be real, it’s nearly impossible to motivate yourself to declutter when your house is a mess. This is why I’m a big advocate for regular routines to simplify your life. They put things on auto piolet and make it easy to catch up if you miss a day.  A simple routine is one of the best things you can do to eliminate that feeling like all you ever do is clean.

I’ve used a regular cleaning routine for many years now. Honestly, it’s been a lifesaver. If you need some inspiration, here is the schedule I still use today.  The only thing different is you’ll want to add a tiny bit of decluttering to your routine.

I do recommend decluttering in the morning. Mornings are a good time because this is the time our physical energy is at its highest.

Once you build decluttering into your regular schedule you’ll find it only requires 10 to 15 minutes of your time.

Another thing that’s been super helpful is having my routine include a 15 minute tidy-up each evening. This helps keep clutter at bay by keeping things picked up.

7. Involve Your Family in Decluttering

Unless you live alone, there is no reason you should be the only one decluttering and cleaning. Planning to work with others is a perfect way to motivate yourself to declutter and clean because you’re far more likely to follow through.

Plus the old saying “many hands make light work” is very true. With everyone pitching in together you can bust through the messes pretty darn quick. It’s even a great opportunity for quality time together.

I know this can be hard if your family could care less about the messes.  You may have a bit of persuading to do.  If this is the case, here are some practical tips on how to get your family on board with decluttering.

When it comes to persuading your kiddos, realize that you’re teaching them positive habits that will only benefit them.

8. Motivate Yourself to Declutter By Hosting a Get-Together

Honest truth, I don’t think there’s anything that motivates me to get my stuff together quicker than knowing I have guests coming over. Come on, you know you’ve done it too!

Everything gets put away quickly, you dust, vacuum and scrub until it all sparkles. After all this hard work you’re going to be much more motivated to keep things up. An added benefit is that the overwhelm that was interfering with your motivation will be gone.

While, yes, when you have guests over there will be cleaning to do after they leave, there are things you can do ahead of time to make clean up go quickly.  Here are my best tips for making your post-celebration clean up easier.

The point is if you want to motivate yourself to declutter and clean, showing a little hospitality is a fantastic way to do just that!

9. Track Your Progress as You Declutter

I’ll say it again, success is a great motivator. But, if you have a good amount of clutter, it may take a while before you see the difference your hard work is making.

On the other hand, taking before and after pictures as you declutter allows you to track your progress and see what you are really accomplishing. Before and after pictures will show you the difference your decluttering efforts are making and keep you motivated to continue.

10. Treat Yourself 

While I firmly believe that the benefits of getting rid of the clutter and simplifying your home are an immense reward itself, having a special treat planned for accomplishing your goals may be just what is needed to motivate yourself to declutter.

This is something most experts recommend when setting a big goal. Think of something that will make you feel great.  Ideally, you don’t want to reward yourself with anything that’s going to undo all your hard work. But truthfully it’s okay to buy something you may have been wanting for your home.

You can do something as simple as a nice scented candle or go all out on a weekend getaway. It should be something you’ll look forward to and will motivate you to finally declutter your home.

11. JUST DO IT!

Good old Nike has the right idea. Sometimes you just got to start and do it!

When you have a lot of clutter and messes in your home it’s overwhelming. But the truth is the hardest part is getting started. If you’re still struggling to motivate yourself to declutter, give yourself a kick in the pants, and just do it!

It doesn’t matter how big or small a space you tackle, just doing something will ramp up your motivation.

What things have you done to motivate yourself to declutter and clean? Let us know in the comments!