Have you had those moments where you feel like your succeeding at decluttering and simplifying and then suddenly get stalled out? If this is you, I want you to know you’re not alone. There are certain items that plain and simply are just hard to declutter, they become decluttering obstacles.
Today I want to share with you four of the most common decluttering obstacles and how you can overcome them.
First, when it comes to doing hard things, you’ve got to have a solid understanding of why it matters in order to push through.
Here’s a simple truth, the clutter in your home matters! Why? Because there are a lot of negative effects of having clutter. And studies have shown that it affects us in a big way.
For starters, clutter takes up a ton of our time. The more stuff we have the more time it takes. And that time really adds up over the course of a year.
Not only does clutter take up our time, but it takes our finances. Aside from the costs of maintenance of clutter, how many times have you made a purchase for something you already own? Because of the clutter in your home, you didn’t realize you already owned this item or you just simply couldn’t locate it.
In addition, and most importantly clutter takes us away from our people. The bottom line is clutter stresses us out, robs us of our time and money and interferes with our relationships.
However, no matter how much we appreciate the negative effects of clutter on our life, the fact remains there are still decluttering obstacles we have to face. We all have those things that are hard to let go of. What do you do then?
Well, if you can anticipate what those roadblocks to getting rid of your clutter are, you can come up with a plan for overcoming them. So let’s look at four common decluttering obstacles and the solutions for overcoming them.
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1. Decluttering Paper
I’ve heard of people talking about having a completely paperless house. I honestly don’t know how they do it. To this day paper is my biggest struggle when it comes to clutter. And let me tell you this is after I’ve made huge strides in decluttering the paper.
I’m convinced that paper just magically multiplies all on its own. And based upon the people I hear from I am not alone here. Paper is one of those things that’s just hard to eliminate. But I have certainly learned some things to lessen the struggle!
Overcome the Paper Struggle
The number one place to start is to limit the amount of incoming paper. Even though I’ve yet to eliminate the paper influx altogether. I have reduced the amount that lands in my mailbox.
Signing up for online banking, using direct deposit, and enrolling in paperless billing were all extremely helpful.
In addition, unsubscribe from any magazines or catalog subscriptions, you can read them all online now. The same is true for any manuals you have, get rid of them. It’s so much easier to find and read them online if needed rather than searching for them in your home.
Another thing that is very helpful is a scanner. Really, it’s one of the best investments you can make to limit incoming paper is a scanner. Start scanning all of your receipts and other papers that you do not absolutely need a hard copy of. You can also scan all of your kids’ artwork and school papers.
Although I do have a separate scanner, you can download a scanning app to your phone, or even just take a picture of the document and then toss the original
There are very few papers you need to keep. For things like:
- social security cards
- marriage/birth/death certificates
- wills
- insurance policies
- titles
set up a simple filing system for those documents.
To keep a handle on the paper that does come in, sort through all papers that come in every day. If you absolutely cannot get to it that day, have a special tray that holds papers you need to go through. Make sure to toss, shred, or file those papers at least weekly.
2. Decluttering Sentimental Items
When talking about decluttering obstacles, sentimental items is one of the biggest.
Does this sound familiar, you are struck with a surge of inspiration to tackle the clutter, only to sit an hour and a half later still surrounded by clutter, and on the verge of tears. This is fairly common when trying to declutter sentimental items.
Even if you’ve been making progress on eliminating the clutter, you get to those sentimental items and it’s so easy to get stuck if you don’t have a plan ahead of time. Here are a few things to consider when you come across those sentimental items.
Skip Those Items
If you’re making any kind of progress with getting rid of the clutter, don’t get stuck because you don’t know what to do with a sentimental item. The best thing you can do to keep your momentum going is to skip it and move on.
You can always come back to those items at a later date. I know there have been times in my own decluttering journey that I wasn’t ready to get rid of something and when I can back to it at a later date, I was able to let it go.
So instead of getting stuck, set it aside and move on to some things that have no sentimental value.
Take Photos
Getting rid of sentimental items is hard because of the memories they hold for us. But here’s the thing, there’s no need to let go of the memories. You can take photos of the items and keep all of those special memories.
Another great option is to make a photo book. This works especially well for your kid’s artwork or for any type of collection. Just think about how special your kids will feel if you turn their artwork into a book. There are many options for making these photo books completely online.
Make a Quilt
Do you have some old clothing items from when your kids were little that you can’t bring yourself to let go of? Why not turn them into a special quilt or blanket. If you have basic sewing skills you could do this yourself. Alternatively, you can bring the items to someone to have it made.
Frame The Items
Rather than keeping sentimental items stored away in a drawer or a box, frame them and hang them in your home. This is a wonderful way to keep those memories alive and make the items useful.
Keep It
If you come across an item that you just can’t let go of, keep it. There is no rule that says you have to get rid of all your sentimental items. There is no clutter police if you love it keep it! Letting go of things out of guilt is just as bad as keeping them for the same reason.
It’s okay to hold on to things just because they mean something to you.
3. Decluttering Kids Toys
3. Decluttering Kids ToysDeclutter your kids’ toys creates decluttering obstacles for many parents. I totally get it. As parents, we have a natural tendency to want to give our kids the best.
Decluttering their toys sometimes feels like we’re depriving them. But that’s just not true. In fact, you need to understand what happens when kids have too many toys. It’s not good.
You are doing you and your kids a favor by limiting the number of toys they have. I know your kiddos won’t necessarily see it that way so here are some ideas to make it a little easier.
Pick The Right Time
In all of life, timing is a big component of success. When it comes to toys, decluttering can be hard if your timing is off. The tendency is to declutter shortly after an influx of new toys and clothing. However, your kids are excited about their stuff and less likely to want to give up anything.
On the other hand, if you approach decluttering their stuff right before birthdays, Christmas, or back to school shopping, they will be much more open. Let them know there’s only so much space and if they want new stuff they need to make room for it.
Plan a Yard Sale
This works great for kids that are a little older. Encourage your kids to declutter their older toys and clothing by planning yard sales letting them keep the money from the sale of their stuff.
Kids love having money of their own. Not only will they want to help with the yard sale, but you might actually have to stop them from getting rid of too much.
Give Them Choices
One of the things that make decluttering hard is that it requires a lot of decision making. Staring at a room full of belongings and deciding what to keep what to toss out or what to donate takes a lot of mental energy.
Decision making can be particularly hard for kids. Go slow and narrow down the number of decisions that need to be made.
The best way to approach this is to declutter one category at a time. For example, if your kids have a lot of stuffed animals and an overflowing bucket of hot wheels or dolls, pick just one category at a time. Start by selecting 4 or 5 items from that category and let them know they can keep one or two, letting them decide which one they want to keep.
If your kids are still having a hard time letting go, don’t force them. Your goals with decluttering their toys and other items are to teach them good habits. The last thing you want is for them to be resentful.
4. Decluttering Clothes
4. Decluttering ClothesThe final category that I’ve found often creates decluttering obstacles is clothing. Clothing is very personal. Our clothing style says something about who we are. Also, our style tends to change with various seasons of life. This can make certain clothing items sentimental.
Additionally, people notice what we wear, and our clothing can make us feel confident or frumpy. All of this makes clothing hard to declutter.
I want to make this easy for you! The clothes you own that make you feel confident and amazing, keep them! All those clothes that make you feel frumpy or unkept, get rid of them right now!
This includes anything that’s ripped or stained, toss them in the trash. If it doesn’t fit donate it, honestly you’re not going to wear it again, let it go. If you get back into that same size you’ll want something new anyway.
Understanding your mindset behind holding onto your clothes makes letting go a little easier. I promise, when you open your closet and love everything you see, you’ll know it was worth the effort!
Decluttering certain things is hard, that’s just a fact. But the benefits of letting the excess go is so worth the hard work. My hope is that these tips will help you overcome some of those decluttering obstacles we all face and make decluttering a little easier. In the end, I know you will be so happy you did hard things!
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