7 Ways To Start Decluttering You May Not Know

One thing great about MarieKondo is that she’s brought a lot of awareness to the importance of and benefits of decluttering. She made the way for countless articles, books, and entire websites dedicated to helping us learn about the benefits of decluttering. They’re also filled with tons of super helpful tips and ways to start decluttering your home.

All of these books, articles, and websites each aim to motivate and inspire us to declutter. So how come so many of us still have homes filled with clutter?

The simple answer is that what works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for someone else! Take MarieKondo, she’s a great example. Literally, millions of people love her book and swear by her declutter methods.

For me, with the exception of her folding method, her methods just didn’t work. I have to tell you that my toilet brush cleaner has never brought me joy. Yet, I’m not going to get rid of it because well — I like a clean bathroom. Nor could I ever bring myself to thank the ugly vase I received as a gift and kept out of obligation.

I’m a much more practical person and maybe you are too.

7 Ways to Start Decluttering You May Not Know

If you’ve tried some of the more popular decluttering methods out there right now and they did not work for you, then you may want to try one of these! I’ve used each of them at one point or another and they’ve worked to help keep my home clutter-free. I want to share them with you in hopes that they’ll help you finally get started decluttering your home!

1. Use a Calendar

There are so many benefits to decluttering. Despite all of these benefits, we don’t treat it likes it’s important. When we have an important appointment, we write it on our calendar so we don’t forget it!

When it comes to all the ways to start decluttering your home, the number one most important thing is to make it a regular appointment that you write in your calendar!!!

To this day, every Sunday I sit down with my calendar and plan out my week. I write down all of the must-do things. Once that is done, it’s easy to see where there is time to work on other things I want to accomplish like decluttering projects. I note those things on my calendar just as I do for any other appointment I have.

The thing about having a calendar and checking it every Sunday is that you know when you have time in your week to work on important decluttering projects. No longer will you just try to get these things done whenever you have might have time?

Your calendar is a guaranteed way to start decluttering that you may not have thought of!

2. Set Up Routines

It’s hard to stay consistent with decluttering tasks in the midst of chaos and disorder. However, setting up some routines, in other areas of your life helps to keep everything organized. The end result is that it helps you get started decluttering.

We’ve already talked about one routine. That’s having a weekly planning session and writing it all down in your calendar.

Cleaning Routine

Another routine that will help you with your decluttering tasks is to set up a regular cleaning routine. My cleaning routine has me focusing on one room in my house each day of the week. For example, on Mondays, I clean the bathrooms. When I’m done cleaning I add in a decluttering task for an area in my bathroom.

You can see my full cleaning routine here. As I stay consistent with my cleaning routine, I automatically stay consistent with keeping up on the clutter!

Decluttering Paper Routine

When it comes to ways to start decluttering your home, having a routine to deal with the paper clutter is so helpful. When my kids were little and came home with tons of papers each day, I would sort through the mail and their school papers immediately upon entering the house. This was a normal routine that was on autopilot each day upon arriving home.

All junk mail and unimportant school papers or notices go straight into the recycle bin or the shredder. Important bills or other papers I don’t have time to deal with right away go into a special tray on my desk. They get taken care of on desk day, which is every Thursday.

Sorting through the paper that comes into your home immediately reduces the number of papers that will rapidly pile up if left unchecked. All of this, of course, cuts down on the clutter!

Laundry Routine

My routines also involve doing one load of laundry each day. Having a laundry routine will ensure you stay on top of the laundry piles and prevent them from becoming too big.

Evening Routine

Finally, taking 15 minutes each evening to do a quick tidy up reduces the messes and makes it easy to see what’s out of place and needs to be uncluttered. This is something you can easily make a part of your evening routine.

Look at the areas in your life where routines will help you get started decluttering and begin setting up those routines today!

3. Let Go Of Anything Not Regularly Used

Decluttering your home should never be about getting rid of things just for the sake of decluttering. Rather, it should be about letting go of the excess. That means letting go of the things you don’t regularly use. Those are the things that are simply taking up space in your life and causing unnecessary stress.

After all, if you haven’t used an item in the past 12 months it’s highly unlikely that you need it. It’s also unlikely that you’ll actually ever use that item enough to justify it cluttering up your home.

When you commit to getting rid of things in your home that you go a year or longer without ever using you’re actually making decluttering decisions easy!

You no longer have to wonder where or how to start decluttering. It’s simply about reaching into the back of your closets and cupboards and letting go of everything you haven’t used in the past year. Trust me, the sheer volume of items in your home you neither use nor need will amaze you!

In the end, you’ll be happy you let them go!

When you’re ready to start decluttering, go through your home and pull out the things you haven’t used in the past year and make the decision right now to declutter those items!

4. The Cardboard Box Test

As you work on decluttering your home you’re bound to come across certain things that you’re hesitant to let go of. Most of the time this is because you’re not sure if you need it. These are the kinds of things that tend to stall out decluttering efforts.

Well, I have a tried and true way to find out whether you should declutter these items or not.

Whenever you come across an item you’re not sure whether you should keep or declutter, place it into a cardboard box. When the box is full tape it up and write the date on it. Place the box in your garage or another storage area.

If you find yourself looking for that item go ahead and take it out of the box. That means it’s something you use and should hang onto.

However, if after three months you have not needed anything from that box, those are items you don’t need. Take the entire box – DO NOT open it – and donate it to your favorite charity.

5. Commit To The One In/One Out Rule

The one in / one out rule is very simple. For every item that you bring into your home, you must remove one item from the same category. For example, if you buy a new home decor item you commit to getting rid of one home decor item you already own. Or if you buy a new dress you must let go of one dress you already own.

This is one of the easiest and most effective ways to stay on top of decluttering and prevent the clutter from piling up. This works in two ways. First, it forces you to regularly go through the stuff that you no longer love or use. It’s a great way to start decluttering without even thinking about it.

Secondly, the one in / one out rule helps you to be mindful of the purchases you’re making. If you know ahead of time that buying that dress that caught your eye means you have to get rid of one of the dresses you already own, you’ll think twice about whether you really need or want that dress. And this will apply to everything in your home.

When you’re looking for ways to start decluttering, committing to the one in/one out rule is a great place to start!

6. Ask For Help!

The truth is that while some of us are really good at organizing and decluttering, there are some of us who struggle in this area.

If you’re one of those people whose strengths lie in areas other than organizing and decluttering, consider asking someone for help.

There are professional organizers who will come into your home and help you declutter. But these services are not exactly cheap. If bringing in a professional is outside of your budget, don’t be afraid to ask a friend who is good at organizing. Most people who are naturally good at organizing and decluttering actually like doing it and would jump at the chance to help you!

Even if you don’t have someone in your life that you feel comfortable asking to come to your home and help you declutter, you can still ask them to hold you accountable for your decluttering goals.

All you have to do is ask for them to check in with you weekly. Let them know that you’re working on decluttering and organizing your home and you want them to check in on you to make sure you are working on it!

Whatever you need to do, get some help. I promise you’ll be glad you did!

7. Document Your Progress

Your home did not become cluttered overnight and you probably won’t declutter you home overnight either. Decluttering your home is hard work. This means there will come a time that you’ll require some extra motivation to keep you going.

The best motivation comes from seeing and appreciating the changes you are making! However, if you have a lot of clutter those changes are not always readily apparent.

So the first thing you are going to do before starting your next decluttering project is to take lots of pictures. Take pictures of every room in your home. Open cabinets, drawers, and closets and take pictures.

After you have completed cleaning out one area of your home, take a moment to look at your newly organized space. Before moving on to the next space, go back and look at that before photo so you can really appreciate how much you accomplished! Now take a new after photo!

When you do this, you will be eager to get started decluttering the next space!

Documenting all the progress you are making helps you realize how good it feels to have a clutter-free home. And that is often all the motivation that you will need to keep going! But if things get tough, pull out those before and after photos.

So, when a decluttering task is complete, stop, if only for a moment, and appreciate a job well done. Then take that all-important after photo!

Decluttering your home is one of the best things you can do for yourself. Sometimes all it takes is a little creativity. Try one of these 7 ways to start decluttering and let me know how it goes!