Decluttering Inspiration – 8 Ways to Find Yours

Decluttering is not simply about having a clean and organized home (although that is nice). It’s also about living your life in a meaningful way, being intentional, and creating time and space for the things that are important to you. 

Sometimes all it takes is a little decluttering inspiration to get you motivated to do the work. So often we focus on what we lose or give up when decluttering. However, this mindset ignores the truth that you lose far more by holding on to your clutter than by getting rid of it. 

So let’s switch things up to help you find the inspiration to finally tackle that clutter once and for all. When you do you’ll be on your way to creating both a home and a life you love.

How to Find Your Inspiration to Declutter

Decluttering your home is one of those things we know we need to do and often we really want to declutter. At the same time, we find the motivation to declutter lacking. But I want to help you find some decluttering inspiration that will motivate you to declutter and create a home you love!

Use these tips to inspire you to tackle that clutter and create the home you’ve dreamed of.

1. Set Decluttering Goals

Setting goals naturally inspires us to take action. After all, it’s hard to be inspired to do something, if you’re not clear on what it is you want.

Motivating yourself to declutter and finding that inspiration starts with knowing what it is you want to accomplish by decluttering your home.

What is it you want out of your home that you’re not currently getting? Do you want to have more family time together, but things feel too chaotic and busy to make that happen? Maybe you are very hospitable by nature and want to have guests over more often, without being embarrassed by the mess. Perhaps you’re just tired of spending so much time cleaning and maintaining everything just to have it messy again.

For me, a big goal was creating a peaceful environment. I want a place where we could come home and feel at peace and relaxed. Life was pretty busy and having a home that refreshed us was really important to me.

Whatever the reason is that you want to declutter your home, get clear on that and make it your goal.

As with any other goal, write it down and make a list of actionable steps you can take to achieve that goal. Then write in your planner the dates you will work on decluttering.

This will provide you with the inspiration you need and your action steps will motivate you to keep decluttering to get you closer to your goal.

2. Give Yourself Some Quick Wins

Far too often we wait for the motivation or inspiration to strike before we take action. However, this is a backward mindset. The truth is that taking action is what motivates and inspires us to move forward. In other words, success breeds success.

This is why going after quick little wins helps you conquer the harder stuff. It builds the inspiration you need to keep going!

Starting your decluttering efforts in a place that will give you a quick win, gives you a feeling of accomplishment. This feeling will dramatically inspire you to want to do more. Really it’s a domino effect, as you knock out one area it motivates you to knock out more and more.

So start your decluttering efforts with something easy. Try decluttering the medicine cabinet, under the sink, or your kitchen pantry. Just pick a place that has stuff you can easily toss. You can pick a corner in your home or even a bedside table.

If you’re still not sure how to get those quick wins, here’s a list of 45 things you can toss out now. They don’t require any hard decisions and will give you that quick win!

3. Declutter in Small Increments

When you’re lacking the inspiration to declutter, trying to tackle big intimidating spaces like the garage or basement is not the best idea. Instead, start small. Pick a space you can tackle quickly.

By committing to just 10 to 15 minutes a day you really can accomplish a lot. And decluttering inspiration increases as you see the results of your decluttering efforts.

By picking areas of your home that you can declutter in small increments you see daily results and will be inspired to continue decluttering your entire home.

While it’s not important where you start, if you are feeling overwhelmed starting can be the hardest part. If that’s you, use this list of 40 areas of your home you can declutter in 15 minutes or less to help you get going.

The point is to pick small areas of your home that you can declutter quickly and easily. By doing this you’ll see immediate results. This will keep you motivated to continue and give you all the decluttering inspiration you need!

4. Make Decluttering Fun

Yes, you can add an element of fun to your decluttering efforts. It’s a great way to gain decluttering inspiration because you go from a daunting task to something fun!

I had the honor of guest posting on The Simplicity Habit where I talked about some ways to turn decluttering into a fun game when it feels overwhelming.

In addition to the ideas in that post, it’s about getting creative and finding ways to bring a little fun into those must-do tasks. Whether it’s cranking up the tunes and dancing away as you make your decluttering piles, creating a challenge for yourself, or competing with a family member or friend on who finds the most clutter, your decluttering inspiration will skyrocket!

So if you find yourself lacking the motivation to declutter your home, turn it into a game and have fun!

5. Reward Yourself

When I wrote about ways to get your family involved in decluttering, I talked about the importance of giving them a reward for their hard work.

This works to motivate not just your family, but also yourself! Pick something that you’ll consider a treat for yourself. Perhaps it’s setting aside time for lunch with a friend, getting your nails done, or even buying a new item you’ve wanted for your home. Just make sure you are intentional with any purchase and not adding clutter back into your home.

While I firmly believe that removing the clutter from your home is the best reward you can give yourself, there is nothing wrong with giving yourself a little more motivation by treating yourself to something special after meeting a certain decluttering goal.

After all, it’s a great way to increase your decluttering inspiration so that you want to complete your decluttering goals!

6. Join a Decluttering Challenge

One of the nice things about decluttering challenges is that they give you specific tasks to do so you don’t get overwhelmed with where to start decluttering. They are a great way to muster up that initial motivation and inspiration.

A good decluttering challenge makes it easy to schedule your decluttering tasks, all you have to do is add them to your calendar and commit to completing the challenge as best you can.

7. For Decluttering Inspiration, Declutter with a Friend

Challenging tasks, like decluttering your home, are infinitely better when you can do them with a friend.

There is something about having someone going through the exact same struggles and triumphs as you that inspires and motivates us to keep going.

Decluttering with a friend gives you a cheerleader in your corner. They will hold you accountable when you’re just being lazy. They will also let you celebrate your victories with someone that truly gets it!

Reach out to a few friends and see if anyone is or wants to work on decluttering their home. You can team up to help inspire each other in your decluttering journey. You can do this in person or online.

8. Create a Vision Board for Your Home

Our home is the most essential place we go to, yet we don’t take the time to really think about what we want from our home.

Far too often our homes are filled with clutter and stuff that does not serve us. Our homes should reflect who we are or what we want from our homes. We spend countless hours cleaning caring for and maintaining all this stuff for no good reason.

This makes decluttering inspiration hard to come by. However, creating a vision for your home will inspire you to declutter! It will allow you to have clarity about what you want from your home. You will know what purpose you want your home to serve, how you use the rooms in your home, and how you want your home to feel. This will motivate you to pursue that vision!

Having this insight will change your mindset toward your home and inspire you to declutter.

Consider surrounding yourself with things, images, and messages that will help you move closer to creating the home you long for. Pinterest is a great source. I also encourage you to follow It’s My Favorite Day on Facebook where I share many inspiring quotes and articles filled with decluttering inspiration.

If you find yourself lacking the motivation to declutter, these resources will inspire you to get back to it knowing that you have a clear vision for your home!

Decluttering Inspiration Will Help You Create a Home You Love

Often the hardest part of achieving a clutter-free home is taking the first step. But taking that first step is the key to jumpstarting your motivation. Use these 8 tips to build decluttering inspiration so that you can create a home you love.

Having a home you love will impact your entire life in the best possible way!