Decluttering your home can be a transformative experience that not only improves the aesthetics of your living space but also has a profound impact on your mental well-being. By removing unnecessary items and organizing your belongings, you create a more serene and functional environment that promotes a sense of calm and control. The process of decluttering is hard work but it will help you reevaluate your priorities, reduce stress, and increase productivity. In this guide, we will explore various declutter tips to help you organize your home effectively and maintain a clutter-free environment for a more balanced and fulfilling life.

Different Approaches to Decluttering process:

There are many different approaches to decluttering, and the best method for you will depend on your individual needs and preferences. Here are some popular methods:

The KonMari Method

this method focuses on keeping only items that “spark joy.” First, you’ll gather all your belongings, and then sort them by category, like clothes, books, and sentimental items. Next, you’ll go through each item and ask yourself if it truly sparks joy. If it does, keep it, and if not, thank it for its service and let it go.

The Minimalist Method

this method aims to live with as few possessions as possible. Minimalists prioritize experiences over possessions and focus on acquiring only what they truly need and use. It’s like Marie Kondo on steroids, but with a laid-back, chill vibe. The idea is to keep only the things that truly make you happy and serve a purpose in your life, and to let go of the rest. This method can be applied to all areas of your life – your home, your work, your relationships (well, that’s a hard one, right?), and even your mind (and this one sound quite impossible!). I will tell you in another post how I am trying to include this one method in my life as a way to get mental clarity and focus. It’s all about finding balance and focusing on what really matters.

The FlyLady Method

this method breaks down decluttering into small, manageable tasks and provides daily routines to help you stay motivated. The FlyLady Method has some cool tricks up its sleeve, like the 15-minute rule, which means you only have to work on a task for 15 minutes at a time. It’s like a game, but instead of getting a high score, you get a clean house! There’s also something called “zone cleaning,” where you focus on a specific area of your home each week. It’s like a treasure hunt, where you get to find the lovely skirt you had forgotten about! So this method is more like a journey, we take small steps to create big lasting changes. Not to mention that you can use the 15 minutes to meditate. Healing!

The Zero Waste Method

this method minimizes the amount of waste you produce, including by decluttering your belongings and finding ways to reuse or repurpose them. It can be your cotton flannel facial pads used for facial cleaning (for removing makeup, applying toner, general cleansing) or composting all your food waste to make powerful fertilizer for your flowers or your veggies… you can get as creative as possible!

20 20 rule for decluttering

this method is an even more extremist one than the minimalist. It has a strong rule: If you can replace an item for less than $20 and in less than 20 minutes, then it’s probably not worth keeping. It’s like a little challenge to help you let go of the things that are just taking up space. I find this one harder to apply for a family with children, full of under 20$ toys. Should I throw those away, I would definitely need to buy them back the next day. Nevertheless, it is an excelent tool to help you decide for those items for which you are on the fence.

90 90 rule for decluttering

another minimalist method, don’t you love these ones? And another great tool that will help you decide when in dout: have you used it in the past 90 days? and if not, will you use it in the 90 days ahead? If the answer is no for both questions, it’s very probable that you will never use it and it just… well, clutters your home.

Declutter tips about participants to the process:

the maybe-maybes:

• your family and friends: Your parents and siblings know you, and they might have some great ideas on how to make your home more organized and clutter-free. They might offer sage advice (or guilt-trip you relentlessly). If your relation with your family is good, they may be able even to provide moral support and make the process more enjoyable. 
• a professional organizer can be a good idea: If you’re feeling overwhelmed or just need some extra help, consider hiring a professional organizer. They can provide guidance and help you develop a decluttering plan that works for you.
• a therapist or counselor: Sometimes, decluttering can bring up emotions and memories that are difficult to deal with. When you are dealing with holding on to emotional items that bring you sorrow, a therapist or counselor can support as you navigate this emotional process.

the polite declines:

• Well-meaning neighbors: Unless they’re professional organizers, their unsolicited advice might create more confusion than clarity.
• The distant relative who loves “vintage” everything: This is your decluttering journey, not a donation center for questionable knick-knacks.
• That friend who collects everything: While tempting, offering them your “treasures” might just move the problem elsewhere.

Remember, this is just a guide, and the best decluttering crew is the one that works for you. Ultimately, it’s about creating a space that feels good and functions how you need it to, so choose your teammates wisely and have fun with it!

Some declutter tips to get you started:

So, are you ready to reclaim your space and bring some zen back into your life? Whether you’re drowning in a sea of stuff or just looking to tidy up a bit, these simple yet effective declutter tips will help you kick start the decluttering and create a more peaceful environment, one small step at a time. So roll up your sleeves, and let’s dive into the wonderful world of decluttering!

Here are super easy declutter tips that’ll help you reclaim your space and zen out your living room. No extreme challenges, just quick wins to get you started on your journey to a calmer, tidier you.

Be armed and prepared: declutter tips before you start

• take a look around the entire house: does your roborock have space to clean all your flat surface without assistance (yes, I am talking about your robot cleaner, which I hope you own – I discuss more about it in another post)? If every time you use it you need to move things around, then they need to go… up or out! These are the first items you need to focus on.
• set clear goals: what do you hope to achieve by decluttering? Imagine your house where everything has a designated spot that everybody knows. Yes, they will not always be kept, but it’s so much easier to send your kid to “get this thing lying around to its place”! This image will help you maker the first small step and further down the road, to stay motivated and focused.
• chose your method, based on your temperament and/or context: you might start really small or full blown, each personality type has its own preferred method. If you are a temperamental person, or you don’t have enough time for a full blown, KonMari approach, don’t try to declutter your entire home at once. Start with a small area, such as a drawer or shelf and work your way up to bigger areas.
• develop a system for discarding items: decide what to do with unwanted items, such as donating, selling, or recycling. Dedicate 3 separate piles, or boxes, one for each category of items and empty them every time you have an occasion: do you have a charity shop on your way to work? Take the content of your “donations box” with you.

Declutter tips for the doing part: ready, steady, go!

I discuss in greater detail the actual process of decluttering in this post but here are some tips to take into account during this process:

Embrace Letting Go:

• Be Ruthless: Don’t hold onto items that no longer serve you. Ask yourself these honest questions:
  • Has it been used in the past year?
  • Does it spark joy?
  • Would I buy it again today?
  • Can I replace it easily (and affordably)?
• For Tough Decisions: Utilize the 20/20 or 90/90 rule (explained previously) to help you decide on trickier items.

Work Smart, Not Hard

• Set a Timer: Stay focused and motivated by setting a timer for 15-minute bursts. You’ll be amazed at what you can achieve in a short time.
• Maximize Storage: Utilize vertical space with shelves and hanging organizers. Invest in storage containers and storage bins and utilize hidden areas to keep clutter out of sight.
• Progress Over Perfection: Celebrate every decluttering win, no matter how small. Even clearing off your kitchen counter is a step in the right direction.

Unsure Items? Try These:

• The “Out of Sight, Out of Mind” Trick: Pack away undecided items for 3 months. If you don’t miss them, donate them!
• Remember the “keeping costs”: were you ever in that situation when you kept something in case you needed it, spent time organizing it and then forgeting you had it, or even worse, remembering you had it but being unable to remember which dark corner you put it in? And end up buying it again and then finding the old one, too? So much mental exhaustion and loss of empty space for nothing. One tool you could use is the 20-20 rule explained before. Which you can play with according to your needs and mental comfort. Maybe you would be happier if it was 10-10 rule, or 20-10, or whatever you can mix and match!

Streamline Your Collections

• Gather Similar Items: do you have 20 bowls but you could go with 6? Gather them all in front of you and split them in 3 categories: favorite, best, necessary. If you have 6 favorites, then those are the ones to keep! Anything else might bring some joy to somebody else.

Make the Tough Call

• “Would I Buy It Again?”: When unsure about an item, ask yourself if you’d buy it new today. If the answer is no, consider letting it go.
• The “Moving” Mind Trick: this would put you in an economical mind set. Ask yourself: would I take time (and money) to pack it, transport it to a new home and then unpack it? If the answer is “no”, then you know what to do!

Paper Piles? Conquer Them

• 3-Box System: 
• It will give you clarity and speed up the process. And don’t forget that nowadays you could store almost everything in a digital form. Keep your original contracts and ID papers though!

The 10% Rule (Optional)

• For Applicable Categories: Try the 10% rule. Gather your t-shirts, for example, and keep only the 10% that you truly love and make you feel good when you wear them.

Memory Test

• When Unsure: Ask yourself if you recall why you own the item. Does it hold sentimental value or a practical purpose? If not, it might be time to let it go.

Honesty is Key

• Be Honest with Yourself: If you don’t like something now, chances are you won’t like it in the future. Let it go, even if it has sentimental or monetary value. That valuable things you own but don’t like are not worth keeping only because they are valuable. Do you have a valuable ring from your ex? You might be better off if you sold it and bought something that brings you joy.

Trial Run for Tough Decisions

• Pretend to Decide: Tell yourself you’re not making a final decision, just “practicing.” For instance, you don’t know what to do with an expensive dress. Pretend you donate it, put it in the respective box. How do you feel? If you feel liberated, there’s your decision.

Get all family members involved

• Family Affair: Make decluttering a family effort! They will all enjoy in the end having a proper place for everyday items! In a family with children, decluttering should be a team effort!
• Fun for Kids (and Maybe Adults!): Turn decluttering into a game with timed challenges, prizes, and rewards for everyone. Fun fuels motivation!

By following these tips and adapting them to your needs, you’ll be well on your way to a calmer, clearer space and a more peaceful and organized life.

Declutter tips for after you finish

Now that your home is reasonably declutterred, how can you keep it that way in the future?

top tip: daily routine

Schedule time for a small decluttering session into your daily routine: start your day with 15 minutes of looking around and deciding what needs to be done. You don’t need to do a deep cleaning but merely to target keeping that good look of a decluttered home. Don’t forget about the kitchen counters and the dining room table. And the kitchen sink – nothing gets to me more than a full, dirty, greasy sink. Or if you are like me and you can’t sleep without cleaning, make it at the end of the day. So, the next morning you can have a fresh start in a clean living space. But you should have specific times so that in time it will turn into a habit.

tip 2: make it a habit

The best way to keep the whole house clutter-free is to make it an ongoing process. Set aside some time each week or month to declutter a specific area or category of items. This time will be coordinated with the cleaning strategy you have for your home and will definitely make your life so much easier.

tip 3: practice the “one in – one out” rule

For every new item you bring into your home, donate or discard one that you no longer need or use. Moreover, think about what you would discard before buying the new item. When you take a moment to think about it, you might actually end up not buying it and thus save some money in the process.

tip 4: keep three boxes

Make three boxes labeled “donate”, “sell” and “toss” by the door. Every time you clean your house, sort your items that you don’t need anymore and deposit them in their respective boxes. Then, every time you leave the house, take the “toss” box content with you to the bin. Do you have on your way a goodwill donation store? Then take the “donate” box content with you and quickly drop it there. Plan periodically a selling session for the others. You could do it as often as once per month or, if the box gets full sooner,

tip 5: your home is not a storage space

Don’t bring inside and keep lying around anything you will not use in the following month! What about my ski equipment? It would be ideal if you had a storage unit for that. It can be outside the house, or in the garage, or a closet in one of the rooms. Make it so that your house doesn’t look like an amazon deposit when you come home.

tip 6: touch-it once rule

Use the touch-it once principle: filter all your papers and mails by this principle and you will have a free-of-papers-lying-around-everywhere house.

tip 7: no-overflow rule

Designate a specific volume for each category, for example one box for the spoons. If it begins to overflow, don’t buy another box, sort out the spoons!

tip 8: memory lane

When you are feeling unsure, go down the memory lane: Can you easily recall why you own the item? Does it hold sentimental value or practical purpose? If not, it might be time to let it go (with grace, of course).

tip 9: Junk drawer

Sometimes, in a family with children, keeping the clutter out of the way is close to impossible. The easiest way I could find for our family is to set up a junk drawer or junk box for each member of the house. Here you can put any miscellaneous items that don’t have a designated space in the house. The rule is that when the box is overflowing, it needs to be decluttered. This method works wonders for the paper clutter. With little time from time to time, we got a clutter-free home (or freer than before, anyway).

What NOT to throw away when decluttering your house

Before you unleash your inner Marie Kondo and banish everything that doesn’t “spark joy,” let’s pump the brakes on a few things. Throwing away everything can feel liberating, but let’s not toss out potential treasures or create future regrets. Here’s the lowdown on what to hold onto, even when the declutter itch is strong:

1. the “at least one of each” item – when you decide that none of your dresses or spoons or towels “sparks joy” for you, be careful to keep at least one of them. At minimum for the time being. Get them all out and make sure you keep at least one. Don’t make my mistake and end up like me, with no casual pants, and not having realized that was the case! I can definitely tell you that wanting to get dressed and realizing I threw out all my casual pants, did not spark joy! 
2. the sentimental stuff: Sure, that porcelain cat collection from Aunt Mildred might not be your style, but it holds memories. Snap a picture for nostalgia, then store it neatly or consider gifting it to another family member who might cherish it. You can create your live journal and keep them with you without holding on to the clutter they usually generate! See bellow my notes on what is living journaling!
3. the “just in case” items: A spare phone charger? Emergency sewing kit? Don’t toss them just because you haven’t needed them lately. Think “prepared, not paranoid” and keep these practical lifesavers around.
4. the multi-taskers: That one pan you use for everything? The scarf that works as a beach towel and a blanket? Keep these versatile heroes! Multi-use items save space and money, making them decluttering champions.
5. the future-proofed stuff: Wedding dress? Baby clothes? Hold onto them if you might use them again (or pass them down!). Just store them wisely – vacuum-sealed bags are your friends here.
6. the “fixer-upper” projects: Feeling crafty? Don’t ditch that chipped vase or wobbly chair just yet. With a little TLC, they could become amazing up-cycled treasures. Just be honest about your time commitment before diving in.

What is live journaling and how can it help me declutter my memory box?

Live journaling (or living journaling) gained popularity recently and functions like a mix of a blog and a diary. Basically, it functions like this:

1. decide which are the categories (chronological or other) – see below step 1
2. make a pile for each category
3. decide what to keep and what to donate. Take a photo of what you donate
4. choose your notebook
5. paste the memorabilia in the notebook and decorate the notebook.
6. place it in an accessible place
7. Tip for technologically inclined people: LiveJournal social media platform

Step 1: decide which are the categories (chronological or other)

Decide how you want to organize your memories: by chronology? by type (for examples, you want a book with your travels, a book with your most important family events: birthdays, baby showers, wedding etc..)?

Step 2: make a pile for each category

Once you decided make a pile for each category. I chose to make it by categories, like this: mother’s day cards, children painting I would like to keep, train tickets, plain tickets, museum tickets from all family travels, photos of art objects made by my children, photos of memorabilia bought from the travels.

Step 3: decide what to keep and what to donate

Decide what to keep and what to donate. I made a promise to myself that I would either use or take a photo of and then donate all the memorabilia I bought from our travels: like that cute african box, or those amazingly painted wooden chopsticks from China. So, you should decide for yourself, what are the things that you will photograph and then donate and what are the things you will start immediately using.

Step 4: choose your notebook

Choose a note book for your “living journal”. Based on how many memories you tend to collect or how big they are you may choose the size of your notebook in consequence.

Step 5: paste the memorabilia and decorate the notebook.

Arrange your memorabilia chronologically or by any other category you would like. Then paste them on the pages of the notebook. You can then decorate it with beautiful drawings, or make notes by their side.

Step 6: place it in an accessible place

Place them not in a very visible place, but still at hand, as a secret treat to go to on a rainy day or when you need to recharge your batteries.

Step 7: Tip for technologically inclined people: LiveJournal social media platform

Tip for technologically inclined people: There is a social media platform where you can live journaling. It’s called LiveJournal and you can create posts with text, images, and even videos, choosing to make them public or share them only with specific friends. It allows for a more personal space than traditional social media while still offering some level of community interaction. The only downside would be that you will only keep photos of everything you would like to remember. The upside is… you can take it everywhere with you. Your choice 😉

Some people use the concept of live journaling or living journaling with the meaning of more or less of a “crap journaling” or “junk journaling”. This term was popularized on tiktok platform by some people who are in the habit of keeping every little chocolate foil and paste it in a note book. Even if sounds like fun, I can only guess how time consuming and expensive can get and moreover, it beats the purpose of decluttering!

Conclusion

Remember, decluttering is about creating clear surfaces that work for you. Don’t get caught up in rigid rules! Your ultimate purpose is to have a clean home that gives you enough space building good memories. Hold onto the things that bring you joy, serve a purpose, or hold valuable memories. Happy decluttering, and may your space be free of unnecessary clutter, but full of things that truly matter!