My Top De-cluttering Tips and Tricks

Do you just have too much stuff? “I don’t love my home, it’s drab, overwhelming, basic, boring” The list goes on, but maybe, just maybe do you just have too much stuff?

How can we come to love our homes if there’s too much to take care of, think about, clean, pick up and put away? If your home is truly a never ending to do list that you never rest from then I suggest taking a look at how much you are managing. Statistics show that the average American household doesn’t use 80% of their possessions. 80%! I’m even willing to bet that it’s more than that we are not using in many households. 

So how do we fix it? What do we do? The answer is clear: declutter! Here a several different ways to approach letting go:

Hush Your House

Author and designer Myquillyn Smith discusses “quieting” your home in her book “House Rules”. Hushing your house is done by taking EVERYTHING out of one room and storing it somewhere else for at least 24 hours. It is going to feel strange and naked at first but give it time, soon you’ll find you can breathe a bit better and enjoy not having to look at and think about all these things. When it comes time to bring things back into the room you will be more selective about what comes back. I recommend only bringing back what you need as you need it. Put the rest aside to be donated and take them to the donation center that week! 

Use a Time Will Tell Bin 

Dawn the Minimal Mom from YouTube coined this term and concept a few years ago. Let’s take clothes as an example here. Go through your entire wardrobe and put your favorite items that you actually wear on your bed. The rest? Put it in a trash bag or donate-able box, write the date on it and come back to it in a month or two. Over the next two months you might find yourself recalling some pieces and wanting them back, go ahead and retrieve them from your time will tell bin. Or you might find yourself not wanting anything and completely forgetting about the bin. Either way at the end of the two months, take that time will tell bin and donate it. Do not go through it again! If you truly wanted it you would have been able to recall the specific item and gone back to get it during the two months. This is my favorite method for ruthlessly decluttering because it feels safe. If I really want an item back I can get it, but only if I really want it. Often, I find myself thinking of something and not getting it out because it’s too much work to go and get it out of the closet and put it back. Then I know I truly don’t want it and I’ve been letting it take up space in my home and my head! Dropping it off at the donation center feels all the sweeter because life has been freer and simpler and easier with it in the time will tell bin and now I don’t have to manage or worry about it at all. 

Clear your floors 

My next tip is to focus on clearing your floors. Get it up off the floor or out of the house altogether. You’ll really come to know what I mean by this when you vacuum or sweep your house. Think of everything you have to move or worse could move but don’t. That blanket or shoe basket, the toy bins, the extra side tables, cabinets or tables that act as catch alls for all the things that come in and out of the house. My favorite thing to combat some of these “catch alls” are hooks. Hooks on the wall are cheap, small and effective. It is very easy to put the bag or hat or jacket on a hook. You are already taking it off and putting it down, a hook has a very small deviation from that movement. What’s better, there’s nothing on the floor and there’s not extra room for more things to land there. Plus, you’ll find you’re more protective of that space and wanting to keep it simpler and cleaner because it’s on the wall. 

Clear your surfaces

The same concept from the floor applies here with a few exceptions. The exceptions are up to you. How much time do you have and want to spend moving items when you clean? That is my question I ask when I look at my surfaces. For example, in my kitchen I have 3 things on my countertop: the knife block, the dish rack (I don’t have a dishwasher), and the hand soap tray. Wiping down my counters at the end of each day is very easy. In other areas of my home I have more on some surfaces and practically nothing on the rest. One of my favorite areas in my home is a side table with my vintage glass bubble lamp and 20 books decorating the table. For me, moving the books to clean is worth my time and energy because I thoroughly enjoy seeing them each day and grabbing one to read with my children or on my own. If you have surfaces in your home that you do not enjoy and have to move things to clean I highly, highly, urge you to be ruthless and clear it off until you love it. Until it is beautiful and functions for you and your stage of life. 

A beautiful home is a home that works for you. You don’t work for your house. Don’t let your things be the boss of you, if you’re not liking your home take back control and let things go.