Dealing with Clutter
I love spaces which people create and make in, places you could make a bit of a mess in without worrying about spills or dirt. I spent a lot of time in my Grandad’s workshop as child, I love the seeming haphazardness of artist’s studios and garden sheds which have evidence of a grower that’s been potting or something involving getting dirty hands. I don’t feel so able to relax in rooms which have a show home feel. I like rooms which have evidence of the people who live in them. Lived in spaces feel cosy and welcoming to me.
However… there is a limit to how much stuff feels too much, and how much stuff you can actually fit into a small house and still see the floor! I’ve lived in the same house for over 18 years. I’ve spent over a decade of that time moving clutter from one room to another over and over again in an effort to ‘organise’. I was under the delusion that if I organised the stuff and found some ingenious storage solutions I wouldn’t have to repeatedly spend half a day shoving clutter from the spare room and other rooms into the box room and cleaning whenever a family member came to stay. A couple of years ago I quite badly injured my toe while undertaking such an activity for the hundredth time, by tripping over clutter I’d just thrown in the hallway. It was really annoying as I couldn’t run for weeks. It seems ridiculous looking back that clutter impacted on my ability to keep fit.
Thankfully soon after that I discovered the concept of slow living via a little book about daily habits by Brooke McAlary that I picked up in a bookshop in St Ives. As I started applying the ideas in the book, I also started listening to author’s podcast, the Slow Home podcast. Through this I was introduced to Joshua Becker and the benefits of uncluttering. With the toe injury still fresh in my mind, and the clutter still all around me, I signed up to Joshua Becker’s online Uncluttered course; 12 weeks of guided instruction, community, encouragement, and inspiration to help families declutter their home.
It took a year and couple of times through the course to really see and feel the difference through the whole house. (It takes time, be kind to yourself.) I still have the box room to nail, it’s my equivalent of Monica’s Secret Closet, for any of you who watched Friends. I’m working through the Uncluttered course for the 4th time for motivation.
But now I’m absolutely loving the space and joy I have created in my home and my life. I enjoy the daily and weekly habits I’ve cultivated to maintain clutter free spaces. Cleaning takes loads less time. And if someone calls and asks to stay over I don’t go into a tailspin and wonder how I’m going to find a few hours to move all the stuff out the spare room. It takes under 10 minutes to set up the spare bed, and no additional cleaning is needed as I’m on top of it through the week.
Below are some activities, tips and links for people ready to start dealing with clutter in thier homes. I’m sharing this here because I run Trade School classes on Dealing with Clutter, and wanted to create a set of useful resources for learners. First, here is the difference in photo evidence…
Step 1: Declare Your Why
One of the most powerful things I’ve learned from Brooke McAlary and Joshua Becker is to Start with Why. The following actions and prompts are from their guidance and my permaculture course.
Don’t skip this step, it’s really important.
Write out the reasons why you want to declutter your home.
Pick and mix prompts:
- What are the things that matter most to you — the things that light you up, make you smile, or matter more than anything else?
- What benefits do you need the most? (Less stress, more money, less distraction…)
- What things, other than material possessions, do you look forward to focusing your resources upon?
- How is your home functioning at this present moment? Is there a good flow or are there obstacles resurfacing throughout the day? Why do you want to change it?
- Imagine a perfect day. Describe your surroundings, your feelings, your attitude. What is in common with your current life? What about your current life doesn’t feature at all?
- What type of example do you desire to become for the people closest to you?
- If you had a simpler life, what positive things could you move towards? What could you move away from?
Reduce your list into a one sentence statement
Complete the sentence: “I desire to own less so I can…..”
Stick it up somewhere you’ll see it often. Maybe on a mirror or the fridge. Come back to it when you need to be reminded of your motivation to declutter.
Step 2: Start easy (or set a simple challenge)
Your next step should be something small and achievable. You might want to try one of the following.
- An audit of where you’re at now. Walk through the rooms in your home. No need to open any drawers or cupboards yet, just look at the rooms and make some observations about the stuff inside of them. Is there more clutter than you imagined? Or less? Which rooms get used the most? Which rooms contain the most clutter? (This is from Joshua Becker’s Uncluttered course. I’ve done this 4 times and kept colour coded audits of my rooms… it’s encouraging to see the shift.)
- Fill a bag with things you can see straight away that you don’t want in your home anymore. This might be old paperwork or magazines, dated decorations, broken items, clothes that don’t fit, obsolete electronics, or things that should have been thrown away months ago. Then take a few minutes to sort out the items in your trash bag into three piles: recycle, donate, throw away. Process those piles in the next 1–2 days. (From Uncluttered)
- Check out Courtney Carver’s Ten Tiny Tasks to Declutter Your Home
- Work with whatever amount time or energy you have right now. The diagram below from Brooke McAlary’s book Slow offers suggestions of what you could declutter in anything from a few minutes upwards. Don’t underestimate the powerful sense of achievement and momentum that an uncluttered car boot, handbag, bedside table or sock draw can bring. Whenever you tackle a new physical space, create three piles: (1) things to keep, (2) things to relocate within the home (3) things to remove.
If you think you’d be motivated by a challenge, here are some you could consider.
- Play the 30 day Minimalism Game. Find a friend or family member, or co-worker who’s willing to minimise their stuff with you over month. Each person gets rid of one thing on the first day of the month. Two things on the second. Three things on the third. So forth and so on. If you make it to Day 30 you’ll have removed over 450 pieces of clutter from your home! (From the Minimalists)
- If you are overwhelmed by your wardrobe, try Courtney Carver’s Project 333. It basically involves creating a capsule wardrobe of 33 items for a 3 month season. It was easier than I imagined, and has stopped me from having overflowing drawers and clothes in piles everywhere!
As you get started try to remember:
- You’re not looking for perfect. You’re looking for done.
- It will probably take multiple passes through each drawer, cupboard and room as you recalibrate to a level of belongings that works for you and the space you have.
- Many of the things you thought necessary or important, really aren’t, but this takes time, so feel OK about doing a good job, not a perfect job. (My experience is that the really difficult, sticky areas with things you’ve been hanging on to for years and years end up having multiple visits, and as your mindset and the space around you shifts, your feelings about these things shifts and it gets easier to decide what to keep.)
Also check out Brooke McAlary’s Ethical Decluttering illustration at the very end of this post for guidance on what to do with the stuff you no longer wish to keep in your home.
Step 3: Keep going
Just that.
It will take a while.
Be kind to yourself.
Find ways to keep up your commitment. (Revisit your Why)
Step 4. Stay clutterfree
Experiment with developing habits to help maintain the changes you’ve made in spaces in your home. Try one of the following or your own idea for a week and see what works, what you need to tweak, or what you might try instead.
- Tidy up the kitchen to clutterfree each evening before going to bed.
- Make your bed every morning.
- Tidy the bathroom before leaving for work.
- Put your clothes away each evening.
- Work with your kids to clean-up toys at night.
In terms of habits and ways to keep them up, you might also enjoy checking out Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies framework and take her online quiz to see what might work for you.
People I follow and read for decluttering guidance and ongoing inspiration and encouragement
Joshua Becker: Becoming Minimalist
Brooke McAlary: Slow Your Home (including the Slow Home Podcast and @slowhomepod on Insta)
Courtney Carver: Be More with Less (pop ‘decluttering’ in the search on her site and you’ll pull up loads of short posts that might help you.)
Let me know how you get on and where you find useful guidance or inspiration.
