How To Start Decluttering Your Home Without Getting Overwhelmed
Our environment is a huge factor on our inner mental and emotional state. If you have physical chaos and clutter around you, your mind will feel take on that chaos as well.
Clutter constantly drains positive energy from us. It can cause or worsen anxiety and depression. It can stifle our ability to realize our potential and thrive.
We know this.
Yet…
in the current world of fast and easy consumerism, accumulating clutter is all too easy. Years worth of stuff piles up quickly, and - especially when you have family members contributing to clutter - it can feel like stuff is just bleeding from the walls!
It can be REALLY overwhelming and stressful to begin the decluttering process when you’re faced with this. It’s tough!
So, as always when faced with a problem, I found the simple way to to do it.
The 2 secrets to begin decluttering when you’re overwhelmed are:
Change your mindset to focus on what you want to keep, not get rid of.
Declutter in tiny 15-minute dashes.
First, change your mindset about decluttering.
Think of it as a liberating activity, not a dreaded task. You know how you dread exercising but then once you do it you feel great? Yep, it's the same with making space for the things you find essential and want to keep.
When you focus on the precious things you love and use all the time - the things you definitely want to keep - then the task of deciding what to let go of suddenly become a lot simpler. You don’t have so much guilt or “what if” dread about passing it on to someone else because it didn’t make your list of the essentials in your life. Learn more about this mindset shift.
Second, try the declutter dash method.
Thousands of students in my free 5-Day Declutter Dash challenge realize that doing small bits of decluttering in 15-minute increments is a fantastic way to see progress but not overwhelm them or take up too much time and energy. The tiny steps add up to results much more quickly than they thought, and energizes them instead of drains them!
A 15-minute dash method is about tackling essential key areas of the house where you’ll get a lot of payback.
Essentially, you pick one drawer or countertop or category of item (ex. purses) and do what you can for just 10 minutes. The more dashes you do each day, the more energy you get because you’re experiencing the benefits without being drained from working for hours on end.
I recommend starting with the kitchen because it's a space that, when simplified, can have a huge positive impact on your life. It's also where there are probably the least amount of sentimental items that can be tough to let go of.
Look, I get that decluttering can be daunting. But break it down and simplify it. You don’t have to do it all in a week. You don’t have to perfect the KonMari method or do a capsule wardrobe. Take it tiny step by tiny step and actually cross the finish line without giving up halfway through!
One more tip…
There's little reward in decluttering your home if you just end up cluttering it back up again!
Along the way, you need to set up systems that will help you create good habits and not let 'stuff' creep back in. It also helps you feel less overwhelmed when starting to tackle your clutter if you know that you'll be able to maintain your tidy home and not end up going through the same process next year (or month).
Create an 'inbox' in your entryway or household command centre for all papers (receipts/notices/homework/bills/etc.) and schedule a monthly time in your calendar to go through them, deal with them, and then shred, recycle or file away.
Set up a dedicated tech charging station so that you only leave your gadgets in one area of the home.
Set up a snack shelf or basket so that everyone in the household can find what they need quickly and gets trained to put things back there (and only there).
Switch out your many-sized plastic food storage containers for glass versions in just 2-4 sizes so you can stack them all neatly with corresponding lids (imagine always finding the right lid?!)
TAKE ACTION:
Join the FREE 5-Day Declutter Dash! There are thousands of others who go through it and rave about their results!
Good luck on your journey, and enjoy the liberating feeling of opening up more space in your home, one small step at a time!
