Spring Cleaning Party: Decluttering 101
This post was first published on May 4, 2009 as part of the Spring Cleaning Party. However, effective decluttering is the foundation of an organized home, and I thought this post was worth repeating!
Day One of the Spring Cleaning Party starts with a “clean sweep” of your home. Tsh describes more about the process in her post today as well as in Spring Cleaning for Normal People. The basic premise is to start your spring cleaning by making a quick pass through every room in your home to clear any trash or clutter that you know you want to get rid of. Carry a give/sell box and a trash bag with you and grab the obvious things to clear off surfaces (no digging in cabinets or closets yet!).
For some people, decluttering can be a very emotional experience. It’s hard to let go of “stuff” for a variety of reasons – sentimentality, fear of needing it later, pride, and so on.
If you’re not ready for the clean sweep method, what are some other methods you could try?
Just a Box
Pick a medium-sized box and promise yourself that you’ll find enough things to let go of to fill that box. Don’t pick a shoe box for this project, but if you’re struggling with the idea of decluttering, you won’t want to pick a huge box either. The goal is to just fill the box. Once you’re done, you can stop unless you decide at that point that you want to keep going.
Set a Timer
If your home is filled with stuff that needs to be decluttered, the idea of doing a clean sweep until the surfaces are clear may be very overwhelming. Try setting a timer for 30 minutes or so and decluttering just for that amount of time. When the timer goes off, you may be so energized by your progress that you keep going, or you may be exhausted from the emotional aspects of it and decide that’s all you can handle for the day. Either is okay!
Pack It In Storage
Maybe you want to declutter, but part of you is afraid of regretting it later on. If so, try this method. Instead of labeling your boxes with Give/Sell, label them as “Decluttering – Storage”. Pack up those things you think you want to get rid of, but put them in your basement or attic instead of getting rid of them entirely. Keep them there and see what happens. If you realize after a month or two that there’s something in there you can’t live with out, by all means get it out and put it back in its place. If, however, as is often the case, you never touch those boxes again, then you’ll know you’re ready to add them to the yard sale or charity piles!
Decluttering & Spring Cleaning Together
What I love about Tsh’s method is that decluttering, cleaning and organizing go hand-in-hand. Hey, you’re emptying the cabinets anyway, so you might as well do all three tasks!
But are there other options?
Sure there are!
For example, I’ve already made one pass through of every cabinet, closet and storage area of my home to declutter. At that time, the thought of cleaning every nook and cranny on top of my decluttering was a little overwhelming, so I just focused on sorting through the stuff.
There are, of course, pros and cons to doing it this way:
:: My husband was working on a lot of dusty/messy house projects as I was decluttering. If I would have spring cleaned then, I would have just been frustrated with him for getting everything dirty again. But I didn’t want to put off decluttering either, so I went ahead with that part of the process.
:: Some of what I’ll be doing is going to feel very repetitive, and there will almost certainly be areas where I wish I had just taken a few more minutes to clean the first time I went through them.
:: On the other hand, I’ve noticed that I tend to be willing to part with more stuff the more times I organize a cabinet or closet. I’m hoping that as I spring clean, I’ll find even more things to add to the giveaway/sell pile. In fact, I found a cheese knife the other day that I never use. I’m not sure why it’s still in the drawer after the first round of decluttering!
Not Ready to Declutter?
What if you’re simply not ready to start the process of decluttering at all? Can you still spring clean?
Of course you can!
There is no doubt that your spring cleaning project will take you more time each day because you’ll simply have more things to move and clean around and under, but there’s no reason you have to sit out and avoid cleaning just because you’re not ready to declutter.
There are many benefits to decluttering, and both Tsh and I feel fairly strongly about living simply and eliminating clutter, but if it’s simply not something you’re ready, willing or able to tackle right now, then simply do what you can.
How do you feel about decluttering? Is it something that excites you or does it make you want to skip the Spring Cleaning Party altogether? What is the biggest thing holding you back?
I actully love to part with things, and pare down the number of items I own. (somehow they seem to multiply like rabbits.) I worked for a summer in college in a rural town in Mexico where there was no running water, people had dirt floors, and owned very little. I saw how these people saw what mattered in life, happiness, and community, and weren’t overtaken with materialism. Since then I have always questioned how many items I actually need in my life, and would someone else need that item more than me?
Thanks for this post,
Eager to get cleaning!
Abbie
Abbie’s last blog post…Menu Planning Monday
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[...] post today on Organizing Your Way is all about Decluttering 101. Her ideas will get you stocked with motivation and tips to get [...]
I swear if I could get my children out of this house for just a few days, this place would be an entirely different place when the returned! Oh the things that I would part with! My problem is that once I get started, I need to get it DONE then because if I stop, I’ll never get back to it and I know that this job is going to be too great for me to do in any short period of time, so I don’t start. We are very poorly organized around here and the kitchen counter and dining room table are magnets for E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G! Well a few days ago I did finally attack the mountains of crap out of frustration and I now have a diaper box full of odds and ends with the intent of doing as you’d mentioned…… if nothing comes out of it in a relatively short period of time, the whole box is GONE. Next stop: kids’ closets to weed out the old/too small/raggety/stained clothing.
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I have been a collector for most of my life. In fact, I used to call myself a packrat… until I helped to clean up a friend’s house when she was moving. She really IS a packrat – OCD. Look it up. I had no idea it was a form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder! I couldn’t sleep for days – we were sorting through boxes of cardboard, broken sunglasses, and pieces of plastic (like you’d find on the front of a barbie doll box) – all labeled, too! So, seemingly “organized.” There were also headless, legless dolls in a box labeled “gluing projects.” There were BUGS in almost all of the food. I was traumatized. Seriously.
Needless to say, I went on a bit of a rampage later that year – cleaning out closets, old boxes at my parent’s house, and donating clothes wildly. I enjoyed it, but I had my husband to deal with. Every time I attempt to get rid of something, he thinks it might be useful so he reclaims it (giant papasan chair, ugly cheapo steamer trunk). He refused to let me part with my craft supplies when we moved across the country, too.
I’m not sure I can deal with spring cleaning right now. I don’t have an attic or a basement, or storage space of any kind (VERY limited closet space), so every time I try to declutter surfaces, everything ends up back where it was. I begin to hyperventilate realizing we have too much stuff for this small space and WHERE can it all GO??
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Oh boy – I’m a huge fan of de-cluttering! I believe in the mantra: “Nothing in my home is just for looks, everything has to do two things.” This is something I try to implement in my own life on a daily basis – whether I am out thrifting, garage sale shopping, or even hitting up the sale aisle at Target. We just recently moved from a 5 bedroom home to a 2 bedroom… so I did ALL of my de-cluttering in preparation for our downsize, but I’ll still be doing a clean sweep of the place. I’m sure there are some things I can let go of even now!
Living simply is such a lovely concept and the simpler things are in our home, the happier this mama is!
Angie @ The Creative Mama’s last blog post…It’s a Spring Cleaning PARTAY.
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I am constantly decluttering. I can usually part with anything of mine fairly easy. Almost anything that I have to dust on an end table or on top of the fireplace mantel is gone. My kids toys are an entirely different story. Oh, and the stuffed animals that my 4 year old daughter loves are really hard to part with too. I try sneaking some out of her room and put down in the basement and if she doesn’t ask about them they are donated or put in the yard sale. However, as many as she has, she usually knows when one is missing. Crazy! I had my yard sale this past weekend and it was a great feeling to get rid of so much “Stuff”. However, as of this morning, I already have a good size brown box almost full of items that will be shipped to my mom’s house for her garage sale later in the summer. Thanks for the Spring Cleaning motivation. I have relatives coming in this weekend for my soon-to-be 3 year olds b-day party this weekend so I am not sure how fully I can participate, but do hope to accomplish some of the steps along the way.
Jenny’s last blog post…1st Haircut & Rainy Days
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[...] first step to getting organized is to declutter and get rid of those items that are simply taking up space without enhancing your life. You will be [...]
[...] you don’t go after it in those six months, you don’t need it. (I got this idea from this blog.) I’m actually doing this in addition to the Give/Sell box since we’re in an [...]
The less stuff you have, the easier it is to get organized and stay organized.
So decluttering is a fabulous way to make the process AND the maintenance easier.
Enjoy the party, gals!
M
Michele Connolly, Get Organized Wizard´s last blog ..Simplify Your Life Quick Fix: Limit Your Hangers
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[...] all your clutter at once may be too overwhelming. If so, then take a look at Decluttering 101 for some excellent techniques that will help you get started without freaking out your inner [...]