Todays topic was inspired by Joshua Becker. Joshua is a minimalist and was one of the first people I watched and listened to after I got started on my decluttering journey. He simplifies everything, providing only the essential points to understand. I admire his decluttering and minimalism ideas. While I may not achieve 'minimalism' status, the decluttering processes are still applicable.
I recently watched Joshua’s video - 20 First Step Decluttering Ideas - and it was quite inspiring. I chose just 5 of the 20 ideas to share with you today. These are the 5 that stuck out most for me and that I wish I had known to start with when I first started decluttering. They are some of the simplest places to begin and get some traction and motivate you to keep going.
1) 10 items from your closet
Choose 10 pieces of clothing/shoes from your closet to declutter. We can choose things that don’t fit or that don’t make us feel good when we are wearing them. Or we could choose a pair of shoes that hurt our feet or are worn out.
This is a great first step because most all of us have excess clothing in our closets. We tend to hold on to our clothes because we spent money on them an we feel like it would be wasteful to get rid of them. The truth is that the money is already spent so whether we keep it, donate it, store it or trash it - the money is gone just the same.
When decluttering the closet, some suggest pulling EVERYTHING out and placing it on a bed and going through each piece, one by one, and only putting back what we intend to keep. While I like this idea, for me it felt too overwhelming. It felt much easier to take 10 pieces out and know that I had accomplished something. Later, we can revisit the closet for an additional 5 pieces or 10 pieces… as many times as we need/want to.
>>>> Prefer to watch the video?! Here ya go... <<<<
2) Top of the nightstand
It is a straight fact that *flat surfaces* **collect clutter**. The nightstand is such an easy magnet for clutter. When we are in our bed we don’t want to get up to put something where it belongs so it goes on the nightstand. We come home and have some loose change in our pocket, we have a book we want to read at bedtime, we need something to drink nearby when we are snoozing, we have a couple of receipts we need to be able to locate, we take our jewelry off - nearly all it ends up on the nightstand!
For me, clutter tends to collect in my bedroom the most because I bring it in from other areas of my house. When I am decluttering and I don’t know where to put things I take them to my bedroom. If I conclude an item needs to be in plain view for me to find it later, the nightstand seems to be the likely choice.
It is important to keep the nightstand clear. It is the last thing we see at night when we go to bed and the first thing we see in the morning. If it is a cluttered mess, it makes for a more chaotic feel to our bedroom - the place we should feel relaxed and stress-free. If we see a cluttered nightstand first thing in the morning, it can cause us unwanted anxiety before our day even gets started.
3) Underwear and/or sock drawer
How many pairs of socks do you have? How many pair of undies? I used to never throw out socks. I mean if there were a hole in them, then maybe I would, but typically I held on to all of them. I always thought what if there were an occasion where I need THAT particular pair of orange and yellow striped socks? (No I didn’t really have any like that!)
The point is that I was afraid to let go of them… I needed to save them JUST IN CASE. I finally realized that I only used about 8 pair of socks on a regular basis. It was all I needed. I couldn’t believe how much space was freed from ditching the old undesirable socks.
If you have underwear where the elastic is shot or they have a hole or rip or tear, they simply must go! We are not emotionally attached to our underwear, or at least I hope we are not. Only keep the ones that fit, the ones we choose most often and the most comfortable.
4) Living room/Family room
Having your living room/family room clean and uncluttered can do you a world of good! This space should feel relaxing and calm. Clear off the furniture - tables, end tables, chairs, sofa, and even the floor. This is likely the place you would take someone if they were to drop by so even if the bedrooms or the bathrooms aren’t up to par, having your living room tidy will ease your anxieties of the ‘drop-in’.
This is a room where you should be able to sit down without having moving things - laundry, kids toys, throw blankets, too many pillows, etc. When my living room is cluttered, I feel like my whole house is a mess - even if it’s not.
Take note of the things sitting on your tables or bookcases. If there are too many trinkets or items, it will make your room still feel cluttered even if it is cleaned, dusted and vacuumed/mopped. Try to keep the flat surfaces mostly clear.
Something to remember: You cannot clean your way out of clutter.
5) Plastic-ware/Tupperware
How does that plastic container cabinet look!? Mine was a HUGE mess before I began decluttering. I got rid of a LOT of containers once I took a good hard look at what I had versus what I really needed and used on a regular basis. If you mostly use these type of plastic containers for leftovers, then cleaning out your fridge once a week will provide you with enough containers for the next week and so forth. We typically use same ones (our favorites) over and over.
First, get rid of ones with no lid. How many times do we keep a container for months, even years and never use it because it has no lid! Just donate it or trash it and move on.
Next, get rid of duplicates that you don’t need. We often think more is better, but in this case, more is just a waste of space. If you use the mostly the same size of containers each week and still have quite a few of that size left at the end of the week, let the extra duplicates go.
In the case of you’re not sure if you should let a container go, you’re still holding on to it for “just in case”, I recommend putting on top shelf and reassess later. Let it stay there for say 30 days or 60 days and if you find that you don’t use it, then you can feel good about letting it go. Just don’t do this with ALL of them, just the one or two that you are really struggling with making a decision.
This is an ongoing process. Over time you will take in more containers and will need to revisit the cabinet from time to time to declutter again. I recently went back in again and got rid of a few more containers and reorganized. Here is a little added bonus video for you - of me and my daughter decluttering our plastic-ware cabinet again.
Well, I hope these ideas have given you a place to start decluttering if you haven’t already or a place to work on that you may not have thought about.
One tip I have for you is to not start decluttering with sentimental items when you first begin. These are the hardest to get rid of (and I’m not saying you should get rid of all of your sentimental items) and so it is best to work on a few ‘low emotion’ areas before you build up to working with your sentimental and keepsake pieces.
Until Next Time,
Happy Decluttering!