First, do not buy books or DVDs about decluttering as they will just get added to the pile. Start with something easy like a cupboard in the kitchen and throw out all the plastic containers from yogurt, margarine etc. Now just keep on purging, one cupboard at a time, one room at a time. Don't move stuff around, put it in a garbage bag for garbage or put it in a box for donation, then get it out of the house. It is a lifestyle change and will take many months to thoroughly purge your home of junk and useless articles. Second, stop buying stuff. No more books, trinkets, collections/collectables, whimsical items, seasonal stuff that gets used once then stored. Learn to live with less. Freedom from stuff is invigorating.
FANTASTIC snippets! I jotted down the questions to ask myself about each item. I can now go PURPOSEFULLY through each area of my home armed with the checklist. Yay! A hundred thank yous! I feel more capable and motivated already :-)
For anyone or what its worth, my issue is throwing clothes on the ground, thats my clutter. but as far as everything else, one big thing with cleaning up is to group. You don't need to do anything with it right away, but make piles or boxes of different types of things ( this is if you're just cleaning and putting away, not throwing away. im not that bad yet where i need to throw my stuff away, its just all over the house) say, put anything electronic in one box, all chargers, accesories, ANYTHING electronic. books, hygiene products, any item can be grouped, and when you see them all together you may think "i know just the place for all this!" it's also helpful to clear out the space you need and put things back in a clean way. just my tips! now i need to donate massive amounts of clothes..
Thanks, Jamie! You're right, grouping "like with like" helps to lessen the clutter. In addition to sorting into boxes, I also recommend putting these items as close the place you'd like them to "live" as possible. For example, one client wanted to use the linen closet for office supplies because it was situated between two home offices, but there was a lot of clutter in the linen closet. We went ahead and pulled the linens out and started organizing the office supplies in the closet. We found that the linens could go into a dresser that was used to store other clutter. It's kind of like putting together a puzzle -- you work at it until the pieces are in the right place!
Brenda Spandrio yes!! You're so very right about that. I practically take everything out and then see how it would fit best when I put it back! Haha good way to put it. Thanks for your video so much! Gave me some useful tips, especially with clothes. I had a hard time letting go of clothes I got in school because of all the good memories. But they're falling apart! So I have pictures still! And I'll keep the nicer old clothes that I wear.
Thank you so much for your 3 part decluttering videos. I just finished watching them, and am going to putting them into practice. In the past I've purchased books, only to find they weren't doable for one reason or another. I'm really looking forward to starting this declutter, and am determined to maintain after reaching completion. God Bless You and Yours, Gretchen
Deciding to handle it later IS different than procrastination. I did that, because I couldn't pin down exactly what process I wanted to go with and needed to think about how each one would make me feel. I didn't want to do the wrong thing for me.
Thanks, Kelly! When clients tell me they want to work on something "someday," I have them put it in the calendar a few weeks (or even few months) down the road. When it pops up again, they can evaluate if it's time to work on it, reschedule it or eliminate it.
My room becomes such a mess I don’t know where to begin. This is what I did FIRST. I put everything in a tub, everything on surfaces and on the floor. WOW! The place looked nice! I could actually vacuum and clean . Next I started to put things away....a little at a time, so I wouldn’t get overwhelmed with decisions. Eventually I found a place for everything or got rid of it.
Excellent! Even though I'm The Declutter Lady, I still tend toward clutter. Thankfully, I tolerate less clutter than I used to. I use that same technique: Toss everything in a box or bin and put away a little at a time.
Hello from England Brenda, I have had a clutter problem mainly since starting to buy and sell on Ebay 9 years ago. It has become MUCH worse since my Mum died a few months ago. We now have almost her whole house worth of all good quality and condition belongings (she had absolutely no junk). This has obviously made my problem even harder to deal with, as I have my house bursting at the seams. I also have lots of Mum's stuff in storage. It is emotionally even harder to deal with due to bereavement (we have no other family). It would be good if you made a video with tips on dealing specifically with bereavement based clutter. I have given lots away to charity and deserving friends already, and have sold some stuff on Ebay. Thanks a lot for any advice.
i went thru the same thing as you with my dad. i do have family & my sister kinda done wrong with the rest of the siblings thou so what was left over is the "stuff" i got which isnt valuable or worth even selling...so instead of just keeping the stuff in boxes which is still in the corner of my living room (i moved not long ago & havent unpacked everything yet) i decided to upcycle some of the things...for example all his clothes. he was a big guy so im cutting up all his tops & sewing the pieces into a memory blanket so it'll become useful to me since his clothes are way too big for me or any of my family. i have bunch of other things i have no clue what im going to do,its more like what you could put in a memory box & put on a wall. either way, maybe you can do some upcycling with your moms things? that way you dont feel bad for tossing things out & you turned those items into usable things for yourself so you have zero free guilt...if anything, you can always get those memory boxes & create a few of the smaller items. btw,they say time helps but my dad passed away Sept '13 & i think im still in one of the mourning stages. i can at least tell ya that it does get easier as time goes on & one thing that did help me was to picture my dad in front of me & telling me "do you really need to keep all my stuff you ended up with?" knowing my dad,he would say YES! cause he was a major packrat from hell! he LOVED LOVED LOVED going to garage sales & had several of each things (probably cause he couldnt find the first 4 so he got another item) LOL hope that helps ya a lil :) good luck ~hugs~
I agree. My husband of 24 years passed away and I had a lot to go through. I decided to take pictures of his things before i donated or sold his things. That is the only thing that I could think of. I am not very talented as far as crafts and things like that.
PonytailRuth I had the same problem. I quit my job and rented a low rent building and opened a consignment shop. Sold my stuff and other people’s. They rented a small space from me, and I had enough people to cover my overhead expenses. At first I kept my job and hired an assistant until I was making more than what I made at my job.
How many people watching this were distracted because her necklace wasn't centered properly on her neck? Lol. ME!! :P I am having issues with my late husband's belongings. It's been well over three years and i still have the majority of his stuff (outside of his underwear that i made into dust cloths). I am wearing some of his good quality Harley Davidson tees and sweatshirts since i lost 60 pounds during his terminal illness with cancer. They fit me well now, so i will definitely keep those. I still have stuff of his like old Zippo lighters, his Harley Jacket & cap, long underwear (that i can wear now and do when the mercury dips below 65), his wallets with his Driver's License in them, countless pictures and love letters we wrote to each other back in the early years of our marriage (30+ years ago), et cetera. I haven't been able to bring myself to part with these things. I really need to know, A - How to deal with this emotionally, and B -Actually getting rid of these items. I'll be moving from a two bedroom cottage to a one bedroom cottage, so any helpful advice would be greatly appreciated.
I use to be "a place for everything & everything in it's place"! And do it right the first time so, you don't have to do it again. Unfortunately I was diagnosed with SLE (Lupus) then had a horrific auto accident and have "NO" family support. So, my home is completely overwhelming for me. I do not want to die & leave any of this mess behind! Lord send me some help ANY help!
Decluttering is a problem in our life that we struggle everyday. Even in Islam teaches you to lead a simple life, consume what necessary, and help the poor. Alhamdulillah for everything. May Allah bless you all :) amen!
+Momma Homemaker yup...thats all we do...no where in any religion ppl do any kind of violence whatsoever...that happens only in our religion. u r so smart :) how do u sleep at night with that brain of yours lmao
Thanks for clarifying that. Yes it does happen primarily in islam. Most other religions are peaceful, unlike islam where they justify terrorism to promote islam. Other religions do not kill others and force them into their religions like islam does.
Motivated me to get started TODAY! Paused video and cleared bathroom drawers. Felt great. You mention a sheet you passed out, would you be able to upload and share it? Where do you offer these classes?
Thanks for your kind words, Rosio -- and Go YOU!! You can download my "Quick and Easy Guide to Clearing the Clutter" at thedeclutterlady.com/home/. I don't have any classes currently scheduled, but I'd be happy to do a Google Hangout or webinar if enough people are interested.
Thanks for your comment, Terri. The place to start is with the items you handle today. Start making a conscious choice to put things away when you are finished with them (even if only temporarily) and being aware of not just dropping things in the nearest convenient spot. The days you have more energy, have a strategy for handling some of the backlog a little at a time. Let me know if you have any other questions. I do wish you the very best.
Hello.I think your video is very interesting and very useful and I love your video, particularly the ideas for decluttering your home. Another useful resource I also found helpful for how to organize your house was Skyarza Declutter Expert Star - if anyone is interested search on google please
my problem is that i work long retail shifts and by the time i get home at 9pm after working from 11 i just feel so exhausted and want to go to bed as soon as i get home. And then by the time i have days off i want to go out somewhere! So i know its my job and i probably need a new one but have been there 10 years now and the money is ok, enough to pay the bills. So i'm not sure how to get out of this cycle. I am cleaning today though and already filled up one bag of rubbish books are my main problem lol i have way too many
It is challenging when you work long hours, odd hours or have a lot of obligations to others. And let's face it, not very many people enjoy cleaning for themselves! I had a difficult time letting go of books myself, but in this day and age of Amazon and Powell's, you can usually find those that you wish you'd kept. That said, the best recommendation I can give is to try to make a decision "in the moment." For example, when you're getting ready to go somewhere and you try on a shirt or pants that you don't like any more or don't fit, have a donation box or bag handy and drop them in right then and there. For myself, I'm developing a routine of quickly wiping down the bathroom every morning (including the toilet and floor). It really only takes me about five minutes and if I do it almost every day, I won't have to spend an hour on the weekend!
John Galt Thanks, John: You're right that decluttering involves hard work and there are some people who don't like that, but the more predominate reason is usually fear of making a wrong decision. That fear can be immobilizing, especially if someone has been punished in the past for making mistakes or even just making a decision contrary to someone else's opinion.
+John Galt I think Brenda is on the right track here. I do very well if I have someone telling me what to throw away, what to keep, where to put what, but the decision making and the fear that I will throw away something "important" or "valuable" or "sentimental" really trips me up. I'll end up doing the same basic routine chores that don't require decision-making and never get to the clutter because the decision making is so exhausting mentally. If childhood trauma was the cause (and for me there were a lot of strict rules, unclear instructions, punishments, and poverty), my siblings would likely have the same problem, but they're all pretty tidy except me. It seems to be for me, at root, a fundamental difficulty with prioritizing, a fear of being without something I might need or that some beloved relative will be upset that I got rid of something special they gave me, and a lot of anxiety because I have so much difficulty with it. It's a sort of perfectionism, as odd as that may sound.
John Galt many hoarders have physical ailments as well as mental problems. Also many people don’t know where to start cluttering as they have nobody to help, them plus health issues. Don’t judge you don’t walk in their shoes.
I have to disagree with the statement that if it's not bothering you it's fine. Extreme clutter usually goes hand in hand with an inability to clean effectively. It's simply impossible with so much stuff... and that is assuming we are talking about boxes of paper or clothes and not dirty dishes and garbage which are direct health risks. If you have kids or a spouse that share your home.. it's affecting them as well. Additionally it's not only a fire hazard, it leads to insect and rodent issues.
Thanks for sharing! There are people for whom clutter is a health and safety issue. Some in those situations have emotional or mental health disorders that need to be addressed. My point was more for those people who have a system that works well for them, but because other people are critical, believe that there is something wrong with them. For example, I had a friend who would apologize to me that she had her mail piled on an extra dining room chair. But since she processed the mail at the dining room table every day, it made perfect sense for her to have a space for it. She lives alone and no one is impacted by the pile. If she had EVERY chair piled with outdated advertisements and newspaper and other things like that, it would be a different story.
Do u have any advice for me I have lots of clutter and mess and I want it clean but I don't feel like it because its hard I just want to keep everything
Thanks for stopping by, Angelina. I truly understand your desire to keep everything. I had the same issue and it was rooted in my fear of being without. I had an attitude of lack and envy of others who seemed to have so much more than I ever did. You don't have to get rid of everything all at once. Three recommendations: 1) Stop bringing things in unless you let go of something you already have. This will help to stop adding to the clutter. 2) Start small. Pick one innocuous thing that won't hurt so much to let go of. 3) Box up things you don't currently use, but want to keep. Mark a date on the box and put it in a storage area. In 3 to 6 months, decide if you can let go of some of the things in that box. If not, leave it for another 3 to 6 months and see how you feel. Hope this helps!
here's several ideas on ways to de-clutter fast Give yourself 5 minutes every day to de-clutter Give away one item every day Fill up one trash bag now! Make a list of what to do each day this week. Get four bags and sort everything into trash, give away, keep, or relocate. (Reference: Nilah declutter tips website )
