I’m going to be completely honest with you guys today. Just a few short months ago I was stressed, overwhelmed, and had little to no motivation to keep my home clean and tidy. As a home management blogger, that’s pretty bad. I was exhausted by the amount of clutter in my home.
Over the summer I re-read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
and while I agree with several of the points in her book, I don’t necessarily agree with all of them. I’ve also read several blog posts and books about living a minimalistic lifestyle. While I don’t think I will ever be a minimalist (that’s another post for another day), I do want to embrace simplicity.
At that moment I wanted a simpler life with less stuff. I wanted to be free from the burden of having to take care of so much. I wanted to stress less about trying to find the things I needed and I wanted to stop spending money on things I already had but couldn’t find. Our house was in disarray and I wanted it all gone!
This summer I set out on a mission and it’s completely changed my life so I can’t help but share it with you! We have let go of loads and loads (literally!) of stuff. Some of it was donated, some of it was sold, and a ton of it was just plain trash! It’s been freeing. A weight has been lifted off our shoulders and I can’t help but want the same for you.
Are you in the same situation I was in just a few short months ago? Are you struggling to stay afloat because you just have too much around you? Is your stuff taking up all of your time? Do you wish you could spend more time doing the things you really love? If so, then it’s time to start now! Today!
Let’s clear the clutter from our homes and bring back our joy!
I will be honest. We have a long way to go. I still have categories on my list that I still need to tackle. (Photos being the biggest!) But we have come so far in just a couple of months. I’m happier and I want you to feel the same way!
Today I want to talk about the steps you can take to clear the clutter and simplify your life. It’s not going to be easy and it’s not going to be quick. But I promise it will be worth it!
I’ve created a printable for you to follow along with as you rid your home of junk and bring back the joy. You can find it entering your email in the header box at the top of this page or the Subscribe box at the bottom of this post!
Are you feeling overwhelmed and don’t know where to start? Here’s what you need to do!
Print out the checklist and start decluttering by category, not by room.
Use the checklist and go in order. This is one of the tips I took from Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and my mind was blown. I’ve always decluttered by room. I think looking back that has been my problem all along.
By decluttering by category, it really allows you to get a true picture of how much you actually own. It was crazy for me to see all of my clothes piled up on the floor of my bedroom, but yet I always felt like I had nothing to wear. It was both sad and humbling to see. How many people all across the world own nothing and here I was with a large walk-in closet full of stuff I never wore. My kids both have closets and drawers bursting with clothes. It’s truly absurd what we think we need.
I cleared out over 16 large trash bags full of clothing and shoes from my home. You can too! Just start today.
Don’t forget items you may have stored in your attic, basement, garage, or storage unit.
Thankfully, we don’t have a basement and our attic isn’t really suitable to be used as storage. However, our garage was literally bursting with stuff. We have an attached two car garage and have lived in this house for 3 years and I can count on one hand how many times I’ve been able to park my van in the garage (all of which were due to severe weather coming in causing us to go into a panic and squeeze it in.)
About 2 weeks ago we finally got up the nerve to tackle this project. And you know what? It really wasn’t so bad. We took an afternoon and just started sorting. What could be sold? What could be donated? What needed to be trashed? We made our piles and put back and semi-organized what we wanted to keep. I loaded up my van to take a load to the consignment store. Then I contacted our trash company to let them know we would have extra trash the next week. Now my husband has plenty of room for his weights and I can pull my van into the garage!
We have space to do the things we really love…working out, woodworking, and house projects. We’ve always had the space, but now we can use if to bring joy into our lives rather than stress!
Remember to bring back any items you may have stored at family member’s homes.
Yes. My name is Kaitlin and I’ve pawned off my clutter on others. It’s sad, but true. I’ve sent extra baby stuff, high school memorabilia, and even my wedding dress to my parent’s house! In the past when I didn’t know what to do with something, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to get rid of it, I just sent it to my mom. I mean, my parent’s had an empty bedroom because I no longer lived there, right?
Once I went through the handful of tubs I had stored at my parent’s house, I discovered that most of it I didn’t even want! I ended up keeping about 10% of it and the rest either was donated or went in the trash. In the trash!! My poor parent’s were storing my trash!
It’s not fair to try to let others deal with your clutter. Get it back from them and put forth the effort to go through it. You may not even realize it now, but the clutter you have stored elsewhere is weighing on you. You will feel much better once you’ve dealt with it!
Get rid of your decluttered items as quickly as possible.
One of the worst things you can do when decluttering is leave piles of items that need to go away in your house. Here is the scenario I can almost guarantee will happen:
You leave a pile of decluttered junk in a box at the end of the hallway. It needs to go to the thrift store to be donated, but you’ve just spent two hours cleaning out your house so you decide to leave it in the box for now. A few days go by and your husband and children both walk by and see things they think they might need. You even walk by and have a change of heart about a few things. All of a sudden a large box that was supposed to leave your house has found it’s way back in and that two hours you spent clearing out clutter was just wasted.
Do yourself a favor and get it out as quickly as possible. Put it in the back of your vehicle and drop it off at your local Goodwill or Salvation Army the next time you are out running errands. Don’t let it sit around because it will all just end up right back in your home.
Don’t try to rush through it.
Decluttering your home probably won’t happen in a day or even a long weekend. It’s going to take some time. I’ve been steadily getting rid of things for several years now and this process has still taken me over 3 months (and still going strong!)
Using my printable checklist will help. Grab a highlighter or marker and work your way through each category or even sub-category. Do just a little each day and you will be surprised how far you can get each week.
Are you ready to clear the clutter? Do you want to bring back your joy? I hope so because I want you to experience the same happiness I feel. Living with less is one of the best decisions we ever made.
Do you have anymore decluttering questions? I’d be happy to help in any way I can! Just comment below or shoot me an email at [email protected]!
Happy decluttering!
The most important thing you said that people need to hear is that you’ve been steadily getting rid of stuff for several years now. Too many decluttering, simplifying, minimalist sites give the impression that you can whiz through your home in a couple of days, weeks or months and……
Shazam!
…… you’re done! Now you’ll live happily clutter free forever! Yeah, probably not.
It is refreshing to hear someone say that it can take a long, long time. I’m sure some people can manage to declutter an average home occupied by an average number of people in a phenomenally short amount of time. But I’d be willing to bet good money that a hefty percentage of us aren’t that person. After all, that mountain of clutter wasn’t created in a day, right? It’s likely going to take more than a day to clear it out!
I’m on the opposite end of life from you. I’m 56, my children are in their early 30s and gone from home and I’ve been married for almost 38 years. You can accumulate a LOT of stuff in almost 4 decades. And, like you, my children were storing stuff at my house…….you know, “just for a while, Mom”. The older generations started passing away and some of their stuff migrated to my home. It was getting pretty crowded in my house!
Well, we (as a family) had a wake-up call ten years ago when Hurricane Katrina, closely followed by Hurricane Rita, devastated large parts of costal Louisiana. My daughter and I were appalled and heartbroken watching the news of the devastation once we had power again. We had minor damage from both hurricanes but so many people were left with, quite literally, nothing but the clothes on their backs. As soon as we were able, my daughter and I got busy going through our two households. In a two month period, we loaded up the pick up truck eight times with furniture, small appliances, a couple of mattress sets, bedding, bath linens, curtains, dishware, kithenware, toys, etc. We donated at least 4 carloads of clothing and personal care items. The hubs and our son helped by lifting, toting,, loading and bringing loads to the donation sites. We even went through our pantries and donated excess dry goods. And we STILL had stuff. I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel after 10 YEARS.
Ten years. I’m not trying to discourage anyone. On the contrary, I hope I can encourage people by admitting how long it’s taken me to get to the point I’m at now……which is almost to my goal! Yay! I’ve gone through some
categories of stuff multiple times. Each time I find I have emotionally detached from more and more stuff in that category. I’ve made peace with the fact that I’ll never be a true minimalist and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to be one, lol! I’m happy that I’m coming close to having the simplified, uncluttered home that has been my goal.
I very much look forward to seeing your next post!
Thank you so much for you sweet and encouraging comment! That is so inspiring that you and your daughter have been clearing out so much clutter for so long. I feel like my mom is in a similar boat. She has her own things as well as things from both her parents, aunt (who never had children and left everything to my mom), and in-laws who have since passed away. Living simply is definitely a lifestyle…we have to work at it every day even when we get to our happy place. It’s not something that can be done overnight.