Want a quick start to decluttering? I've got one for you.
Today, I want to talk about an easy technique you can use to tidy, or declutter, your space. Especially if it’s messy.
First, let’s start with a definition:
“Clutter: a crowded or confused mass or collection; things that clutter a place”
As you may know, I teach an online coaching course called The Declutter Course, which is a six-week program designed to teach you how to make all those decluttering decisions and to work your way through your entire home. When it comes to The Declutter Course, it’s about going through all the stuff in your house, even things that are put away.
Clutter can be exhausting. It can literally make you tired. It feels oppressive. It weighs you down. It makes you nuts, at the same time that it can make you feel so overwhelmed that you don’t have the energy or willpower to tackle it.
It can seem like such a Big Deal that we don’t know where to start, or how to begin.
It could be mail or other papers; dirty dishes; trash (wrappers and dirty tissues or napkins are common examples); things that belong in a different part of your home; things that don’t have an assigned place in your home.
The most common place for this stuff to gather is on flat surfaces: tables, shelves, counters, islands, chairs or sofas, even floors.
This week, I’m giving you one way to deal with it.
It can even be fun. (Really!)
If you can count to ten, you can do this.
Pick one space that is really bugging you. It could be a room, or just one surface in a room. For purposes of illustration, I am sharing pics of the sideboard in our dining room, which managed to get on my last nerve last week.
The top left photo is the before, the bottom right is the after.
Why did I share those middle pics? Because they illustrate the process. Meet me on the other side of these pics so I can explain.
Oh hai.
In the first picture, you see what this piece of furniture looked like when my eyes landed on it the other day.
I decided to use a tried and true technique to tidy or declutter this surface.
I collected 10 things that don’t belong there, and re-homed them.
Between the first and second picture, you can play the “can you spot 10 differences between these photos” game.
My purse moved to the shelf in my office where it lives. Some papers were moved to Morris’s office and some to mine. Three prescription bottles you can’t see (behind my purse) were put away in the closet where they belong. Three new sympathy cards were put in my office to go into the greeting card box.
A bit later, I moved another 10 items. Again, some things were thrown out, while others were put away.
I was at that point almost down to what “belonged” on the sideboard, which includes the Penzey’s box full of stuff for my younger daughter’s future apartment. She doesn’t need them yet, and we haven’t seen her in a month anyhow, so . . . that’s where they live for now. I stashed the bottle of wine, removed the last few things that didn’t belong, dusted the top, et voilà—the final photo shows how it looks now.
And it still looks like that, because now that it’s back to tidy, it’s easier to keep it that way. Now to clear the ledge between the kitchen and dining room . . .
To go one step further, you could of course add things to brighten your space: flowers, a plant, a candle, a favorite crystal, etc. You could “stage” it to look prettier still. My photo is keeping it extremely real, with which is why you see my elderberry gummies and a spray bottle of hand sanitizer to the left, and a box of stuff for one of my kids.
The actual technique
Collect 10 things.
Seriously.
That’s it.
That’s the whole technique.
Collect 10 things that don’t belong in the space you want to clear (could be the top of a single piece of furniture, could be an entire room).
Throw them out if they are trash, return them to the room they belong in (at a minimum) if they are not trash.
Once you’ve done your 10 things, you can be done for today. Or you can go for another 10.
Other ways of going at this:
Start by collecting the trash.
Loop a plastic bag around your wrist or carry a trash bucket with you, and collect 10 pieces of trash from each room in your home. (Assuming you can find them.)
Or just collect up ALL the trash cluttering your space: old newspapers or magazines you are done with; empty envelopes; your empty Pringles cans; the lids from your Pringles cans; used napkins or tissues; whatever else you’ve got.
Then you can be done for the day if you want, or move to the next task, which is:
Collect up 10 things per room that don’t belong in that room, and put them in the rooms where they should be.
This could be shoes, slippers, socks, other articles of clothing. Books, magazines, electronic equipment such as iPods, e-readers, tablets, laptops, or handheld gaming systems; flashlights or candles left out since the last power outage; sewing or other craft supplies; stationery or cards; board games; medication or vitamins; toiletries; hairbrushes, combs, and/or hair accessories; and more.
You can put the things away, of course, or simply put them someplace in the room where they go. If you live alone, you can put them away later. If you live with others, and the items belong to them, it’s entirely fair to leave the items for that person to put away.
For instance, I left the items that belonged in my office on my desk, to get to later. I put the things that belonged in Morris’s office on his desk, and won’t give them another thought. LOL.
I hope it helps to know that you don’t need to do everything at once. You can just do 10 things at a time. It’s manageable.
