3 Decluttering Strategies To Implement This Year For A Clutter-Free Home
Are you feeling overwhelmed by the clutter in your home?
If you’ve been wanting to make progress but haven’t been able to, it may be time to try out some decluttering strategies that get results!
Sometimes, decluttering may not be your issue; it’s how you’re going about it!
If you feel no motivation or constantly procrastinate, it may be due to the fact that you don’t have an exact step-by-step strategy!
In this post, we’ll examine 3 decluttering strategies you can implement this year to get big results!
Related Posts:
- 15 Items to Declutter For a Simple Home & Living Space
- 10 Tips to Take Action When Decluttering Feels Too Hard
- 5 No-Nonsense Decluttering Tips for Hoarders
How Can Decluttering Strategies Help You?
Decluttering strategies simplify the process and allow you to get small wins little by little.
These wins give you motivation and take the pain out of making tough decisions when it comes to removing your belongings.
These methods also save you time and reduce the stress related to large amounts of clutter in your home.
3 Decluttering Strategies To Implement This Year For A Clutter-Free Home
1. The Reverse Hanger Method
The reverse hanger method is one of my favorite ways to audit/declutter any wardrobe. It allows you to identify clothes that you wear and, most importantly, the clothes you don’t wear.
Here’s how it works…
The hanger method involves you emptying your closet and re-hanging all of your clothes with the hanger backwards…
Every time you wear a piece of clothing, hang your hanger back the normal way. Continue this method every day for as long as you’d like.
After a few months, you’ll easily be able to see the clothes that never get touched (depending on the season) and identify your frequently worn items.
With this info, you’re able to identify the clothes you should think about decluttering and evaluate the following:
- Do these clothes still fit?
- Why don’t I want to wear them?
- Do I still like the style?
- Would I wear this piece of clothing sometime soon?
If you’ve answered these questions and aren’t convinced you want to keep these pieces of clothing, you should consider donating or selling them.
2. The 10-10-10 Decluttering Method
If you’ve been in a rut and are unable to make any progress whatsoever, the 10-10-10 decluttering method may be the key to successfully getting closer to a clutter-free home!
To apply this method, simply spend 10 minutes in 10 areas in your home and get rid of 10 things in each area.
This takes a lot of guesswork out of the equation and allows you to follow a framework that removes the pressure from your shoulders.
Instead of decluttering with no plan and taking hours, you can set a timer and complete this method and be done for the day.
This will save you time and allow you to make rapid progress decluttering your home!
3. The Core 4 Method
The Core 4 Method is a step-by-step technique designed to streamline your decluttering and remove the headache that comes with it…
Here are the 4 steps!:
- Clear out
- Categorize
- Cut out
- Contain
Clear Out
Once you’ve decided where to start decluttering, clear out everything from that area…
If it’s your office, remove everything from your desk and the floor. Move these items off to the side or another area for the time being.
Once this phase is complete, move on to the next step…
Categorize
Now it’s time to start sorting!
Start gathering items and matching them based on categories…
For example (home office):
- Pens, pencils, notebooks, a stapler, paperclips
- Loose paperwork (receipts, old sticky notes, etc.)
- Miscellaneous items
- Sensitive info to be shredded
- Important documents to be filed away
If you’ve got tons to categorize, consider using containers or boxes with labels to organize each category.
Once done, move on to the next step!
Cut Out
Now it’s time to declutter the categories you’ve created!
Consider the items you want to keep first, and then decide what to remove based on new piles you’ll create…
You’ll now sort your categorized items into these new piles:
- Rehome
- Trash
- Recycle
- Donate
- Sell
As you declutter your category boxes, determine which one of these piles they belong to. Rehome items that you’ll be keeping but simply need to be in a different place.
For your valuable items you won’t keep, consider selling them on eBay, Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, etc.
Contain
Finally, you’ll contain all of the decluttered items in their respective categories.
Use containers and storage totes for all of the remaining items, and once you’ve completed this step, you can repeat this 4-step process throughout your home and make a serious dent in your annoying clutter!
Final Thoughts
Even though decluttering is challenging, it pays off in the end!
Using strategies like the ones above will help simplify your process and reduce your overall burden. Deciding what to keep and remove without a plan can be mentally draining.
Use these methods to get quick results and actually make progress you’ll be proud of!
Get inspired to declutter today, and good luck!
