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Keep things moving out
Don’t let things on their way to the thrift store or the dump hang around too long. Apart from the fact that the boxes of stuff are clutter in themselves, it’s too easy to change your mind and decide to pull something back out of the box.
If you have a lot of boxes, or large furniture, some organizations will pick them up, so take advantage of that. Does your community have a day for putting out large items at the curb for pickup? Make sure you use it!
Instead of piling boxes by the door to take outside, take them all the way out to the car so that next time you pass the thrift store they are ready and waiting to be dropped off.
Set reachable goals for your decluttering
If you’re buried in clutter, a goal to declutter even one room can take a long time to reach. Small daily or weekly goals can be a lot more reachable and give you motivation to keep going. They can be of the “spend x minutes” type, or the “toss n items” type. For example:
Declutter for 15 minutes every day
Declutter for 2 hours each week
Toss 7 items every day
Get rid of 50 items this week
Donate 100 items by the end of the month
For ongoing goals, you can set up a wall chart to track your progress – even give yourself a colored star every day you meet your goal, and a gold star at the end of the week.
If you’re decluttering, but you’re stuck with a clutterer in your space…
…try some of these techniques.
- Stop rescuing them as far as practical - don’t find their keys when they lose them, or wait for them when they can’t find a clean pair of pants. Maybe, just maybe, they may get motivated to deal with their own stuff.
- Detach your stuff from theirs - declutter your own stuff, and have spaces which are “yours” (clear and organised) and “theirs” (cluttered)
- Be pro-active - agree ahead of time whose spaces are whose, how you can deal with their mess (bag or box it up, throw it out, move to a specific room…)
- Prepare for chaos - decide how you’ll deal with it when their clutter encroaches on your space, or causes you problems.
- Model decluttering – but don’t force it on the other person: when they see how positive the effects are for you, they may join in.
Books, books and more books
No matter how much you love books, eventually you’ll have too many (unless you plan to move them into their own house and found a library!).
Good places to donate books are: your local library (make sure they can use them), shelters, schools, daycare programs, literacy programs, hospitals, hostels, and of course used book stores.
Ways to accumulate fewer books: use the library (including inter-library loan if your local library doesn’t have what you want), trade books with friends, create a special interest library for club members, institute a “one in, one out” rule.
Craft and Hobby Clutter
If you have a hobby that uses materials, you probably have a “stash”. If your hobby involves equipment, you may have older models or versions. These are prime candidates for decluttering.
Ask yourself:
- will I ever use this again?
- Does it still meet safety or environmental standards?
- Is it still in fashion or totally dated?
- Is the quality up to what I now use?
- Do I still have the tools needed to use or maintain it?
- Is it worth more to someone else than it is to me?
- Has it degraded in storage?
- Could I use the money I’d get by selling it, or the space it’s occupying, better for something else?
- Would it be easy to replace if I ever needed it again?
You may also have information resources for your hobby – books, magazines, videos, CDs etc. More questions:
- Do I have the technology to use/read/play this?
- Is the information still relevant, or outdated?
- Are my skills now well beyond this level?
- Am I still interested in this facet of the hobby?
- Can I find this information elsewhere?
Decluttering your hobby or craft “stuff” can free up space, energy, time or money to actually DO the thing you want to do!