How To Make Decluttering Easy.

Everyone glances through the glossy pictures of the interior design magazines and wishes they had a bedroom like the ones in the images. It can seem like a monumental task for some of us to even think about getting our home looking even slightly similar. We get envious of the vast amount of space these rooms have rather than focusing on the lack of clutter. There are many benefits to being a minimalist. Still, it can be a struggle to start living a minimalist lifestyle. In this post, we will talk you through some quick tips to help you get the minimalist decluttering bug!

minimalist decluttering

What is a minimalist?

Being a minimalist may mean different things to different people. To me, minimalism means  living with only the things you need and not keeping :

  • Six pairs of nail clippers.
  • Thousands of paper clips
  • Three spatulas
  • Six jugs
  • Four mascaras
  • Jeans that are too small
  • Three rolls of sticky tape
  • Three hammers
  • Four broken phones
  • Five pairs of unworn  spectacles
  • 300 books

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The space in which we live should be for the person we are becoming now, not for the person we were in the past.

Marie Kondo the life changing magic of tidying up

What is the difference between decluttering and minimalism?

You’ve read the book about decluttering and followed the minimalist decluttering tips to the letter, but your house keeps getting cluttered again, and you can’t understand why right?

It’s a common belief that people expect to do a colossal minimalist decluttering session without really thinking about what happens afterward or putting steps into place to change their lifestyle and habits.

Minimalism is a way of life, not just a de-clutter purge. Minimalism is the polar opposite of consumerism; it crafts an experience of less stuff, less waste, and less stress. It is to want less, need less, buy less, and give more.

How to become a minimalist

If you’re wondering how to start living a minimalist lifestyle, you should think about what minimalism means.

  1. What is your goal?
  2. Is your goal to reduce the number of items you own?
  3. Is it to be able to see and treasure the items you love?
  4. Is your goal to be able to live a simple life and spend more time with your kids?
  5. Is it to live in a peaceful environment, or is it a mix of all the above?

Becoming a minimalist is not an overnight accomplishment, it’s changing your habits and lifestyle to become more mindful of your surroundings and the impact you have on the environment, it’s about reducing waste and changing your habits as a consumer.

Becoming a minimalist is about not buying or keeping stuff you don’t need or use. It’s about getting rid of the extra stuff and not buying anymore!

Let’s be known for the lives we live, not the things we can buy.

Joshua Becker clutter free with kids

  Minimalist lifestyle tips.

  •  Do you keep extra wrapping paper and sticky tape just in case you’ve got thousands of presents to wrap?
  • Do you keep six pairs of nail clippers just in case you want to simultaneously cut the toenails of all the people in the village?
  • Do you keep three spatulas just in case the other two break?

Do you see how crazy it all sounds when we put it like that?

You need to break the “just in case” habit and stop clinging to stuff you don’t need.

My favorite Bloggers, The Minimalists, talk about how you can replace most things within a few hours for less than a few quid in an emergency, so you don’t need to keep things just in case!

I can vouch for this, as I’ve often had to ask one of the neighbors to open a can of beans for me when my can opener has broken, so we can be resourceful in an emergency if we have to!

Let go of your” just in case” worries and ask yourself when was the last time “just in case” actually happened?

How to start a minimalist decluttering session 

Steps to decluttering a home

  1. Start with a particular group of items.

     We will use candles as an example in this case. Search through the entire house and find every single candle you own.

  2. Put them all together in a pile. 

    Group them all in one spot. It’s not until you’ve gathered every single one you own into one place that you can see the extent of how much you are hanging onto something just in case you need it.
    It’s also helpful to see how much stuff you buy in bulk and hoard, such as cleaning and beauty products.
    When you see your hoard all in one place, you’ll start to wonder why you’ve got so much stuff.

  3. Discard, donate, minimize.

    Get rid of any items you do not use, like, or need. Get rid of any duplicates too.

  4. Find a permanent home for the items you decide to keep.

    Time spent finding a place for everything will ensure that all the family members know where to find them and where to return them; this leads to less mess on surfaces and countertops. Knowing where everything lives will help reduce the number of duplicate items you purchase when you can’t find stuff!

  5. Keep only the items that you use or love, nothing else!

    Do not be tempted to keep just in case items or unwanted gifts. Do not feel guilty about getting rid of stuff other people have gifted you. They’ll never know you’ve got rid of it, and now it’s yours to do whatever you choose to do with it. Someone somewhere will love your brand new, unused, unwanted gift!

  6. Stop buying more stuff.

    The key to successful minimalism decluttering is to stop bringing more stuff into your home. Stop buying and try to have a no-spend month!

  7. Try not to keep things just in case you need them.

    You’ve never needed them yet and probably won’t any time soon!

  8. Refuse to take in anyone else’s unwanted items.

    Say a big fat no to other people’s stuff, especially kids clothes and toys.
    Once people think you will take all their old clutter, you’ll soon find that they offload onto you at an alarming rate, and it soon gets out of control! For tips on how to declutter the kid’s rooms click here.

  9. Don’t fall for a bargain!

    Be extra careful that you’re not just buying things you don’t need because they’re on sale or they seem like a bargain! It’s only a bargain if you specifically went out shopping for it and found it reduced!

    Remember that sales are full of things that no one else wanted to buy! That gaudy jumper you just picked up out of the bargain bin will be going to the charity shop unworn in a year!
  10. Keep up the minimalist decluttering.

    Once you have got the minimalist declutter bug, you should declutter at least one item per day. It’s pretty easy to find at least one thing to discard in the plethora of stuff we have in our homes, even if it’s just an empty shampoo bottle!

  11. Don’t go mad at Christmas and birthdays.

    It’s easy to succumb to consumer pressure and to start buying unnecessary gifts. Try to think of clutter-free gifts to give, such as a gift card to a favorite activity, a yearly pass to the cinema, or a trip to see a favorite theatre show or musical.

If your spouse is a clutter bug and you need to help them get the decluttering bug, read this post!

Finding the motivation to start a big minimalist decluttering session can be challenging, especially when overwhelmed by a messy house. If you need extra inspiration to declutter your messy home click, here!

Best minimalist decluttering methods to try.

The box method: This is an extreme way to start minimalism and declutter your life. The principle is that you put everything away in a box, and you only remove things from the box you use over time.

I haven’t tried this method, but I think it sounds like a great way to weed out the items you never use!

An easy way to start to declutter with this method would be to try it with your kitchen gadgets and drawers first.

So, pack up all your utensils and gadgets in a box and put them in the garage or basement. Every time you genuinely need an item, remove it from the box. After six months, anything left unused in the box gets donated.

The Minimalist Game: The Minimalists initially invented the Mins Game, and it is now an Instagram phenomenon. It’s an uncomplicated, easy-to-follow minimalist approach. 

The rules are pretty simple:

  1. On the first day of the month, you discard one thing,
  2. On the second day of the month, you get rid of two things
  3. On the third day of the month, you throw away or donate three things

And so forth and so on. There are no strict rules about what you can get rid of; it is up to you what you get rid of each day!

As the month progresses, the number of items you need to declutter increases.

This is one of the best ways to declutter if you have many things to simplify. It is also a great way to continue minimalism after decluttering. 

The Kon Mari declutter method:  This extreme minimalism method has changed the way I view my possessions and changed the way I shop forever. 

It is quite an extreme decluttering method but one, according to the founder Marie Kondo, which has a low failure rate.

The Kon Mari declutter method involves working through the many categories in your home and decluttering anything which doesn’t spark joy. Having categories to work through certainly made it easier for me to declutter.

Marie Kondo also touches upon the many complex reasons we hang onto stuff and gives us reasons to change our habits.

You are encouraged to work through the Konmari declutter categories at your speed. Kondo advises you to work through the categories in the order presented in the book.

Clothes are the first category, this is the easiest one, and you finish with all your sentimental things. The theory behind this minimalist decluttering checklist is that you will find it easier to declutter your sentimental items and minimize your life by the time you have worked through all straightforward categories.

In my opinion, this is the best way to declutter if you like to be methodical and don’t want to rebound into old habits.

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