Declutter - Get Rid of Clutter Today

Declutter and feel your stress and frustration lift as you reclaim your space and increase your energy. Here are practical steps to get rid of clutter in different areas of your life.

Are you a classic packrat?

Does clutter just seem to follow you around, no matter what you do!

Is the clutter draining your energy and increasing your frustration and stress?

Are you looking for ways to reduce stress and remove the clutter chaos?

Clutter can be an enormous drain on your time and energy.

You will be surprised when you declutter one area of your life how it has a positive effect on you by reducing your stress and improving your relationships.

By organizing clutter and reclaiming your space, you live a life of less stress and more energy.

One of the goals of getting rid of clutter is to feel good about yourself and the place where you live.

If you want to reduce paper clutter, organize your desk, or simply be able to park your car in the garage again, these tips to declutter give you a step-by-step process.

Organize clutter with baby steps

How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time!

So it is with decluttering.

Start small in organizing your clutter.

I like to use the F.A.S.T approach to organize clutter and then sweep it away.

I find that using the F.A.S.T principle can be helpful here:

F: Fix a time. Getting rid of clutter can be a daunting prospect. Do you find that you procrastinate over your clutter clearing sessions?

Write down an appointment in your time management planner.

This increases your commitment to getting rid of clutter and is a good strategy for overcoming procrastination.

A: Anything not used recently. When was the last time you used the old set of tools or the box of clothes in the attic? Potential items that can go on your list of clutter are items that you have not used in the last 12 months.

Ask yourself the following:

When did you last use the item?

Are you likely to use it again?

Is it worth holding onto it, given my home is cluttered?

S: Someone else's clutter. Is your home a storage space for other people's clutter?

If your home is cluttered with someone else's belongings then it is time to politely let the person know that they should pick up their property.

T: Trash. Your trash can is your good friend when getting rid of clutter.

Your clutter control goal is to keep those things that make sense in the space that you have.

Have a vision to reduce clutter

Are you stressed by just thinking of the mountain of clutter that has accumulated in different areas of your home?

Before you start to declutter, just stop and visualize what you want to do with your reclaimed space.

Whether you want to organize garage space, your closet, or have an organized home, or your life, having a clear vision of what it will be like when your space is decluttered can be motivating.

But by focusing on what you want and the relationship between you and your space (rather than the quantity of stuff) you really make some permanent changes in your habits.

Type of clutter

Imagine how good it feels to have an organized home and life and to know where your things are.

You can declutter your life, create more space at home, and conquer the mountain of papers on your desk or in the office.

But it is important to know that there are different types of clutter!

Clutter can be of the memory type - those things that have an emotional value to you and have memories attached to them.

Another type of clutter is based on the idea "I might need this in future." This type of clutter is usually the target for organizing clutter.

When thinking about getting rid of clutter ask yourself the follow question:

Does this item move me closer to the vision of the life that I have?

If the item moves you closer, keep it; if not then what is it doing here?

Have a plan to organize clutter

This occurs on two levels.

First get the big picture - "What do you want to use this space for?"

Have a clear idea of how you want this space to look after you have decluttered.

The second part of planning is to schedule the time to declutter. This can be as little as 10 minutes a day.

Decluttering is an overwhelming and daunting prospect that you may not be looking forward to.

Start small and develop momentum to break the inertia!

For example, if you want to declutter a room, choose one surface and tackle that.

If you want to get rid of the paper clutter then start just with your desk and move out to other areas of the house or office. Here are some tips on how to organize your desk.

Choose a small part of your own space.

Tip: Don't start off with your partner's space or your children's rooms. This is a quick route to causing stress and frustration.

Choose a small thing to organize - organize a drawer or a closet.

This 'divide and conquer' strategy means that you won't tackle things that are too big, a real motivation drainer!

Sometimes a 'to-do' list with a set time for each task is helpful.

Set yourself a task and complete it.

Write down what you want to declutter. Break down your tasks so that you can keep your decluttering tasks specific.

Don't stop halfway - try to complete the task.

I have found that starting small helps to build on your successes and develops the motivation to keep on decluttering.

Have a place for items and reward yourself

Everything has a home. Most professional organizers go by the mantra "Have a place for everything and everything in its place."

This clutter principle means that each item that you decide to keep has a deliberate and purposeful existence to help you to achieve vision that you are building towards.

Praise yourself. Often our hardest task master is ourself. If this is true then make sure you praise yourself for a job well done.

Enjoy the space and freedom that you have created. This is one of the long-term benefits that you get from clearing clutter.

When decluttering - keep it simple

Get yourself 3 boxes and label them as "trash", "charity" and "to keep".

Be ruthless in your decisions. If you find that you are saying to yourself "But I might use it one day," then ask yourself why you haven't used it already!

When you have filled the charity bag, don't leave it lying around for you to pick through. Put it in your car and take it to a charity store.

For the "to keep" box, avoid future clutter by creating a home for the items.

For example, I have a habit of leaving the morning papers around the house. Now, I have a newspaper box and this has reduced the clutter in the house immensely.

Do you have a home for everything? Make sure that each item has a home and that you put it in its home.

This is a time when I start to make excuses!

Try to be aware of excuses such as "I don't have time" to avoid not putting an item in its place.

At the end of this process, don't forget to reward yourself for a job well done. Now you are ready to start on the next area of clutter.

Related articles on organizing tips

Closet Organization: Tips on Creating Your Closet Organization System

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