How to Create a Decluttering Habit That Will Stick
It’s one thing to finally gather up the energy and strength to actually declutter your home. It’s another to create a decluttering habit that will stick around longer than a few days!
Good news is that it can be done! Just like with anything it takes time to create any sort of new habit and decluttering is no exception.
Yes, it will take some time to develop a decluttering habit and probably even more time for any family members in your home to develop one.
To be fair and honest that is OK! It is Ok that your family might not be on board with your decluttering habit… just yet. Right now we are going to focus on just you.
You want to walk into a clean and clutter-free home on a daily basis, and who can blame you! It feels amazing and your life instantly feels less chaotic.
You know you want it. The question is how do you get it?
I’m sure you know a few people in your life that have beautifully decorated, clean, and organized homes 24/7. Although it may look effortless, it for sure isn’t.
Those people learned how to develop a decluttering habit that brought them to this type of success and it did not happen overnight but the point is that it did happen.
It can happen for you if you want it bad enough and you’re ready for the challenge! Let’s get started with some tips that will help you form your own decluttering habit!
(This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Some of the amazing following photos are not my own, click on them to head straight to the source!)
01 | REMIND YOURSELF WHY
If you have ever set any sort of goal for yourself I am sure a few weeks in (let’s just be honest…sometimes even just a few days in) you can already start to lose focus and fall back into an old habit.
That’s completely Ok. You know why? Because if you fall off the wagon you dust yourself off, catch back up to it, and hop right back on!
If you’re sick of your clothes getting dusty from falling off, maybe you should remind yourself daily why you want this.
Ask yourself why you want to maintain a clutter-free, clean, and organized home? It will be hard to develop a decluttering habit if you yourself don’t even know why it’s important to you.
Everyone has their individual reasons but here are some common examples of what people are seeking when they declutter their homes.
01 | You will have more free time for other activities besides cleaning
02 | Daily life will become more organized and less stressed
03 | Negative energy will start to dimish as you re-evaluate the priorities in your life
04 | You will start to value experiences over material possessions
05 | With less physical items around you, the more mental space you create for yourself
02 | MAKE A SMALL CHANGE
The reason why we fail with our new year’s resolutions is that we pile on too many. It simply too much change on top of your normal daily hustle and bustle.
The way to truly develop a decluttering habit is to make one small manageable change and stick with it until it is just as apart of your routine as brushing your teeth.
So figure out what your change will be and implement it daily.
If you are stuck on what change to choose here are some ideas to get you started.
01 | Put 15 minutes on the clock in the am or pm and vow to simply pick up clutter within that time frame
02 | Decide you will immediately go through mail the second it enters into your home and gets put in the proper place
03 | Decide that whenever you step out of your car you do not leave any trash or items that do not belong there.
04 | Clean your purse and wallet every Sunday
05 | Rearrange and clean out the fridge every week right before you go grocery shopping.
I would start out with no more than two changes. Again we all want everything to change at the same time, but reality has told us again and again that it truly does not work.
03| HAVE YOU DECLUTTERED ENOUGH?
You simply may still have too much stuff. If you have never reached the point where you feel your home has been truly decluttered, developing a decluttering habit might be a little hard to accomplish.
If this is what you think the problem is maybe it’s time you hit your home hard!
Make a list of all rooms in your home that need decluttering and create a schedule of when you will be able to tackle that space. Once you have removed a few more dozens of bags of donations you might find out that maintaining it will be a whole lot easier.
Don’t have a lot of time to dedicate to decluttering I would recommend you read the following articles! They may just inspire you to declutter your home in about half the time.
04 | YOU NEVER CAME UP WITH SOLUTIONS
How can you create a decluttering habit of putting your shoes away if you have no place to put your shoes?
How can you say you will organize your mail daily if you never created a designated spot for your mail?
You must come up with solutions to the problem areas of your home if you really want to create a decluttering habit that will stick.
Make a list of the problem areas you need to address. We all know the areas we are talking about. The shoe pile at the front entryway. The messy junk drawer. The kitchen counter piled with misc things.
Once you identify your problem areas, fix them. Get hooks for backpacks, get a mail organizing tray, install a shoe rack.
When you love an area of your home wanting to keep it organized will be so much easier to do! Can you imagine loving your front entryway set up so much you never see a pile of purses, shoes, coats, and backpacks again?
It will be worth your efforts. So get started right away!
Related Read
How To Use Binders to Organize Your Life
05 | MENTAL TRICKS ARE KEY
Do you remember that old school rumor that if your chewing mint gum while studying and then chew mint gum while you’re taking the test you will be more likely to recall more of what you studied?
Just a simple little trick of the mind that can yield pretty astonishing results!
Decluttering habits can also develop through subtle tricks of the mind and here are some ideas to try to kick start your habit.
01 | Light your favorite candle before you decide to clean, declutter, or organize your home. The association of the scent can help your mind turn on the “decluttering time” switch
02 | Play a certain playlist or genre of music you love as a cue that it is time to declutter your home
03 | Put a time on the clock. We can get easily distracted when we have all the time in the world. But when you’re pressed on time you will be able to stay focused on the task at hand
04 | Use the same time of the day to declutter and organize. If you know every morning between 9-10am you will be decluttering your home, it will become a part of your daily routine as much as anything else you do on a daily basis
05 | Have a reward system. After you have decluttered always treat yourself to a reward. It could be getting your self an overpriced coffee drink (guilty!) or maybe just watching an episode (or two) of your favorite show
06 | MAP OUT YOUR HOME
Most of us get distracted when cleaning or decluttering our homes. We start in the kitchen then move on to laundry before we’ve even finished the dishes, then decide to make the bed but first let me straighten the couch pillows…
Does this sound like you? When the mess is everywhere it is really easy to do. Unfortunately, this technique doesn’t get up very far in our efforts.
To create a solid decluttering habit map out what rooms in your home you will pick up and declutter every single day. Finish that one room until you move on.
If you have to put something back somewhere else, do so but then return back to the room you need to finish. Work smarter not harder!
Just as an example this is how I have mapped out my home and the order in which I declutter.
Living room > Desk area > Kitchen > Bathroom > Bedroom > Laundry room
For me this works, there is a flow and with a clean bedroom putting away clothes is so much easier at the end when I tackle my laundry room.
I also do this every morning, and guess what? I can get all rooms generally tidied up in under 45 minutes total!
So how will you map out your home? Make a list!
07 | HAVE A DONATION BOX READY 24/7
After a long weekend of serious purging, decluttering, and organizing you may think there is nothing left you can possibly declutter.
You sold it, took to a donation center, or maybe even trashed/recycled it!
That is until a few weeks later you are so over that dingy sweater, you tried on a pair of heels for a dinner and you cannot stand them (or stand in them more likely!) Or maybe you finally bought yourself a new set of pans! So what are you to do with the old ones?
Your not looking to do a full declutter anytime soon and that is why having a donation box ready all the time will tremendously help you maintain a clutter-free home!
Just simply toss items you no longer wish to keep in the donation box in between major decluttering sessions.
Once it’s filled in the car it goes and then replace it with another empty box. Constantly decluttering your home throughout the year versus once in a while will allow you to keep your goal of having a clutter-free environment.
08 | TRACK IT
One of the best ways to develop a decluttering habit is to track it! Use a life planner, a social calendar, or your phone.
Sometimes accountability is all that you need to stick to your decluttering habit! If you’re tracking your wins and fails you will be able to identify trends that may help you succeed for the long haul.
So on a daily or weekly basis see how often you committed to your new decluttering habit. If you did poorly there is no need to give up! Just try again next week.
I promise that you really can have a home that stays clean and clutter-free and developing a decluttering habit it how it’s going to happen.
Take the tools and tricks you’ve learned and put them to the test. Maybe one thing here will work for you or maybe they all will just remember to start with a simple change and you will be on your way to your perfect home!
Happy Decluttering!
2 thoughts on “How to Create a Decluttering Habit That Will Stick”
I enjoy your newsletter and practical ideas very much. I am an older woman and need to get rid of inherited items and clutter to simplify my life. It gets more difficult to keep my home near as the years go by. Thank you for helping with your many ideas!!!
Thank you so much for your kind words! Just take it a drawer at a time or a room at a time, slow progress is still progress 🙂
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