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I’m hoping this article will help you answer your questions about where to start decluttering your home, even if you aren’t interested in becoming a cozy minimalist. I gear most of my writing and content to people just like you, those starting out on the path to living with less. Those people not looking to become extreme minimalists because they want a home that is comfortable not sterile and cold. If this sounds like you, then this post will be helpful for you.
This is the most common minimizing question I get… other than the decorating question of “Why does my room look off?” and the organizing question “How can I optimize this small space?”
First of all, I believe that clutter is best removed in layers.
If you’re wanting to do a massive purge over a weekend, my philosophies aren’t for you.
The worst is when you want something so bad because you know that it will benefit you and get stuck at the start.
When you look around, you don’t see a way out.
You might want change but you don’t know how to make that happen.
“What should I declutter first? Because looking around, it’s a little overwhelming.”
“If it’s this hard to declutter at the beginning, I’ll never be done.”
“This is hopeless, I’ll never get there because of my family…”
“Girl, I know I need to declutter but I don’t even know where to start.”
These are real life issues I get asked a lot. So, I figured I would do a podcast about them.
If this is you, this podcast episode is for you. I give you three actionable tips that you can use to build momentum and peel back a few layers of clutter, even if you don’t know where to start. Even if you feel overwhelmed right now.
Momentum is a funny thing. You have the desire to want the change but you just can’t seem to ACTUALLY do it.
The remedy for inaction is action. Little action. And that little action has to be easy action.
The worst thing you can do at this point is take on a huge project. You’ll burnout.
Your first tip is all about looking for the easy stuff.
You’ve heard me say it before, and I’ll say it again- become a heat seeking missile looking for the easy to let go things.
The idea is two fold: first you begin to more quickly identify clutter, second you get better at parting with it.
You’ve learned how to add clutter, and I will teach you how to declutter and how not to reclutter.
But we start by building that decluttering muscle, that hasn’t been worked in a while, and that will make the whole process easier.
I have a tip sheet you can use, it’s in the insider’s area, here’s the link to sign up. It’s filled with ideas and prompts to find the easy stuff. This is the easy action part of my beginners decluttering formula, little action, easy action.
Once you’ve gotten moving and you feel like you are ready to go a little deeper, don’t do a large space. Focus your efforts to smaller, bite sized pieces. The surest way to befuddle your efforts is to bite off more than you can chew.
I’ve spent hours in our old basement of doooom and then exhausted, I would leave the space, looking back and feeling defeated as it didn’t look like I even made a dent in it. That feeling of defeat would stop me from doing more for weeks, and sometimes months. I don’t want that for you, friend.
Let’s look at my favorite area to declutter: The Kitchen.
You might look at this room and start thinking of the pantry, the drawers, the cabinets AND the surfaces needing to be done.
That thought moves to the rest of the house and all of the things… You are doomed before you even start! This is the thinking that will get you overwhelmed.
That thinking is what I call sticky thinking. If you want this process to feel like you’re walking through molasses… up to your knees… in the winter… then that’s the way to do it.
However, If you would rather make it feel easier I want you just to focus on what you can see.
Then focus on one square foot cube at a time. (Remember, this is only the stuff you can see.
Once you’ve got the surfaces done, you can move on to the drawers, cabinets and pantry etc. But that’s further down the line… right now, just focus on that square-foot cube.)
At the beginning of your decluttering journey, I want you to become a collector of little successes.
When you start and finish that one square-foot cube, you get a little success story.
Those build momentum faster than a small chunk out of a big room, that you rarely use.
When you do little by little, you create momentum with your progress you can see.
But if you spend a bunch of time on the storage room, you close the door and forget about it, or worse, you don’t see enough of a dent in the stuff compared to your time and effort.
This is the little action in my decluttering formula of little action, easy action.
Learn to prioritize Your Own Home and The Spaces Within It. Not every room is created equally.
There are Primary (the most common areas and most used areas), the Secondary (the more personal areas) and the Tertiary (the areas that are more utilitarian and storage spaces).
The primary spaces are areas that you and your family would be in and you would also host guests in, or guests would use. The Kitchen, Dining, Living Room and Guest Bathroom would be my Primary areas.
Yours might be different.
These PRIMARY spaces are the areas that I suggest focusing on first. They have the biggest impact on your entire family and you.
If these spaces are easier to tidy up at the end of the night, you can breathe easier.
This strategy is aimed at giving you a spatial reset, and some breathing space. Because when you’ve been treading water for so long and you’ve been unsure of where to start decluttering, it’s better to just get in the boat!
When decluttering, start from a target area you see every day (usually a surface) and move inward in each space.
Do those surfaces first, THEN and only then, move into the cabinets, drawers, closets and pantries etc. This is decluttering from the outside in rather than decluttering from the inside out.
The Three Actionable Strategies that will help you with Where To Start Decluttering with Cozy Minimalism:
➥ Look for The Easy Stuff – easy action
➥ Focus Your Efforts to a smaller area – little action
➥ The right spaces and areas
These are just three small examples from my toolkit that I use with clients and within my training programs.
I believe…
solutions need to be targeted to what YOU are going through, not a step by step generic plan based on rooms to declutter.
that when you take targeted action in your space, you will move through the layers of clutter faster.
in getting to the root cause of clutter and minimalist mindshifts you end up with lasting change. Because who wants to spend all of that time decluttering, only to end up REcluttering and then needing to declutter again?
Stop treading water and get in the boat!
Beneath every piece of clutter is a feeling. And beneath every feeling is a need. And when we meet that need rather than focusing on just decluttering, we begin to deal with the root cause, not the symptom.
When you begin dealing with the root cause, you will stop the cycle.
I hope that gave you some solid actionable steps to your questions about where to start decluttering with Cozy Minimalism.
If you want to learn more, go to my shop to see everything I offer for every budget.
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Comments
I’m desperately needing to do this! I have too many storage areas that are costing me way too much for stuff I don’t need….and yes I am stuck (and overwhelmed) at the start & process!!
Author
You can do this. You will thank yourself down the road for continuing on.
I’m always cheering you on!
Angie 💜
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