Just Declutter
I define clutter as anything that continually gets out of control in my own home. Defining clutter this way has improved my home because this definition means clutter is no longer an ambiguous idea. I no longer need to evaluate each item in my home for its potential to be used in the future or how it makes me feel.
Instead, I know that if a space in my home continually gets out of control, there’s too much stuff in that space. There is clutter, and I need to declutter that space. If it keeps getting out of control, there’s still clutter. I need to keep decluttering until I’m able to keep it under control.
Clutter is anything that gets out of control in your home. Clutter is personal. Your Clutter Threshold is why it’s personal.
You have a Clutter Threshold, and if your home is usually out of control, you’re living above it. Your Clutter Threshold is the amount of stuff that you, personally, can easily keep under control in your own home. If your house is constantly falling back into disaster status, you have too much stuff.
The good news is that once you reach your Clutter Threshold, you’ll like your home more. The bad news is that you can only find your Clutter Threshold by decluttering. There’s no way to predict what your threshold will be. Solve the problem of your home making you crazy by decluttering. Does it still make you crazy? You need to declutter more. Is it still driving you bananas? Keep decluttering.
One day, you’ll look around your home and realize, Wow. My house is staying under control and I no longer feel like I’m hanging off the edge of a cliff by my fingernails.
You’ve reached your Clutter Threshold! Congratulations! Now, all you have to do is keep decluttering. If something comes into your home, something else has to leave to make room. That’s how you maintain a home that you can keep maintaining.
Embrace Less and Better
After what felt like millions of failed attempts to “get my act together” in my own house (but was probably only hundreds of thousands), I finally accepted that the way I’d been attempting to change was never going to work.
“Less” and “better” are more effective goals to work toward than “finished” or “done.” I love to be done as much as—or more than—anyone. Some of the strategies I’ll share later will be all about the power of finishing. But when it came to decluttering my ridiculously cluttered home, the goal of “finishing decluttering” backfired. First of all, it isn’t actually possible. Homes that stay clutter-free have people in them who never stop decluttering.
Decluttering success is having less stuff in your house than you did before. This means that even if a space is not finished (perfectly free of clutter), as long as I have removed anything that should not be there, I have successfully decluttered. I’m not done, but there is less. The space is better than it was when I started. Better is good. It’s progress. Even if I am sure I won’t be able to finish, there is value in making a space better.
Embracing “less” and “better” as valuable goals allows me to start. I am willing to do something, even if I don’t have the confidence or time to do the job perfectly.
Focusing on having “less” and making my home “better” is what finally brought about real change in my home. This mindset shift helped me get started, and helps me keep going. Doing something makes my home better—so much better than it ever was—simply because there is less.
Just Declutter
My book is called Organizing for the Rest of Us, but I’m telling you to “just declutter.” Decluttering is the secret truly organized people know even though they don’t know it’s a secret. Decluttering is the missing piece of the puzzle for those of us who have spent our lives trying to get organized, but couldn’t.
When I started what I call my deslobification process, I thought I was giving up when I decided organizing was hopeless for me and I was just going to declutter. Instead, that small but significant change in my thoughts and tactics ultimately changed everything. When I focused exclusively on getting stuff out of my house instead of looking for creative ways to keep my stuff, my home started to look more organized, feel more organized, and function more organized.
I achieved what I’d wanted all along. I had a house that stayed under control. I knew what I had and could find what I needed when I needed it, and I did this by just decluttering.
Organizing and decluttering are two different things. Organizing is problem-solving, and while I’ll share some ways to do that, problem-solving can be overwhelming. Organizing isn’t possible when there’s more stuff than could ever fit in my home.
Give yourself permission (or take my permission) to just declutter; it will give you permission to get started. Remove the stuff that shouldn’t be in your home. That alone will solve the vast majority of your frustrations. (Don’t worry, I’ll give you the steps you need to actually do it.)
is a blogger, podcaster, speaker, and (much to her own surprise) a decluttering expert. She taught both English and theatre arts before leaving her job to make her family her life’s work. In an attempt to get her home under control, Dana started blogging as “Nony” (short for anonymous) at A Slob Comes Clean. Dana soon realized she was not alone in her housekeeping struggles and in her feelings of shame. Today, Dana shares realistic home management strategies with her signature humor and a message of hope for the hopelessly messy through her blog, weekly podcasts, and videos. Dana lives with her husband and three kids just outside of Dallas, Texas. Learn more at www.aslobcomesclean.com.
Photograph © Sarah Beare, used with permission
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