Five 5-Minute Decluttering Hacks to Start Conquering Your Stuff

“Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” — Albert Einstein

Do you have a place for all your stuff? Or is your stuff stuffed into places where you can’t find it? Could you describe a lot of your stuff as clutter?

Decluttering has been a popular, or should I say prevalent, term in recent years. If you have stuff that you need to get rid of, then you have clutter. When your home is filled with clutter, trying to tackle a mountain of stuff can be quite overwhelming. In fact, it can be paralyzing. You know you need to do something, but you think there must be a commonly known place to start that everybody knows but you. So, you don’t do anything.

Here’s my advice: start with just five minutes. Baby steps are important. Sure, five minutes won’t barely make a dent in your managing all your stuff, but it’s a start. Celebrate when you’ve made that start!

Then take another five minutes tomorrow. And another the next day. Before you know it, you’ll have cleared a whole closet or a room and then half your house and then … who knows? Maybe one day you will have completed decluttering and you can describe your home as uncluttered!

For those who are overwhelmed by their clutter, here are some great ways to get started, five minutes at a time.

1. Designate a spot for incoming papers. Papers often account for a lot of our clutter. This is because we put them in different spots — on the counter, on the table, on our desk, in a drawer, on top of our dresser, in our car. No wonder we can’t find anything! Designate an in-box tray or spot in your home (or at your office, for that matter) and don’t put down papers anywhere but that spot. Got mail? Put it in the inbox. Got school papers? Put it in the inbox. Receipts, warranties, manuals, notices, flyers? In the inbox! This one little change can really transform your paperwork.

2. Start clearing a starting zone. Clear one area. This is your no-clutter zone. It can be a counter, or your kitchen table, or the three-foot perimeter around your couch. Wherever you start, make a rule: nothing can be placed there that’s not actually in use. Everything must be put away. Once you have that clutter-free zone, keep it that way! Now, each day, slowly expand your no-clutter zone until it envelopes the whole house!

3. Clear off a counter. Your goal is that all flat spaces are clear of clutter. They could still have useful or decorative items on them, such as a toaster or maybe a candle, but not things that don’t belong. Only you can decide what belongs. So start with one counter. Clear off everything possible, except maybe one or two essential things.

4. Pick a shelf. Now that you’ve done a counter, try a shelf. It doesn’t matter what shelf. It could be a shelf in a closet, or on a bookshelf. Don’t tackle the whole bookshelf — just one shelf. Clear all non-essential things and leave it looking neat and clutter-free.

5. Pick up 5 things and find a home for them. These should be things that you actually use, but they just seem to be put down anywhere, because they don’t have a home. If you don’t know exactly where things belong, you have to designate a place for them. Take a minute to think it through — where would be a good spot? Put them close to where they would be used. Then always put those things in those places when you’re finished using them.

Now they have a home, which is the ultimate goal for everything you own. That is how you can actually end the decluttering process. Do this for everything in your home, a few things at a time. If everything has a home and you put everything in its home, you will not have clutter and therefore will not need to declutter!

This should give you a starting point. Just pick one hack that seems doable to you and get started! Once you get going, the whole process may unfold as you decide what you want things to look like and how you want to live in your space.

This post was previously published at https://HERLifeHacks.com. Look there for more life hacks to help you conquer the overwhelming task of decluttering.

I’m Vicki Peel and I’m on a mission to simplify my life by getting rid of stuff that gets in the way of living. As I continue on this journey, I’ll be creating products to help you create that order in your life as I implement new systems for creating a more simple life! Check back at https://SimpleSystemsforLife.com for new products.