Stop World War III: Make a Decluttering Plan
You’ve decided. This Saturday you’re going to clear the spare room… the scary room. The monster room. Old baby stuff, the broken scooter and the unbuilt Ikea furniture still in the box. It’s the long weekend, why not?
You roll up your sleeves and pull out all your coats, halloween costumes and old wedding outfits from the spare wardrobe. You’re doing it! You’re on a roll. But you pick up the shoes you wore to your best friend’s wedding and your heart sinks. You wore them once, they hurt your feet all day… but they remind you of a precious time.
You find a necklace your mum gave you that is missing a stone. You’ll get it fixed… some day.
Your partner pops his head in the room and starts taking old shirts out of the discard pile, the things you finally brought yourself to let go of, and you feel like bursting into tears.
You have to call it a day before World War III breaks out both inside you and with your partner.
So what went wrong?
You my friend, needed a plan. A strategy calling out what you want (space and sanity), how you’re going to get it, when you’re going to start and how you’re going to get around the inevitable obstacles so they don’t derail the day (and your head with it).
But, I’ve got your back. Here are four ingredients for a great decluttering strategy:
You need decluttering goals
What do you actually want to your home to look like? What do you want to be able to do? What do you not want to do?
Vlada Karpovich from Pexels
Asking yourself how you would fill your home if you could start again from scratch is an amazing way to figure out what you should keep and what you could let go of. If your life has changed recently, maybe a new baby or a new career, think about what you don’t need anymore.
Maybe the annual skiing trips are a thing of the past and you could rent your gear instead. Maybe your new job requires a completely different wardrobe. For example, I no longer own pencil skirts because I need to be able to bend when I work with clients! Take a piece of paper and write out the parts of your life that you need to have stuff for and start from there.
2. You need a good place to start
My universal advice to clients is, ‘don’t start with the most sentimental, taxing or heavy things’ - they will derail you from the start! I recommend you pick an area of your house that has a high impact on your space, but not your emotions.
Great examples are areas used every day like your pantry or the hall cupboard. I’d avoid photographs and memorabilia until you have flexed your decluttering muscles on the easier stuff. Watch this video to learn how to do a simple exercise to pick a starting point.
3. You need to work when you work best
Are you a morning or night person (where are my fellow night owls)? Do you enjoy long decluttering stints to get it all out of the way or just decluttering a few things per day?
Take some time to reflect on when you work best and with what frequency. When are the chaos hours at home? If it’s dinner time up until the kid’s bed time - avoid that! Also consider when are the sacred times in your house? If you love your Sunday mornings, leave this one be too. Try a Saturday afternoon when you’ve have your lunch and more pep in your step.
4. You need to divide work based on your strengths
This is where teamwork with your partner becomes a life saver. Have you got an eye for detail, but a bad back that stops you from lifting boxes - how about you sort the posh crockery and let your partner bring things to the dump. Are you sentimental? Let them hug you through it. Can they never find their keys? Pop a hook up on the wall by the door for them. Do what you do best.
If you don’t know, ask your family what they think are your main strengths and weaknesses. Team work rocks!
Photo by Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels
Once you have all these things worked out - pick a time, pick a starting point and assign jobs based on what each of you does best and see how much further you get. I believe in you!
Want help making a great plan? Try my Fun, Fast and Finished 2-hour planning session on Zoom. Clients have been able to start with a blast learning about their decluttering personality, brainstorming ways to overcome obstacles, make a 3-month decluttering plan and get a curated list of places near them to bring donations and discards. Click here for more information.
