3 Quick Decluttering Hacks That Really Work –
Too Much Clutter? House Feels Cluttered and YOU Feel Overwhelmed?
Try my 3 odd, but SIMPLE, decluttering mind hacks below that trick your brain into WANTING to start clearing clutter and get your house decluttered without losing your sanity.
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Quick Decluttering Hacks
Finally! Decluttering secrets that actually work!
As a former overwhelmed clutter bug I have been there before, and know that at times, it can be challenging, frustrating and stressful trying to get your home clutter-free (or close to it).
In fact, I’ve often has “decluttering paralysis” – meaning:
I was mentally paralyzed by all the clutter and couldn’t even figure out what room to declutter first!
I had to teach myself a few quick decluttering hacks that worked for ME… and I’ve found my little decluttering secrets really work for others as well to prevent feeling so darn overwhelmed.
Here are my 3 decluttering hacks that will provide a simple plan of attack so that you can declutter your home quickly and easily WITHOUT feeling overwhelmed!
Decluttering Hack #1:
Re-Train Your Brain
To reduce those nasty feelings of overwhelm when decluttering, you need to re-train your brain to perceive your decluttering project as ‘do-able’.
HOW do you do that?
Simple: Choose only 1 area in your home to declutter at a time.
Seriously, ONLY pick ONE area at a time – that’s it!
It could be an area that has an excessive amount of clutter in it or it could be your last home organization project that you never got around to completing.
Better yet – if feeling overwhelmed is a BIG problem for you, pick one small specific area that is NOT overly cluttered, but is cluttered enough that you will SEE an improvement after decluttering it.
When you’re re-training your brain, you want to teach your brain to recognize a new reward to small efforts.
That reward is a clutter-free area.
Just remember: choose ONE specific area or project.
Even if it’s just a drawer or ONE small part of a counter in your kitchen.
If your brain perceives the decluttering project or area as “TOO MUCH – TOO HARD”, you won’t do it.
The whole point is to do small decluttering tasks that are EASY wins.
Here are 10 Quick Decluttering Ideas For Easy Wins:
- Declutter Your Silverware Drawer
- Declutter Your Purse
- Declutter Your Car Console
- Declutter Your Fridge (or one shelf/drawer in it)
- Declutter Your Mail Pile
- Declutter Your Expired Makeup
- Declutter Your Jewelry/Accessories
- Declutter ONE Spot on Your Kitchen Counter
- Declutter Your Junk Drawer
- Declutter One Area in Your Bathroom
Decluttering Hack #2:
Stay Focused
Once you have chosen one specific area in your home to declutter, break this small decluttering project down into even smaller manageable chunks or tasks.
When your brain perceives a project as “Do-able”, you WILL actually focus and DO IT.
Your chunks or tasks may be as simple as decluttering one shelf in a closet, decluttering ONE drawer, or getting rid of clutter under one bed.
Make a list of these simple small tasks that are required to declutter that whole specific area – and ONLY do what is on that list until it’s done.
Decluttering Hack #3:
Work In Small Bursts
Once you have finished “chunking” your project into manageable tasks, you’ll want to tackle each task in 30 minute bursts.
I don’t know about YOU, but 30 minutes sounds “doable”, while 3 HOURS sounds more like I’d rather watch NetFlix ha!
Depending on your personal weekly schedule, you may be able to fit in a quick 30 minutes of decluttering in the evenings or during the day when your kids nap.
If your weekdays are full since you work, you might prefer to only declutter on the weekends – and that’s totally fine too!
You simply need to find small blocks of time to consistently declutter areas of your home.
My Decluttering Secret
Let me share my #1 decluttering tip that REALLY works for ME…
Here’s a secret decluttering trick that SO many have thanked me for sharing.
Yep, it’s one of those decluttering secrets that really works – and it’s so simple!
Personally, I prefer to do my decluttering “bursts” in the morning.
No, not because I am a Morning Person (which I am NOT)…
It’s because it’s the best time of day for me to “trick my brain” into believing it LOVES to declutter.
In fact, it’s the time of day my brain can’t WAIT to declutter something!
You know when THAT time is?
When my coffee is brewing.
No, that’s not a full 30 minutes by any means, but my brain totally likes doing it this way and I never feel overwhelmed.
Why?
For one, I know the coffee maker will beep to tell me it’s done soon – and that beep is a HUGE help for me.
Also, the SMELL of coffee brewing motivates my brain… it makes my brain happy because it knows it’s getting COFFEE – so that’s my reward for that short decluttering ‘burst’.
Smell of coffee brewing means my brain thinks it’s time to declutter something.
Sound of coffee maker beeping means my brain thinks it’s getting a reward FOR decluttering.
It might sound odd to you, but it REALLY works for me.
I just keep a running list of super simple decluttering projects I want to tackle and do one each morning.
As an added bonus, it sure starts my day off right – I feel super productive all day long.
Having a simple plan of attack using the above 3 decluttering ideas will help you to declutter your home without feeling overwhelmed by the ‘big picture’ of your cluttered house.
Just try it for one week and see how it will really work for you too!
10 Bonus Decluttering Hacks
When you’re decluttering your life, it’s all about the quick, easy wins.
- Use a monthly cleaning schedule to keep yourself organized and focused.
- Try one of these chore chart ideas to get the kids to help you out.
- Try one of these garage organization ideas to declutter all THAT stuff.
- If the nursery closet is a disaster, try one of these baby closet organization ideas.
- Is your closet packed full of stuff? Learn how to organize a small closet with lots of clothes.
- Organizing on a budget? Try one of these Dollar Tree organization ideas.
- Want some pretty ways to stay organized? Learn how to use baskets for organizing.
- Love your local Dollar Store? See clever ways to use their bathroom organizers
– such great ideas! - Have a small, cluttered room? Try these bedroom storage ideas.
- Can’t keep track of your monthly bills? Try my super simple ideas for bill organization (there’s a free printable too!)
More Decluttering and Organizing Ideas:
Dollar Tree Hacks-GENIUS $1 Organization Ideas To Try
- clever Dollar Store organization hacks to organize every inch of your home... on a budget...
Messy House? 6 Surprising Benefits of a Clean House That Will Totally Motivate You To Clean It Up
My House Was a MESS!
And my anxiety was through the roof!
I needed a plan to get it together - it was all pushing me over the edge.
Thing is - we LIVE here... I never had the fantasy that my home would ever look "Pinterest perfect".
I simply wanted more control, less clutter and much less anxiety.
I finally found something that worked for ME.
- My house is now easier to clean - I can now clean it in minutes, instead of hours.
- I can now actually FIND the things I'm looking for.
- I learned some simple decluttering systems that make me much more efficient every day - and I'm more relaxed and less overwhelmed all the time (finally)
- My house now looks pretty darn good almost all the time.
- Best of all - I no longer stress about guests unexpectedly showing up.
This is how I did it.
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