5 MAJOR Decluttering Mistakes You're Making That Keep Clutter Trapped In Your Home

Decluttering ROADBLOCKS – 5 BIG Mistakes People Make When Decluttering Their Home – and YOU probably are too!

Are you tired of trying to declutter your home and feeling like you’re not getting anywhere? Do you feel like decluttering makes a BIGGER mess than you had before you started?

I absolutely felt that way too until I realized the 5 BIG mistakes I was making. You might be making one of these mistakes too – and it’s **why it all overwhelms YOU** and keeps you from making progress.

5 major decluttering mistakes that trap clutter in your home

Welcome to Decluttering Your Life - we hope you enjoy our quick decluttering tips, organization ideas and simple DIY solutions for your home - posts may contain ads & affiliate links - that's how we keep the lights on =)

✅ Reader Bonus:
Get 25% Off ALL Printables and Planners with discount code: MOMHACKS
=> See all printables here

Before we jump into these decluttering tips that explain WHY decluttering might be extra hard on YOU, I wanted to share something with you.

I have a new hidden section here on Decluttering Your Life that is called “BEYOND The Clutter“.

(believe it or not, there IS more to life than CLUTTER haha!)

Here’s what’s new in my personal blog area:

– My NEW Backyard Fire Pit Area

– Simple Party Finger Foods I Make

– Super CUTE Homemade Baby Shower Gift Baskets

Those posts are lists of ideas that I am collecting for my personal life – hope they help YOU out.

Ok, let’s jump into the 5 mistakes you are probably making while dealing with CLUTTER.

5 BIG Decluttering Mistakes

When I first set out to declutter my home many, many years ago, I ran into so many roadblocks that kept me from making progress.

It was SO frustrating – I didn’t know what I was doing wrong!

Seriously, how hard could it be to declutter your life?

Turns out I was making ALL 5 of these mistakes people make when decluttering a home!

Thankfully, I figured out what those mistakes are – and changed accordingly.

AND, I FINALLY took the time to… drumroll please…

**learn the RIGHT way to declutter**

That changed EVERYTHING for me.

Below are the 5 biggest decluttering mistakes I made – that YOU might be making too.

#1 – Using Boxes

When it comes to the 5 mistakes people make when decluttering home, using boxes is at the top of the list.

Using boxes when you are trying to get rid of clutter can set you up for failure that you won’t see coming.

It’s all about how your brain perceives what to keep and what to throw away – and the whole point of decluttering is getting rid of too much stuff, right?

Right!

There are many barriers to decluttering that can hold you back from making progress getting clutter out of your home.

Some barriers (like hoarding or feeling depressed) can be really hard to overcome.

So make the small changes in your decluttering strategy – they can make a BIG difference in your results!

#2 – Organizing Clutter

Decluttering is NOT organizing.

If you are organizing your clutter, you are not DEcluttering – you’re just moving around the stuff you have – and you probably have too MUCH stuff.

Before you organize, you need to purge your house of stuff FIRST… and then you can organize what’s left (ie, the things you truly need).

Need a decluttering plan?

✅ Try: 40 Bags in 40 Days

#3 – Not Being Ruthless

Listen, you can NOT be wimpy or wishy-washy when decluttering your home – you have to be RUTHLESS to take your house back from it’s cluttered situation.

Stop worrying about holding each thing and seeing if you feel joy holding it – that’s all wishy-washy…

Be TOUGH – Get rid of it!

Need help with that?

✅ Learn: How to be RUTHLESS when decluttering clothes

Have you ever heard the phrase “cleaning like a mad woman”?

You need to DO that…

Get MAD about your cluttered mess situation and get to work.

Throwing things away feels GOOD when you’re truly ready to do it.

Just imagine how good you’ll feel with less STUFF all around you in your home.

#4 – Not Having a Plan

Again, let me ask you about a common saying.

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying:

“Fail to plan – plan to fail”

If you don’t have a decluttering plan in place BEFORE you start, you’ll end up getting nowhere.

In fact, you’ll probably end up with a bigger mess than you had before.

And THAT is frustrating and defeating …. you need a plan for where to start decluttering to conquer your cluttered house one step at a time.

Need Help?

✅ Read: My house is SO cluttered I don’t know where to start

Now, don’t overthink it, but do spend some time on your plan to declutter your home.

#5 – You Don’t Know HOW

Have you ever set off to start decluttering your house when you stop and realize that you really don’t know how to declutter your home the right way.

You feel like you’re running in circles and not getting anywhere.

Oh, I’ve been there, done that!

I had to go to Decluttering School to learn the right way to do it.

If you think about it, no one ever actually taught you HOW to declutter, right?

Me neither.

As a kid, I was told to “Go clean your room!”

But I was never really shown HOW to do that the right way.

Same with decluttering – no one ever really taught me what that even means other than “throw stuff away”.

Decluttering is a skill…

and…

KEEPING your house clutter-free AFTER your first big decluttering binge is just as important.

It’s ok if you really don’t how to do all that.

Taking the time to learn HOW to declutter the RIGHT way will be a life skill that WILL change your life.

The RIGHT Way To Declutter

1 – How I FINALLY Organized All My Piles Of Paper – Ready to get your paper piles seriously organized? Here’s how I organized all my paper clutter, made an important documents binder, organized my monthly bills and got my paper clutter under control.

2 – How To Declutter Your House When You Have Too Much STUFF – Simple decluttering system to declutter your home when you have too much stuff, are feeling overwhelmed and need a plan to get seriously organized and START decluttering your house or apartment.

3 – How To Sell Your Clutter For Money And Downsize Your Stuff – Need to save money AND make extra money? Here’s how to sell your stuff and sell your CLUTTER to make money.

4 – How People Keep Their House Clean With Kids – Trying to keep a clean home but you have KIDS messing things up EVERYWHERE? Try these sneaky ways to keep your house clean with toddlers, kids, pets or a MESSY husband.

✅ Recommended:

(image above links to a LOT of declutter challenge printables, cleaning schedules and MUCH more!)

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.