Organising project: Help Declutter my home
People ask Can you help declutter my home?” My answer is: you need to do two things: create a specific plan and do the work. Let's unpack it.
How Do I Declutter My Home?
Start by creating a specific plan, then do the work. Get clear on what a decluttered home looks like for you, colour your rooms red, orange or green, and begin with the orange or green areas to build momentum. Then pick your 'one thing' — the single project that will make the biggest difference — and focus on it.
A while ago, I was running a workshop. Now I love lots of interaction in my workshops, so the question to the audience was: What would you like to get from this workshop? Several answers came up: someone wanted “help to declutter my home”; another wanted a “general plan” and just some basic ideas. None of these answers is wrong, but they are general and vague, which reduces your chances of success.
For example, if I generally want to have a clean and decluttered house, what are the chances I get it? Probably none; first, I need to know what my level of cleanliness and decluttering is, and what I need to do. How much time can I devote to organising? What is my plan this season, this month, this week and each day?
How to Get Help to Declutter Your Home: Two Things You Need
When people say, “help declutter my home”, my answer is I would love to help, but there are two things you need to do:
1. Create a specific plan
2. Do the work
Without these two things, you won’t get there (sorry for the tough love).
I love reading books on habit formation, amazing educational or intellectual achievement. What all these projects and authors have in common is they are clear on their goals. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it doesn’t have to be rigid, but it needs to be clear.
Let’s transform this into specific help to declutter your home
I know we are online and this is not a synchronous conversation, but from here, I will be coaching you through this so you can find your own answers.
Get clear on your organising project: what is working and what isn’t
If you come up to me and want help to declutter your home, I would ask several questions:
When is your house decluttered?
What is the worst and best area in your house?
Why?
What “thing” is everywhere in your home?
If you could only fix one thing in your house, what would you declutter or organise?
What these questions aim to do is create clarity.
My decluttered home might still be too messy for you, or you might think it is way too sterile. Having a clear picture in your mind of what decluttered looks like will help you.
Some ideas to start your organising project
If you like, create a vision board; pick furniture, colours and an ambience that speaks to you. This creates an unconscious link to your mind that will work on organising and decluttering whilst you sleep.
The secret to organising
In the secret to organising, one of the activities I get you to do is do a stocktake of your home. Then you label each area in the home in colour from red, orange to green depending on how cluttered you feel the space is. I suggest you start organising and decluttering the orange or green areas to get momentum. Start that snowball rolling down the hill when you have momentum (and create proof that you can do this) you will automatically be able to tackle harder areas.
Success leaves clues, also in organising and decluttering
Finding out why some areas are much more organised and less cluttered is also really important. The saying is “success leaves clues”. Say your kitchen is generally really clean. My guess is that you have a clear habit/routine for washing dishes and putting them away. You most likely have “homes” for each item in your kitchen, meaning you are putting items away in the space where they “live” when not in use.
If, on the other hand, your clothes are scattered throughout the house, washed but not folded. My guess would be you have an issue in your wardrobe. Either not enough space, no clear system, a dedicated spot for each piece of clothing. And/or you don’t have a habit of folding as well as putting items back in their spots.
Be a detective
What areas in your house work?
What are the habits, routines and “homes” you have created for these items?
Also, make sure you get the secret to organising, as it will guide you through this in detail.
Specific items
Going back to a “thing” that is everywhere. Instead of clothes, what if books are everywhere? If you don’t read them, maybe put them all together and see which ones you want to keep, read and file.
The same goes for, say, toys. If a kid's toys are everywhere, is there a clear “home” for them? If not, make one and teach your children to bring items there when they have finished playing or at the end of the day.
What is your one thing – that will help declutter your home?
My final question to help you declutter your home is: what is the one thing in your house that would help? This is the one thing that gives you leverage, because you may be losing a lot of emotional and actual time in one area of your house. There are whole books on the one thing; the argument with this is that you focus most (all) your energy on one simple task. It might not be fun, but it will move the needle forward and have a ripple effect on many other things in your life.
The one thing might be a complex project like the garage, your paperwork, or your budget. When done, however, this can transform your life and will free up time to do another project.
So we have created an elaborate answer to help declutter my home. I can’t do it for you, but I can and will cheer you on.
Ready to Start?
Get my my first book “Organising Unpacked”.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Colour each area of your home red, orange or green depending on how cluttered it feels. Start with the orange or green areas to build momentum, then tackle the harder ones.
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It is the single task that would make the biggest difference, such as the garage, your paperwork or your budget. Focus most of your energy on it. It moves the needle and frees up time for the next project.
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Success leaves clues. Rooms that stay organised usually have clear habits and a "home" for every item. Copy those habits in the areas that are not working.
