8 Simple Tips To Declutter Your Home Without Stress

Are you feeling overwhelmed and stressed about decluttering your home?

Here is the good news: clutter can be tamed without putting yourself through an added layer of stress. All it takes is a bit of strategic planning, some patience, and an open mind!

In this blog post, I will provide some helpful tips on how to declutter your home without feeling stressed about it.

Please keep reading to find out!

Why are you stressed out about decluttering your home?

Decluttering your home can be a stressful experience.

It often brings up emotions such as overwhelm, regret, guilt and sadness which all contribute to feelings of stress.

For examples, you might feel overwhelmed when you think about the effort and energy you need to put in to declutter your entire house. Or maybe you have difficulties letting go of anything due to various reasons.

Understanding the source of this stress is half the battle. Being mindful of the emotional triggers can help you prepare mentally when decluttering your home.

Here are the strategies to help you declutter without feeling stressed. Let’s break them down by ‘before decluttering’ and ‘during decluttering’.

Before you start decluttering

If the source of stress comes from uncertainty, you need to be well-prepared so you’ll feel confident about your decluttering project.

Here are the tips to help you get ready:

Tip# 1: Set a goal

Why do you want to declutter?

Is it because you want to make more space for your children to play? Is it because you want to reduce the time and energy you spend on taking care of your ‘stuff’?

Writing down your goal can help keep you motivated and remind you why you’re doing this in the first place.

Tip# 2: Create a plan

Once you know your ‘why’ for decluttering and set a goal, it’s time to create a decluttering plan.

These are some questions to consider:

Are you attempting to complete your decluttering project in 3 days? Or do you only want to spend 30 minutes a day on decluttering? What time of the day is good?

Make an order for the areas you plan to declutter. Where will you start decluttering? Do you want to start from a room with the least amount of clutter, or do you want to start from an area where you spend the most of your time?

Where will your clutter go besides the trash can and recycle bin? Have you found a charity with the cause that you support?

Creating a plan with shift your focus from feeling anxious to feeling excited.

Tip# 3: Have proper equipment and supplies

You will need to prepare boxes and trash bags for sorting items, and cleaning supplies for dusting/wiping.

I suggest having 3 boxes (or bags) and label them:

• To donate
• To trash
• To relocate

Speaking from my personal experience, having these boxes helps settling yourself into the ‘declutter mode’. These boxes also help shorten the decision-making process by providing visual choices.

During decluttering

Once you start your decluttering project, the following tips will help you declutter smoothly without feeling stressed.

Tip# 4: Practice mindful consumption

Even though this doesn’t technically fall into ‘decluttering’, but it is important to start practicing mindful consumption before you start your decluttering project.

The last thing you want to do is to add more clutter to your home.

While you sort through your stuff, pay attention to the stuff you decide to let go. Do they have anything in common? Are the items mostly impulsive purchases? Did you buy them because they were on sale? Did you only use them a few times then forgot about them?

Try to learn from the items you’ve decided to declutter. This way you can prevent yourself from making the same mistakes again.

Tip# 5: Focus on your task

The best way to declutter without feeling stressed is to focus on your task.

When you go through your stuff, only think about these questions:

• Do I use/wear it?
• Will I use it/wear it?
• Do I like it?

Don’t think about how little progress you have made, and how much more stuff you have yet to sort through.

Don’t feel bad about the ‘bad decisions’ that you made when looking at items purchased without thinking through.

Don’t spend too much time reflecting on the history of your items, and the memories of your past.

What is the best way to get yourself focus?

From my personal experience, when I am a little time pressure, I focus the best.

Set a timer for 30 minutes and try to go through as much as possible. When pressed for time, you become more decisive and rely on your instinct when uncertain whether to let go or keep.

Tip# 6: Make decluttering session more enjoyable

It is important that your declutter session is enjoyable, so you can get through it without thinking about giving up.

Here are some ways to make your decluttering session more enjoyable.

• listening to your favorite music/podcast.
• take ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos and share them on social media.
• ask a friend to come over and keep you company.

Can you think of other ways to make the decluttering session more enjoyable?

Tip# 7: Set criteria of items to declutter

If you are feeling stressed because you can’t seem to get rid of anything, it will be helpful to set some criteria for items to declutter.

Some examples are:

• If I haven’t used it for more than 1 year, get rid of it.
• If I already have something of the same function, only keep one.
• If this item is easily replaceable, get rid of it.

Having these criteria will make decluttering a lot easier when you are uncertain about your decision.

Tip #8: Know when to stop

Sometimes, the source of stress comes from the feeling of ‘not enough’. Once you start decluttering, you that you don’t knowing when to stop.

Is there really such a thing as ‘decluttering too much’?

You feel your efforts are not enough, and you want to continue decluttering until it is perfect.

Do you actually find it difficult to get out of ‘decluttering mode’?

Sometimes we feel a rush or compulsion to clear clutter and we end up focusing too much on our stuff instead of the life we’re trying to make space for.

It is ok to have more than one round of decluttering. If you are not able to let go of certain items this time, give yourself some more time and come back later.

conclusion

Decluttering does not have to be an overwhelming experience filled with stress and anxiety.

Try implementing these 8 simple tips for clearing out unwanted items from your home without feeling overwhelmed by it all!

Taking small steps each day towards achieving larger goals while focusing on one task at a time should make the entire process much less daunting.

And who knows? You might even enjoy it! After all, getting rid of clutter can be quite liberating.

So why wait? Get started on decluttering today!