Declutter Your House and Gain a Calmer Space

simplify life:

I believe [almost] everyone craves a calmer space. That is not to say everyone is a minimalist or a type-A personality. It is not to say everyone wants to spend their precious moments cleaning and organizing. It is to say that for the most part, most people don’t want to continually be organizing, reorganizing, and re-organizing again, simply to maintain their homes. While decluttering has been a buzzword for many years now, since the takeover of minimalism started, the truth is, our grandparents lived this way because it produced a calmer, less hectic life. It was simpler, it was mentally quieter, it was easier to maintain. Here are my thoughts on how to declutter your house and gain a calmer space. Let’s chat…

Start with a plan…

“A goal without a plan is nothing more than a wish.” I love that quote. I have no idea who said it, or where it originated from, but it is such a strong motivator for me. Start with a plan.

“How do I plan to declutter, Miss Billie?”, you may ask. Well, I can only tell you how I created my plan, when we decided to declutter 30+ years of marriage and downsize from 3,800 sq ft to 1,200 sq feet.

1. Step One: I walked through every room of our home and asked myself these questions:
   • Would I purchase this again if I were shopping today?
   • Would I pay to store this item long term? Is it worth the amount of money to rent a space simply to pack it away and save it for later?
   • Would I pay someone to move it from location to location?
   • If we lost it all in a fire today, would this item be something I could not bear to lose?
2. Step Two: Next, I made a compiled list of rooms that included our must keep items.
   • These were items that were heirlooms, held personal memories, or were truly sentimental.
   • We included furniture pieces we loved and did not want to part with.
   • We included furniture pieces that John and I could move easily ourselves – without the help of movers.
3. Step Three: Then I created a detailed outline for each room that would act as our to-do list.
   • I included simple tasks such as, “Tackle the closet.”
   • And I included individual items that I knew we wanted to donate such as:
     • draperies, area rug, night stands, antique dresser, floor lamp.
4. Step Four: Finally, I kept an empty box or basket in the trunk of my car. As I made my way through each room, I collected items to donate during the decluttering process, and placed them directly into that box. When it was full, I took it straight to the donation center.
   • (brain hack) If you place your grocery order for pickup, keeping a donation box in the trunk of your car will insure you drop it off every week. It’s very difficult to load a trunk with groceries when it’s full of donations. Ask me how I know this…

Tackle one space at a time…

Trust me. If you try to tackle your entire space in a week, a weekend, or even as you pack to move, you are going to reach decision fatigue in record time! I mean WORLD-RECORD time! Before you know it, you haven’t created a calmer space, you’ve created mental chaos. And that is the opposite of your goal.

So, tackle one room or one space at a time. Maybe you can’t afford the mental energy to tackle an entire room. In that case, focus your attention on one drawer, one cupboard, one cabinet. Maybe enlist the help of a good friend who will help you purge and double your efforts.

One word of encouragement: Don’t move on from one space until you have finished it. You will gain a greater sense of accomplishment, and you will be able to see your progress more quickly if you take it one space at a time.

Your goal is a calmer space…

Remember the goal is not perfection. The goal is a calmer space. You will know when it feels right to you.

For some, their goal is absolute minimalism because that lifestyle feels right to them. Some people like more (of what I call) clutter. They love their kitsch. If that is what brings them joy, then by all means, go for it! But if, at any point, you look at your room and think, “It still feels chaotic, it still feels cluttered, it still feels like too much…” then you know you’re not done yet.

As John and I decluttered to begin our moving adventure, I quickly realized how important my color palette was going to be. There are some colors that are beautiful in store displays, media photos, and in other people’s homes. But they were not right for us. We wanted a calmer space, and that meant a calmer color palette. I’ll link a few articles I’ve written about that below in case you’re interested.

What if I’m not moving?

For some people, ourselves included, decluttering is a task we tackle when we are preparing to move. That makes logical sense. We don’t want to pay to move items we have no intention of using again, or don’t enjoy having in our homes. I think we all strive to move into a new place with a cleaner aesthetic, a more organized feel, and a calmer space.

But what if you’re not moving? What if you’re in your forever home, or your first apartment and you aren’t planning on going anywhere? You can still create for yourself a calmer space. You deserve to feel rested and restful in your own home.

Even if you’re not planning a relocation, I believe it’s a good practice to go through your spaces at least once per year and ask yourself those same questions I posted at the beginning of the article. John and I do this pretty regularly. We do it with our clothes, our decor, our home items (like towels and rugs and lamps, etc). We have discovered that you don’t always see what needs to be repaired or replaced until you take an intentional look at your space.

One final tip: Take pictures! Not only are the before and after shots incredibly motivating, but they also have a way of showing you what your eye may have missed. “That window frame is cracked… That rug really needs to be cleaned… That shelf looks really cluttered. Do we read all those books? That olive tree in the corner is blocking so much light!” A picture is worth 1,000 words, so take photos!

Just do it!

Nike’s slogan has been “Just do it” for as long as I can remember. Sometimes, the idea of tackling a decluttering project is more overwhelming than what we anticipate the outcome to be. If that describes you, then my advice to you would be to just do it. Don’t do all of it at once, or try to tackle the entire space in a short period of time. But simply start! An object in motion stays in motion. Once you begin, you will see so much improvement and progress, and you will thank yourself every day going forward for creating a calmer space to live in.

xo, Billie

discover more:

• Why a Great Color Palette Matters : https://forwardourmail.com/why-a-great-color-palette-matters/
• The Versatility of a Good Color Palette: https://forwardourmail.com/the-versatility-of-a-good-color-palette/
• Designing a Home You Love: https://forwardourmail.com/the-one-key-to-designing-a-home-you-love/
• Declutter first, then declutter again: https://forwardourmail.com/declutter-again/