This simple clutter plan will work!

Decluttering can be a challenging prospect to go into and – like so many resolutions – often ends as soon as you start. This can have a multitude of reasons: you may run out of time, you forget, you don’t feel it’s all that important, you are overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work it requires… take your pick.

But maybe there are other ways to do this that are more suitable for your particular needs and style?

I often find that my clients are simply overwhelmed by just how much they need to do, and understandably so. After all, they have spent a lot of time accumulating and getting to the point they are at right now. Of course it’s hard, and you cannot really expect this would be done in one day, or did you? If the number of items to look at are the reason for your reluctance, perhaps cutting it down and limiting the scope of your activities to a minimum would be the way to go for you? At the very least it might help you get acquainted with the practice – and in the meantime you’ll also learn to let go some of your stuff.

Here’s the deal, your simple clutter plan. It is based on something called the 30 day challenge where participants let go of one item on day one, two on day two, and so on, for a month. That adds up to an impressive 465 items in a month. Not bad, but it might turn out to be daunting towards the end of the month.

Let’s look at three options that are not quite as challenging: you could either choose to let go of one item each day PLUS as many more as you want (adds up to 30+ items) or do one item each day for the first week, then two items in week 2, etc. which would add up to 70 items. If you add as many more as you want again, that would be 70+ items overall.

Does this sound feasible? I believe it is – it can’t be that difficult to find something in your household each day that you have not used, that is unlikely to be used, that is totally broken, that does not please you any more, that makes you feel bad, that has been bugging you for ages,… All these are good reasons to let go and could help you find the items you are looking for.

Besides shifting things out of your life, this exercise has an interesting side effect: it makes you more aware of what you actually own, what you hang on to, what you have not actively seen for a while or what you have simply gotten used to against better judgement. All those elements are good to know when you decide to go for a bigger or more focused project later on.

Admittedly, it’s unlikely this basic practice is going to make a dent into your clutter, and probably you won’t even see a difference in your home. However, you will KNOW that there is a difference. You’ll know that you have acted and shifted your mindset in the right direction. This will give you a bit of a head start if you decide to take on a slightly bigger project, and then another bigger one.

Good luck! Let me know how you do with this in the comments, please.

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