The basic principle of decluttering is to get rid of things. But how do you decide WHICH things?
First of all, you need to gather everything of a certain category. Let’s use shoes as an example. Gather the shoes from the entryway, the bedrooms, the basement storage. Hunt them all down. It’s so much easier to know what you can spare when you see it all at once. This is the key to decluttering.
Once you have everything in one place, take a good look. Most likely you will be able to spot the ones you don’t like as much as the other ones and can donate, or those that are worn out and should be discarded. If there are two pairs that are very similar, choose the one you like best! This is the spirit of decluttering.
With shoes and some other categories, you may find some which you don’t need right now, but you will need at a later date. For example, you may have small children who will grow into them in the next couple of years. You are allowed to keep these, but your daily life will be more pleasant if they are not in your way every day. So, another aspect of decluttering is finding a place to store these lesser-used items until it’s time to look through them again. I recommend marking your calendar to remind you to pull them out — and maybe even where you stashed them! This will keep your decluttering a success.
Now that you have done the “editing” part of decluttering, you can look at where to store the remaining shoes that are actively in use. The storage solution that you choose will depend on various factors, but the ideal is not to have more shoes than will fit in the storage solution you have chosen! This is the challenging, fun part of decluttering!
Enjoy arranging them all nicely! You will find that you take more care to put the shoes away every time you are done using them, now that you have put in the work and got those good decluttered vibes going. This is the magic of decluttering!
This basic technique can work with just about any category — clothing, books, paperwork, pantry supplies, kitchen gadgets, and even mementos.
If it’s all too much, or it feels far more complicated than the steps above, or you simply don’t have enough time, contact me! I will be happy to come and make it all happen so you can continue to focus on doing the things that YOU do best.
