3 Ways to Declutter

A friend of mine once confessed to me that he is well…kind a bit of a slob. He is really not a neat freak and cleaning and tidying is not on top of the list of his priorities. He tells people that he likes the look of his house, but the truth of it is that often, he looks around his home and feels a bit uneasy and uncomfortable about it. He joked that he is worried that his house will not make it into the cover or at least the pages of Home Beautiful magazine. But these past few months, he has been trying and exerting some effort in finding some easy and non-regimented methods of cleaning his house.

He shares with us three methods he knows. 1.) Fold up the washing as you get it out of the dryer or as you get it off the line. Notice that he didn’t say put the clothes away or iron the clothes? That would be ideal, but for the more relaxed creatures we know, at least if you fold those clothes they will be easier to iron whenever you need them. 2.) Declutter only a part of the house very week. Okay, let’s face it—energy levels go up and down. And who has the time or energy to declutter every day? Remember that interest levels in cleaning go up and down also.

Do not spend more than 10 minutes on this and try hard not to think about it while doing it—it is not the most absorbing task, anyway. And it will help when you throw all of those “priceless” items into the garbage. 3.) Do the dishes before you go to sleep. Notice again that he did not say to keep them away or anything radical like that? Gone are the days when he will let them pile up and fix them in a go. Making sure you wash the dishes is beneficial for health reasons if nothing else. Fortunately, this is just a small task and it does not take too much time to work on it.

He admitted that it did take him over 1 week before he was doing it regularly. You might think that this is not a lazy way to declutter and the entire thing about fixing the dishes each night means regimentation. Yet in a case like this, the benefits outweigh the time and effort taken. And at least now he has a coffee cup clean for breakfast. Coffee early in the morning is basic and necessary after all. My friend admitted that he’s a bit annoyed when other people think he’s lazy for not cleaning or decluttering quick enough. Sometimes it can be easier, especially if you are not a big fan of regimentation, to take things in small steps or stages.

Small, manageable steps and build up gradually. For the not so industrious cleaner, it can be a great gift. So, if you like to declutter a little bit at a time, try these ways and see what works for you.