Photo by Charlie Harris via Unsplash
You’ve probably tried Marie Kondo. Or watched The Minimalists’ documentary on Netflix. Then got all inspired to declutter your life. It might have worked for a week or even a month, but you end up falling back into your old clutter-y patterns.
What gives?
I came across this idea in an episode of Not Dead Yet.
Decluttering Trick Worth Trying
Close your eyes and imagine what your home (or a specific area like your kitchen/closet) looks like. If a sterile super clean kitchen feels off to you, then it’s okay to have some dishes or kid’s toys lying around. If what sparks the most joy for you is a spotless counter, then you know you’ve got your work cut out for you.
Beyond this visualization technique, here are a few more tactical + practical suggestions.
3 Tips for Effective Decluttering
1/ Get 3 Containers
Before you start decluttering, grab a large garbage bag and two boxes. The garbage bag is for things you for sure want to get rid of. The trick is to not feel bad throwing things away, even unopened (but you’ll probs never use) items. The first box is for donations that you’ll either drop off or find a home for. And the second box is for things you’re still thinking about. Learned this from The Minimal Mom.
This next bit, is something I came up with. Write a date on a piece of paper an stick it on the boxes so you give yourself a deadline of when to drive the stuff to a donations centre, or make a final decision about the ‘undecideds’.
2/ Ask Yourself the Right Questions
Nothing new here, just reiterating what we’ve all been taught by the queen of decluttering, Marie Kondo. By asking yourself, “Does this bring me joy?” vs “Can I make use of this?” alleviates the endowment effect. Where we go wrong is asking about the value of something, cuz… of course all things have some level of usefulness! I had a bunch of fancy cultural sauces in my pantry that I never touched because I rarely made dishes that required them.
Does this mean they’re any less useful? Nope, but they’d be a lot more useful to someone who makes Japanese unagi on the regular. So maybe unagi sauce doesn’t bring me joy, per se. But if we straight up change the question to a realistic, “How many times will I use this before it expires?” then I got myself an answer. It’s all about asking the right questions.
3/ Listen: What are Your Possessions Saying to You?
I forget where I picked up this idea, but I remember hearing about how your belongings talk to you, if you listen carefully. It’s not a woo-woo thing. Let me explain. You know how when you have a pile of clutter next to your desk, you do your best not to look at it? It’s probably saying to you, “you need to get rid of meeee!” and you actively avoid its gaze so you don’t have to deal with it.
On the flip side, if you have accessories (a jar of lemons in he washroom, for me) that fits in perfectly with your themed decor, it might be saying to you, “you did an amazing job choosing me.” So give it a try, and listen with non-judgmental ears.
4/ Think of Each Object as a Trade-off
I started to become a minimalist when it comes to clothes and beauty products. Not in the bland beige aesthetic, but just with the quantity of items I keep. You must have heard about the closet decluttering trick of getting rid of 3 clothing items if you buy 3 new things? Every time you buy something, you’re forced to make a trade-off.
Not that I was doing this consciously, but I’ve become really good at keeping 4 nail polish colours. Even when there are sales for Butter London (my absolute fave nail polish brand, still!) I think about this: do I want the temporary high of a new colour that I may or may not like OR do I want to deal with managing more ‘inventory’? A practical one to think about is how many small appliances you can comfortably introduce to you kitchen counter/cupboards, given limited space?
xo, Miranda
