Easy Decluttering Tips for a Fresh Start

If your home has started to feel a bit too full, these decluttering tips for a fresh start may help you begin clearing the space again.

As life goes on, our belongings have a way of adding up. It’s no one’s fault. Mail piles on the counter, old toys get stacked in the garage, and clothes meant to be donated sit in the corners a little longer than expected. The busier life becomes, the faster clutter tends to accumulate, though even slower seasons can create opportunities for excess to build up.

How Decluttering Feels Like a Fresh Start

Our homes should be places where we feel safe, comfortable, and relaxed.

When clutter grows, that calming feeling can slowly become more and more distant. Extra items not only make our spaces more difficult to keep clean, but they can affect the sense of calm we hope to feel in our homes.

While the process of decluttering can sometimes feel like a large task, the sense of relief that follows is often well worth the effort.

To help make the process feel a bit simpler, I’ll be sharing some helpful tips and gentle strategies that can make decluttering go more smoothly.

1. Start With What You Can See

While decluttering all the drawers and cabinets is a great things to do, it isn’t essential to maintain at all times. Clearing away clutter from what is visible lends to a sense of relief and accomplishment quickly, which will inspire you to continue sorting the excess clutter.

Begin by sorting countertops and tabletops first.
Remove all items that don’t belong in that room and put them in their rightful homes.
Dispose of or donate things that are no longer needed.
Continue in this matter for all other visible surfaces such as desktops, bookshelves, etc.

Reducing the visual clutter is a great way to begin your journey. When the spaces you see feel lighter, the whole home begins to feel more peaceful.

2. Focus on One Small Space at a Time

When looking around at clutter in many places, the entire house, or just an entire room, it may feel a bit overwhelming. When you reduce the amount of space that you are focusing on and set a goal of decluttering one small space at a time, tasks that seem too large become much more manageable.

Begin with one corner of a room, one shelf, or one cabinet
Set a short timer if needed. When the timer goes off, take a short break before beginning again.
Fully complete each space before looking at or beginning another.

When you devote your full attention to one small space at a time, decluttering feels more manageable.

3. Let Go of What No Longer Serves You

Many times, this part of decluttering can feel the heaviest. Emotional attachment to belongings is one of the most common causes of clutter accumulation. Remembering that the less cluttered our spaces are, the lighter our homes feel can help.

Throw away items that are broken or no longer useful.
Donate items that no longer serve you at this season in life. Just because something doesn’t fit your needs doesn’t mean it needs to be trash. Donating items can help you know that items you once treasured will be treasured by others again.
Consider donating duplicate items. You only need so many of each thing.
Keep out what supports your daily life.

Beginning fresh means moving beyond things that have outlived their purpose. Remember, just because they don’t serve you, they may serve others moving forward. Considering this can make decluttering and letting go of things feel more doable.

4. Create Simple Homes for Your Belongings

“A place for everything and everything in its place,” is a helpful reminder that can serve us daily. Using smart storage solutions within our homes can reduce clutter. Additionally, when you have acquired more things than your smart storage solutions can house, consider decluttering and keeping only what is serving you presently.

Assign a home to everyday items. This may mean adding hangers, shelves, storage boxes, or other items that assist in your organization moving forward.
Boxes, baskets, and bins can be used to house similar items.
Everyday items should be stored easily within reach. Having places to store everyday items keeps them off tabletops and counters, but still simple enough to put away that the storage location remains useful.
Label storage as needed.

When everything has an easily accessible place to be returned to, maintaining organization becomes much simpler.

5. Reduce What Comes into Your Home

Reducing what you buy and allow to take up space within your home can help reduce the need to declutter on a large scale. If you don’t buy as many new items or bring home excess things, clutter will take longer to accumulate.

Be mindful of your new purchases.
Keep a donation box in the house at all times. Use the one item in, one item out principle.
Pause before buying additional storage solutions and consider if you truly need smarter storage solutions or if you are only adding storage to begin housing new items.

Preventing clutter from accumulating in the first place, is a simpler solution than the time decluttering will take in the future. Keeping your home clutter free begins with being thoughtful of what enters.

6. Build Small Daily Habits

Once you have completed decluttering your space, it is simpler to maintain going forward. Building small daily habits now that your home is clutter free will make maintaing it in that state much easier than decluttering your whole home again in the future.

Using these tips can make it easy to continually declutter when worked into your daily habits.

Reset a room for 5 minutes every day.
Always put items back after using them. This will become a habit, but does take practice to solidify.
Tidy for a bit every evening.
Sort and file mail and paperwork every weekend.

Maintaining a clutter-free space becomes simpler when you build habits that support that each day.

Wrapping Up Decluttering Tips for a Fresh Start

Your home is a place to feel calm, safe, and rested. When clutter creeps in and the feeling of calm becomes less common, it may be time to consider decluttering. Using these simple tips when addressing the clutter can nudge you in the direction of success.

When decluttering feels like a lot, slowing down the pace, taking breaks, and addressing a smaller space at a time can make the job feel lighter.