Decluttering Tips: A Collection of the Best Advice.

There are a ton of bloggers, journalists, and writers talking about how to declutter anything from your life to your home to your email. Rather than reinvent the wheel, we at Perfect Shine are just going to share with you a collection of all that good stuff from around the web. Tips, tricks, advice, and guides on how to declutter your home.

One of our favorite blogs, Zen Habits, has compiled a How To Guide on Decluttering and a list of 15 Great Decluttering Tips. Some great nuggets from Zen Habits include:

• Do it in small chunks. Spend 15 minutes tackling one shelf or drawer, then celebrate your accomplishment. Tackle another shelf or drawer the next day. Soon enough you will have decluttered your entire house in as little as 15 minutes a day.
• Use the “one in, two out” rule. Basically whenever you bring in an item, you must get rid of two items.
• 6 month clothing rule. If you haven’t worn it in 6 months, donate it or sell it.
• Take everything out of the closet, drawer, or shelf at once.
  
• Sort through the pile one item at a time and make quick decisions. Have a donate box and a trash bag nearby. Pick up each item and decide trash, donate, or keep. Only put back items you say keep to.
• If you are uncertain put it in the maybe box. For items you just can’t decide on, put it in a maybe box. Label it, seal it, and store it out of sight. If you haven’t come back to it in 6 months or a year it is time to get rid of it!
• Declutter one room at a time. Declutter one room completely and celebrate your achievement before moving on to the next room in your home.
• Internalize that your value is not in “stuff.” Stuff is just stuff. Experiences, relationships, and people have value.
• Keep a “don’t need it, don’t want it” list. So we all come across things we want, but don’t necessarily need. When you do jot it down, pin it to your Pinterest board, clip it to Evernote, but don’t buy it right away. This gives you time to think about the purchase and reduces impulse buys that lead to clutter.

Apartment Therapy‘s blog has also featured advice on decluttering that you can see here. Some great nuggets of wisdom from their post include:

• The Golden 10%. Basically this means creating an efficient and pleasing organized space, and then never letting it fill up… leaving 10% of your closet, drawers, shelves, etc. empty. This creates space for newness in your life.
• Create an Outbox. The outbox is your friend as you declutter because it allows you some time to decide if you really need something before you get rid of it. It helps you overcome the anxiety of decluttering by dealing with the separation from your belongings first, then dealing with where it will go. To create your outbox choose a space that is defined and out of the way of daily activities (think a closet or guest room, or a box if you want). It is basically a halfway house for your stuff to sit while you decide whether to keep it or not. After it has sat in the halfway house for some time, you decide to keep it or get rid of it. The rules of the outbox are:
  • Anything can go in the Outbox
  • The Outbox is allowed to get messy
  • Everything must stay in the Outbox for at least one week
  • After that time you have several choices
  • Take anything back out
  • Leave anything you are undecided about for one more week
  • Dispose of the rest by moving to the garbage, recycling bin, or giveaway pile

Organized Home offers a tutorial, Declutter 101 that has great advice on how to get started. Some tips we love include:

• Slow and steady wins the race. Decluttering can be exhilarating at first, but if you don’t build the habits and routines necessary to keep clutter out for good, you and your family will soon burn out. It’s OK to have bigger decluttering sessions, but remember to make decluttering a habit and a regular routine, which means it has to be able to fit into your normal lives and schedules!
• Schedule regular decluttering sessions.Schedule 15 minutes a day to devote to decluttering, or better yet schedule 1-2 hour blocks once a week. Scheduling time to declutter boosts your motivation and keeps you focused on the goal of a clutter free environment.

HGTV has shared 10 Steps to a Decluttered Closet that offers some useful pointers:

• Apply the 80/20 rule. Essentially we only really wear 10-20% of the clothes we own. So cut down on your clothes by removing things that haven’t been worn in 6 moths to a year. And remember to only purchase new clothing that adds value to your wardrobe and that you will wear!
• Reward yourself. After you declutter a space celebrate what you have done. Buy some new hangers, ONE new clothing item, or treat yourself to a fun night out (we like this option more).

These are just some of our favorite tips and tricks for decluttering… but we are sure we have missed some. What has helped you tackle the clutter in your life? We’d love for you to share with us!