I've found it works best when people stop saying "I have to do it all" and start thinking "I'll just start with this one small area." It completely knocks out that overwhelmed feeling. At Mission Prep, we noticed when people break big tasks into small steps, they're way more likely to actually finish them. A small reward, or just picturing how the room will feel afterward, helps you push through. If you're stuck, ask if this item helps create the space you actually want. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to my personal email
My breakthrough came when I realized that my home is a container. It has walls, and those walls restrict how much I can hoard. I used to try to organize my way out of too much stuff. I bought bins and boxes. But you can't organize clutter. To begin with, accept the fact that your shelf is a physical limit. If you have twenty books but there is only space on the shelf for ten, you will have to choose your ten favorite books. You don't choose which ones to get rid of. You pick the winners. The losers need to move out because the container is full. To keep going when it gets hard, I use the "trash first" rule. Walk into a room and just look for actual garbage. Wrappers, broken things, old papers. It creates easy wins. It eliminates visual noise, without emotional decision-making. When you hold something and you are not sure about it, ask yourself, "where would I seek this if I needed it?" If your brain says "I don't know," you will never find it when you need it anyway. You are keeping it for a fantasy version of yourself who is organized. Let it go.
The hardest part of decluttering is just starting. I find that setting a timer for ten minutes and tackling one drawer always creates momentum. At NOLA Buys Houses, we break projects into small daily targets, like a closet per day, to keep things manageable. When I'm stuck, I ask myself, "If I were showing this home tomorrow, would I want this on display?" That question clears up indecision fast. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to my personal email
From my experience leading Jacksonville Maids, I find that framing decluttering as making space for new opportunities is often more motivating than just cleaning for cleanliness' sake. There was a learning curve with setting micro-goalslike focusing only on one drawer or shelf at a timebut it really helps to avoid feeling overwhelmed and keeps momentum steady. Whenever I'm stuck on whether to keep something, I ask myself, 'Would I buy this again today?', which usually makes tough decisions clearer. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to my personal email
President & CEO at Performance One Data Solutions (Division of Ross Group Inc)
Answered 3 months ago
Here's what I tell people about decluttering. Don't treat it like some big one-time thing. Think of it more like regular maintenance, like keeping any system running well. I tackle one shelf each day, which keeps me from getting overwhelmed. My work friends do something similar when they're improving how things work at the office. When you're stuck deciding what to keep, ask yourself if it actually helps with what you're doing right now. My team agrees that having a routine makes this way less daunting. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to my personal email
After running Japantastic, I only keep things that actually fit my style. My trick for decluttering is pretending I'm setting up a little shop. If I wouldn't display it, it's gone. The hardest part is always the sentimental stuff. I have to remind myself that the memory is more important than the object. When I'm stuck, I just ask, does this feel right here? If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to my personal email
When I help people get their house ready to sell, the key is just starting. I tell them to set a timer for 15 minutes. That short burst is usually enough to get over the initial resistance. Once they're going, it helps to sort by category and tackle one thing at a time. If they get stuck, I ask, "Would you buy this again today?" That almost always makes the decision easy. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to my personal email
You know, people get more motivated when they picture how bright and airy their home will feel after clearing out just one room. Don't try to do it all at once. Try tackling one box a week. It makes it feel less like a huge project. If you're on the fence about something, look at your room and picture it without that thing in it. If getting rid of it feels like a relief, it's gotta go. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to my personal email
Here's my trick. I tie decluttering to feeling less stressed, otherwise I give up halfway. I just do ten minutes each morning, which makes it feel less like a chore. When I get stuck on something, I ask, "Does this actually make my life easier?" That simple question usually gets me moving again. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to my personal email
Here's what finally worked for me. I started treating decluttering like I was staging my house to sell, getting it ready for company. I go for the visible stuff first, like clearing off the kitchen counters. Seeing that clean space pushes me to tackle the messier spots. To keep going, I pick one tiny area, just a single shelf, and call it a win. When I'm stuck on something, I ask if it's helping me or just taking up room. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to my personal email
The hardest part is often the clutter. I see homeowners just freeze up, unable to start. The trick is to reframe it as the thing that actually gets the house sold faster. Don't tackle the whole house, just clear out one kitchen drawer, then give yourself a little break. When you're not sure what to toss, ask yourself: would a buyer like seeing this, or is it just for me? If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to my personal email
I get started by breaking things down. Not the whole room, just one drawer, or I'll set a 15-minute timer. That helps me jump in without getting overwhelmed. When I'm in the middle of it, I focus on one bag at a time and make tick marks on a sticky note. Seeing those marks add up keeps me going. If I'm hesitating about something, I ask myself: would I buy this today if I were in a store? Usually that settles it. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to my personal email
If you're trying to declutter and feel stuck, just start with one drawer. Seriously. Finishing that small space gives you the momentum to tackle the next one. For any item you're not sure about, ask this: is this for my life today or for a past I'm done with? The answer becomes pretty obvious. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to my personal email
I stopped thinking of it as a chore. Now it's like packing for an adventure. I just tackle one messy drawer and nothing else. Seeing that little space get clean actually makes me want to keep going. When I hesitate over something, I ask if I'd want to carry it with me. The answer is almost always no. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to my personal email
Here's my best advice for motivating yourself to finally declutter, especially if every other time you started, you got halfway through and left it undone: The 'Boss Rule': stop negotiating with your clutter and start channeling your inner CEO. This might just be the ultimate mindset hack that works every single time for me when I want to declutter and also get rid of excuses that stop me from doing so. You have to stop negotiating with your clutter as if they are equals or worthy of your time and energy. The moment you start thinking about giving an item a second chance by fixing it or fantasizing about what you can do with it or telling yourself it "might" be useful in the future, you just lost hours and energy to objects that should be serving you, not running your household in the first place. For years, I observed women in our brand's community go through this clutter negotiation stage and it is really astonishing to see them stop when they start channeling their inner CEO: act like the CEO of their home. It sounds simple but this shifts the whole perspective of clutterers. When you do this, you end up being much more strict about what goes and stays -- there's no more negotiating or no more people-pleasing your clutter or that fugly sweater you own. It becomes a real clear-cut decision: either it serves your life or outs it goes. This is more than a superficial mindset shift. Just one question to ask yourself to get through the tough-to-ditch keepers? For those items that really seem irreplaceable to you, take a step back and ask yourself one simple but very powerful question: What version of me does this belong to? You might be stumped at sentimental items, gifts, shoes, and others that are "must keep" but they actually belong to a version of you that doesn't exist anymore. No one needs to hold you hostage to a version of yourself you no longer are. You can ask yourself tons of other questions to go through your mental decluttering at home but I personally recommend finishing it with "Does this bring me peace or pressure?" This will help you figure out the end goal of your mental audit — what you're supposed to keep based on the version of yourself that exists, not the one that you wish you did.
Here's how I help myself get past the mental "blocks" that sabotage decluttering, plus the one exercise that makes "keep it or toss it" decisions almost foolproof: #1 The fastest way to get unstuck: Aim to reduce your daily decisions, don't just aim to tidy your stuff. The thing about decluttering is, it's not the physical act that depletes your motivation; it's the invisible decision fatigue embedded into every nook and cranny of your home. Years ago, I never realized how cluttered my bathroom counter was until I decided to declutter it. I had this painful morning routine of sifting through a sock drawer with 15 mismatched pairs, figuring out which of the four face creams didn't sting my skin, and deciding which of the three old razors actually works. At some point, it dawned on me that I had to make a single, upfront decision about which of those items I actually use and like: one toothbrush, one hairbrush, only socks with a matching pair, and the skincare that works for me. It was a painful decision to make, no doubt. But doing that cut down my "ready" time by a whopping 30 minutes each morning, every single day. If you think about it, clutter is basically invisible decisions stacked on top of each other, multiplying the number of "choices" you have to make -- sapping your willpower with each. We've all probably heard the research, widely shared in productivity blogs and articles, that we make roughly 30,000 decisions a day. But if you factor in all the unnecessary clutter in an average home, a cluttered version of you may be making hundreds more before lunch. If you approach decluttering with the mindset of a "decision cap," like knowing your brain can only legitimately focus on, say, seven things at a time, you'll actually start the process. The one micro-question to end decision paralysis: "Would you buy it again if you lost it today?" Whenever I get stuck in the "messy middle," hovering over a piece of clothing or any other item, stuck between the "maybes" and the "leaving for-sures," I go through a "test of reality" exercise. "Would I buy this again today?" Let's face it, we rationalize holding on to things for the future so often. But if they answered no to this question, then that item is most likely not worth their storage space today. Because it means they've had that thing they haven't used in a year and imagine they wouldn't be using it either. No more guilt about leaving "things with potential" behind.
I once worked with a guy who stored broken electronics. He said they cost too much money to just throw away. I had to explain that the money was already gone. Keeping the busted VCR didn't put cash back in his wallet. It just cost him space. The shift is understanding sunk costs. The value of an item is what it does for you now, not what you paid for it ten years ago. To keep going when you feel overwhelmed, set a timer. Do not work until you finish. Work for fifteen minutes. When the timer rings out, you stop. This prevents burnout. You know there's an end in sight, therefore you start it easier. My favorite question for tough decisions is your past self vs your present self. Ask: "Does this item serve me who I am right now?" We can often hold onto things for previous versions of ourselves. Maybe you used to play tennis, but you have bad knees now. Keeping the racket makes you feel guilty about not playing. Getting rid of it is accepting who you are today.
I used to stockpile supplies for hobbies I never really did. I told myself I was "creative," but really, I was just a person with a messy closet. The greatest change occurs when you cease to identify with your stuff. You are not your stuff. To begin with, make-believe you're a stranger who has been hired to put the house in order. A stranger doesn't care that your Aunt Sally gave you that ugly vase. A stranger only sees an ugly vase. This detachment helps you to take action. When you reach the messy middle, motivation tends to die because you see piles everywhere. To fix this, stop making piles. Never remove all the contents from a drawer at once. That creates a disaster that you have to clean up before bed. Instead, just pull out things you want to throw away. Leave the keepers in place. This way, if you end halfway through, you haven't made a bigger mess. You just have a trash bag to take out. If you get stuck on an item, ask yourself this: "If I didn't own this, how much would I pay to buy it right now?" Usually, the answer is zero. If you wouldn't buy it today, you shouldn't keep it today.
Certified Home Organizer & Feng Shui Consultant at Neat Nathalie & Co.
Answered 3 months ago
Decluttering starts with a mindset shift — instead of thinking about getting organized, think about creating space for the life you live today. That emotional clarity helps people move past the initial resistance. To stay motivated through the messy middle, I recommend to focus on small, consistent actions. Set a 15-minute timer, keep donation and trash bags visible, and aim for progress over perfection. Small wins build momentum. When deciding whether to keep something, ask: Does this support my life right now? That question usually makes the next step clear.
1. What are the most effective mindset shifts or psychological tricks that help someone get over the initial resistance to decluttering and just start? Have a 5min rule to make it easy for people. Work for 5 minutes, using a timer. Momentum usually carries you forward. You can also fool yourself into thinking of certain things as conscious choices. It's a transformation that can make big chores feel like little choices. Focus on progress over perfection. 2. Once the process is underway, what specific habits, systems, or micro-goals make it easier to stay motivated through the 'messy middle' instead of giving up halfway? Break big goals down into small, achievable sections. Capture a "before and after" snapshot of your development. When it is time to rally, complete a "ten-minute tidy" plan to restore your strength. Every time you shop, employ see-through packing bins. When you divide your overarching goals into mini-goals, enormous heaps can be divided into a collection of little triumphs. You then hand off that momentum to your next target to drag you across the finish line. 3. What one exercise or question do you recommend people ask themselves when they feel stuck deciding whether to keep or let go of an item? If you hesitate, ask yourself "if I were moving tomorrow to a smaller house, what would win space in my suitcase?" This question forces you to choose value over possession (which should always be our choice). It changes from a passive "why should we get rid of it? to an active "why keep it?" This exercise will help you discern what objects actually serve to enrich your life, and which merely take up room.