Top 10 Clutter Questions, Answered

Are you overwhelmed? Is there too much clutter in your house? Too much to do and not enough time to do it? Are you buried in paperwork and don’t know where to begin? If you, like me, need help getting started with simplifying, read on.

Decluttering is a skill you learn with practice, just like any skill. And just like other skills, there are many little questions and problems you need answered and solved as you get started. I’m here to help.

Here is a quickstart guide to decluttering with the most common questions answered.

Quickstart Guide to Decluttering

1. Where do I start?
   Start anywhere. Really. Where you start doesn’t matter, as long as you start. You’re going to get to all of it eventually, so pick a random spot to clear and slowly expand from that spot. Start with a baby step . . . just one little space. Take 5 minutes to clear a spot on a counter, and keep it clear. Clear a little more space later today. Tomorrow, clear a little more. It’s not difficult if you do it in small steps.
2. How do I deal with the piles of mail and magazines? How do I handle paper clutter?
   Make a big pile of your mail and magazines. Then work through the pile very quickly. Take the top piece and decide: Can you toss it? If so, toss it in a recycling bin. If you need it, decide if it should be filed (file it in a folder immediately) or if it needs action (either take action, if you can do it in a couple minutes, or put it into an action folder if it needs more than a couple minutes). Toss the magazines—you don’t need them. Work quickly through everything until you finish the pile. When you have more time, make another pile of paper clutter and work through it.
3. What do I do if my family is the clutter problem?
   Start with yourself and lead by example. Declutter your personal space and show how great it is. Start a positive discussion with family members about why you’re decluttering and ask if they want to join you. It’s a long process, educating people; but don’t ever force them, or they’ll resist or be resentful.
4. I tend to keep things just in case I might need them again.
   Make a list of your “just in case” stuff. Or better yet, put them in a box and see how often you actually need them in the next 6 months. If you didn’t need them, you can safely get rid of them. If you did, keep them.
5. How do I deal with things that have a sentimental value, that bring back memories/feelings about a time you might not think about without a reminder.
   Realize that your feelings, your love, your memories, are not in those objects. They are merely placeholders. You can easily keep those placeholders on your computer or online. Here are some ideas:
   • Create a digital photo album of your sentimental items.
   • Keep pictures of your loved ones as your desktop picture or screensaver.
   • Play photos in a slideshow for visitors, or for yourself.
   • Create a digital scrapbook.
   • Start a blog or a tumblelog with photos, notes, posts about the things you treasure most.
6. I want to clean my clutter but sometimes I’m just too lazy to deal with it.
   Create challenges. Announce to your friends and family on Facebook and Twitter that you’re going to declutter for 10 minutes a day for a month. Or blog about your decluttering journey. Do it with others and make it fun. Make it a game with your family.
7. My biggest issue is getting rid of things that where given as a present by people I care about.
   Free yourself of this guilt. Your loved ones gave you the gifts to make you happy, not to burden you for life, not to make you feel guilty. Allow yourself to be happy, and only keep things if they’re making you happy.
8. Where do I dispose of stuff?
   I like giving things away to friends and family, charity, Craigslist, and Freecycle.
9. I don’t have time to keep things clean.
   Create clean-as-you-go habits. These take seconds to do; and if you do them, you don’t need to do a lot of cleaning later.
10. Making time to declutter and follow through with disposal is tough.
    It only takes 5-10 minutes a day. Declutter one pile at a time, one flat surface at a time. Do it when you get home and before you leave the house. Put things you’re going to donate into a box each day and put that box in the trunk of your car. When you drive by a charity, drop it off. Takes 5 minutes.

Leo Babauta is a simplicity blogger and author. He created Zen Habits, a Top 25 blog (according to Time magazine) with 200,000 subscribers, mnmlist.com, and the best-selling books, The Power of Less and Zen To Done, as well as several eBooks. Babauta is a former journalist of 18 years, a husband, and father of six. In 2010, he moved his family from Guam to San Francisco where he leads a simple life. You can follow him on Twitter.

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