Simplicity Quotes: 20 Quotes about Decluttering to Inspire a Simpler Life

1. “Enough is a decision, not an amount.”
– Alison Faulkner

This quote is such a great reminder that there isn’t any magic number to reach before you feel like you have enough. Or feel like you’ve gotten rid of enough.

Instead, “enough” has to be whatever feels right to you. Reminding you to recognize that owning more isn’t always the answer. There will always be a newer model, a newer style, a new trend, etc. But you have the power to decide what is enough for you, and then choose to stop needing or wanting more.

2. “When you are overwhelmed, tired and stressed, the solution is almost always less. Get rid of something. Lots of somethings.”
– Courtney Carver

I couldn’t agree more!

When your home, your schedule or even your life start to feel like too much, look for ways you can start simplifying. Maybe it’s removing the clutter from your home. It could be adding a little more margin to your schedule. Or starting to say “no” more so you’re able to spend more time and energy on what matters most to you.

Whatever it is, there are so many benefits in choosing less!

3. “The more stuff I donated, the more I was able to breathe. The more trash I threw away, the more weight I felt lifted. The more stuff I took out of our home, the more I was able to see a new life. The more uncluttered I lived, the more joy I found.”
– Zina Harrington

This quote is a wonderful reminder that decluttering and simplifying aren’t just about having a tidier home. Instead, it’s about creating time and space in your life by removing the burden clutter can add. It’s about finding more joy and creating a life you love. Adding breathing room to your home, your mind and your life. Creating time and space for you to focus more on what lights you up, what you value most and what matters most to you.

Clearing the clutter gives you the opportunity to have more time and space to find so much more!

4. “For me, a calm house equals a calm heart equals a calm life.”
– Erica Layne

This is one of my favourite quotes about decluttering and creating a simpler life. The environment you live in can have a huge impact on you, especially if you are particularly sensitive to your environment.

Clearing the clutter from your home, is a great way to invite calm into your home, your mind, your heart and your life!

5. “Your home should be the antidote to stress, not the cause of it.”
– Peter Walsh

There is enough stress to encounter while you’re out in the world. Don’t make your home feel like another source of stress in your life!

Instead, create a home that feels like a retreat from the stress of the outside world. A place you can go to rest, recharge and truly feel at peace.

And a big part of making your home feel calm and peaceful is clearing the clutter. Clutter can be a visual reminder of all the tasks yet to do in your home. As well as everything still to clean up, take care of, manage, etc.

Instead, clearing the clutter makes your home easier to manage and can help you feel less stressed and more at ease in your home.

6. “If you want to feel light, you have to let go.”
– Courtney Carver

Letting go isn’t always easy. But it’s necessary if you want to lighten your load.

Let go of the clutter filling your home, your head and your heart and enjoy feeling so much lighter!

7. “Abundance is a full heart, not a full house.”
– Courtney Carver

It’s amazing what a difference shifting your perspective can have. Imagine how your life would feel if you focused more on filling your heart and less on filling your home with stuff!

Focusing on filling your heart means living a life aligned with your values and priorities, and making time and space for what matters most. No purchases required!

8. “The pathway to contentment is paved in gratitude.”
– unknown

There is a beautiful connection between contentment and gratitude.

When you notice, value and appreciate all that already fills your life, it’s a lot easier to find contentment. In fact, shifting your perspective to gratitude is one of the quickest ways to feel like you already have enough!

9. “We should be choosing what we want to keep, not what we want to get rid of.”
– Marie Kondo

If you’re struggling to declutter, shift your focus to what you want to keep, instead of what you’re getting rid of.

Focusing on what you’re getting rid of can trigger feelings of lack, scarcity and deprivation.

But focusing on how you’re keeping all the things you use, need and/or love shows you you’re keeping everything you need and all your favourite things. And this little shift in thinking can make a world of difference!

10. “While minimalism will not solve all of life’s problems, it will create the space to better deal with them.”
– Anthony Ongaro

There’s no way to escape the stress, challenges and problems that are part of being human. But there are things you can do to make dealing with those stressors, challenges and problems a little bit easier.

When you’re already feeling stressed, stretched thin or overwhelmed, you have less capacity to handle additional stress or problems. If your house is full of clutter, adding stress to your life, or taking a lot of time and energy to manage, you’ll have less capacity to deal with any additional stress or challenges that come up.

But when your home is relatively easy to maintain, and a place that adds peace to your life rather than more stress, you have more capacity to handle other stressors, challenges and problems without feeling completely overwhelmed.

11. “If organizing your stuff worked, you’d be organized by now.”
– Courtney Carver

Organizing clutter will never be a long-term solution to making your home easier to manage.

The only way to truly make your home easier to manage is to get rid of the stuff that’s making it hard to manage in the first place.

And that means getting rid of the clutter! The things you don’t use, need or love, that are just taking up your time, space and energy without adding enough value to your life to make up for it.

Stop trying to organize clutter. Get rid of the clutter first. Then, getting and staying organized be significantly easier.

12. “Get rid of the trash to make room for the treasures. Let the things that are important take center stage.”
– Peter Walsh

What’s currently taking center stage in your life? Is it the things, people, activities and experiences that are most important to you?

If it’s not, what can you get rid of to make room for your treasures? Can you clear the clutter so you spend less time picking up after your kids and more time enjoying them? Can you clear some of the activities that drain you from your schedule so you have more time to focus on the things you love to do?

First, get really clear about what your treasures (things, people, activities, etc.) are right now. Then let that be your guide to start clearing the way so your treasures take center stage in your life.

13. “If it costs you your peace, it’s too expensive.”
-unknown

It’s easy to keep things in your home you don’t necessarily use or love, but you feel obligated to keep because you spent money on them.

But if you’re keeping clutter you don’t use or love, it’s not just taking up your time and your space, it’s also taking some of your peace from you. Stop worrying about the money you already spent when decluttering. And start making decluttering decisions to protect your peace!

14. “Joy comes to us in ordinary moments. We risk missing out on joy when we get too busy chasing down the extraordinary.”
– Brene Brown

You don’t need a bigger house, a newer car, the trendiest clothes or the latest tech to be happy. So often, happiness can be found in simple, everyday moments.

But it’s easy to miss those simple, everyday moments when you’re always chasing more, distracted by clutter or feeling exhausted just trying to keep up with and do it all.

What if, instead, you focused on removing the distractions and slowing down enough to be able to notice, appreciate and celebrate the small, simple, everyday moments of joy? How wonderful could life feel if you stopped chasing more, and started appreciating what you already have?

15. “Once she stopped rushing through life, she was amazed how much more life she had time for.”
– unknown

It’s easy to get caught up in the idea you need to do more, work more, earn more, be more, hustle more, etc.

But maybe what you need more than anything is making the intentional choice to stop the rush, the busyness and the race for “more”. And instead, try slowing down, simplifying and making time for more life in your days!

16. “Noticing what you love will help you release what you don’t.”
– Courtney Carver

If you’re struggling to declutter or aren’t sure what to get rid of, stop looking for the clutter, and start noticing what you use and love instead. Once you know what you use and love, it’s a lot easier to start noticing what you don’t use or love in comparison.

Another benefit of focusing on what you want to keep rather than what you’re getting rid of!

17. “If buying stuff hasn’t made you happy, maybe getting rid of it will.”
– Joshua Becker

It’s easy to use shopping as a way to give yourself happiness. The dopamine rush you get when you buy something new feels good.

But the trouble is, those good feelings don’t last all that long before you want to buy something else to make yourself feel good again. And in the meantime end up filling your space with clutter you don’t truly need, use or love.

If you’re not finding the long-term happiness you’re looking for by buying more stuff, try getting rid of the extra stuff and the clutter instead.

If nothing else, it will give you more time and space to figure out what truly brings you lasting happiness!

18. “If you want to improve your life immediately, clean out a closet. Often it’s what we hold onto that holds us back.”
– Cheryl Richardson

Decluttering isn’t always easy when you’re in the midst of it. But it sure feels good to see your organized, clutter-free space when you’re done!

If you’re looking for a simple, no-cost way to give yourself a boost, do some decluttering. Let go of what’s holding you back, and give yourself time and space to find more joy in your home and your life.

19. “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”
– Stephen Covey

It’s easy to forget how often you have a choice. A choice of what fills your home, your schedule, your time, etc.

If you feel like you don’t have enough time to focus on your priorities, maybe try shifting your mindset and scheduling your priorities first. It might mean making changes to your schedule and what you usually say “yes” to. But if you want to live in a way that prioritizes your priorities, you have to choose to keep your priorities prioritized!