Create an Uncluttered Home: 11 Decluttering Secrets to Make it Easier!

Creating an uncluttered home takes time and effort. But there are things you can do to make it easier to clear the clutter and reach your clutter-free goals!

Today, I’m sharing 11 tips that can make decluttering a lot easier. Helping you make progress clearing the clutter faster and easier. Decluttering secrets that can make all the difference. Helping you get uncluttered with more ease, efficiency and speed!

Get uncluttered with these decluttering secrets

1. Start small

It’s easy to get excited when you’re decluttering and dive into a big decluttering project. But sometimes that can leave you overwhelmed, out of time and with a bigger mess than you started with!

Instead, start small when you’re working to get uncluttered.

Pick one small space to declutter at a time. Maybe start with one cupboard, one drawer, one shelf, one pile, etc.

Not only is it easier to fit these smaller decluttering projects into your day, even when life is busy. But it also means you’ll make progress clearing the clutter without leaving yourself overwhelmed or making a big mess that feels overwhelming!

Small wins add up when it comes to decluttering. Focus on making steady, consistent progress, tackling one small decluttering project at a time.

2. Think of decluttering as a marathon, not a sprint

Decluttering a little bit at a time means you likely won’t declutter your entire house in one weekend. But that’s ok!

Think of decluttering as a marathon, not a sprint. Keep working on clearing the clutter a little bit at a time, knowing you’ll eventually get it all done.

Working at a steady, consistent pace means you’ll be able to fit decluttering into your schedule and days, even when life is busy and you don’t have much extra time. As well as means you can avoid taking on too much all at once and getting overwhelmed.

And keep reminding yourself that all those small actions add up over time!

3. Have the tools you need

You don’t need too much to declutter. But having a few tools can make the process easier and more efficient.

Having 4 bins, baskets, bags or boxes can be really helpful. One for things you’re donating. Another for garbage. Then have one “put-away bin”. And a “maybe bin”.

Put-away bin

The put-away bin is for anything that you’re keeping but belongs somewhere else in your house.

It’s easy to get distracted and sidetracked putting things away in other rooms while you’re decluttering. Keep your focus on the space you’re working on by putting anything that belongs somewhere else in your put-away bin. Then when you’re done with your decluttering session, take this bin with you and put everything away where it belongs.

Maybe bin

A maybe bin is one of my favourite decluttering tools. It acts like a decluttering safety net, letting you be more ruthless as you’re decluttering. But without fear of regretting your decisions making it hard to let things go.

As you’re decluttering, if you come across anything you’re really unsure about getting rid of, put it in the maybe box. Put the box out of sight, then set a reminder in your phone to come back to it after a set amount of time. Maybe one to three months from now.

When you get the reminder, if you haven’t needed, wanted, or even thought about anything in the maybe box, get rid of it knowing you’ll be just fine without it.

A maybe box lets you experiment with living without things you’re unsure about to see if you miss them or not. After the experiment, it’s usually a lot easier to let them go, knowing you didn’t miss them at all!

4. Focus on pain points

If you’re not sure where to start decluttering, or where your time and effort would be best spent, focus on your pain points.

Pain points are areas of your home and life that are consistently causing stress, frustration or just don’t seem to be working well. Decluttering and simplifying these areas usually helps reduce some of the stress and frustration. As well as helps them start to work and flow better.

Start by identifying the pain points in your home and life. Pinpoint what’s not working and could benefit from simplifying. Then tackle those areas.

Become a problem solver. Clear the clutter, the distractions, the excess and what’s not working to help that area start working better for you and your family.

The great thing about tackling your pain points is that simplifying them will have a big impact on your home and life. You’ll likely notice the results of your efforts right away. Not only making life easier. But also inspiring you to keep going and continue simplifying other areas of your home and life!

5. Look at your home with fresh eyes

Clutter blindness is a real thing! Sometimes you get so used to seeing your home look a certain way, you don’t even notice the clutter anymore.

Try looking around your home with fresh eyes, as if you’re seeing your home for the first time. Imagine you are a guest walking through your home and see if you can spot clutter you might be blind to.

Taking pictures of your spaces is another great way to spot clutter you might be clutter blind to. Take pictures of your spaces and use that to decide where to declutter next.

6. Get rid of duplicate items

An easy way to make progress in getting uncluttered is by getting rid of duplicate items.

In many cases, you don’t need as many duplicates as you have. Often, one is enough. Or you can narrow it down to your favourite few items and get rid of the extras.

Duplicates hide in many places in your home.

The kitchen often has duplicate items. Look at your utensils, tools, gadgets, small appliances, serving dishes, baking dishes, etc. and see how many duplicate items you can find. Then choose your favourites and get rid of the extras!

Duplicates can also be in your closet if you have multiple items that are very similar. Or multiples of the same item in different colours.

You can find duplicates in your makeup collection, in the kids’ toys, in your craft and hobby supplies and in so many other places!

Remember, keep your favourites and the things you use most often. Then let go of the extras!

7. Create homes for everything you’re keeping

Having a home for every item you’re keeping not only makes it easier to find and put away items when you’re done with them. Making it easier to keep your home tidy.

But it also reminds you to work with the limits of your spaces so you’re not keeping more than you have space for.

If an item you want to keep doesn’t have a place to keep it, find one. That will likely mean getting rid of something else to make space for the item you want to keep.

Rather than trying to cram more into a space, get rid of what you don’t use, need or love so you can easily find homes for each item. As well as easily access that home so you can easily use and put away the item too!

8. Stop shuffling stuff!

It’s easy to think you’re decluttering, but in reality, you’re just shuffling stuff from one space into another space.

When you’re decluttering, really focus on removing the items you don’t use, need or love rather than just moving them to another place.

No matter how organized you are, keeping stuff you don’t use, need or love will never give you the long-term uncluttered solution you’re looking for.

Make an effort to make a decision about each item now. If you don’t use, need or love it, don’t shuffle it to another place where you’ll have to deal with it again and again. Decide what you’re doing with it now and get rid of what doesn’t need to stay.

9. Don’t let clutter hang around

You’re not done decluttering until the stuff you’re getting rid of is all the way out of your home.

Don’t let clutter hang around, continuing to take up space in your home. Or even worse, keep it hanging around and make it available to come back into your home if you or someone else starts second-guessing your decluttering decisions.

Put the garbage in your garbage bin right away when you’re done decluttering. And load donations into your car at the end of each decluttering session. Then drop them off at your donation center the next time you’re out.

Not only will you be able to appreciate the space you’ve created in your home right away. But you also won’t have to worry about the clutter finding its way back into your home!

10. Eliminate unnecessary storage spaces

Extra storage space can often become more of a curse than a blessing because it allows you to keep clutter simply because there’s room!

If space is available, it’s easy to fill it up with stuff. Even if you don’t actually use, need or want all of the stuff!

Look for clutter-catching furniture in your home and see if you can eliminate it all together.

Less storage space means you’ll have to be more ruthless with what you decide to keep. And an added bonus is decluttering bigger furniture items makes a huge impact on a space, really quickly!

Look around your home for clutter-catching furniture or furniture that always seems to collect clutter in and on it. Challenge yourself to see if you could live without it.

Look for things like a sofa table that just holds clutter. Or a coffee table that’s always covered in clutter and mess. It could be a cupboard in your hallway that is full of stuff you rarely use. Or an extra dresser full of clothes you’re keeping “just in case”.

Don’t be afraid to let go of furniture you’re “supposed to have” if it doesn’t work for you. You don’t have to have side tables, nightstands, dressers, changing tables, a sideboard in your dining room, etc. if they don’t work for you. Or if all they do is collect clutter.

Let go of the clutter-catchers and give yourself fewer spots to hide clutter!

11. Declutter often

Decluttering is something you usually have to do multiple rounds of to get rid of all the clutter. As well as do on a continuous basis to get rid of clutter that finds its way into your home.

Each time you do another round of decluttering, you will likely find you’re willing to let go of more and be a little more ruthless. As you notice how you don’t miss the stuff you got rid of previously, it helps inspire you and makes you braver to let go of more this time.

Keep going until you feel satisfied with the amount of stuff in your home.

But remember, life isn’t static, so some maintenance decluttering is always needed. Not only to get rid of clutter that found its way in. But also, to get rid of anything you no longer need as your interests and needs change from year to year.

Get uncluttered with these decluttering secrets!

Getting uncluttered is usually a process that takes time and work. But the results of that time and work are definitely worth it.

And you can use these decluttering tips, hacks and secrets to make the process as easy as possible so you can start experiencing the benefits of an uncluttered home faster and easier!

Which of these tips are you going to start using to get uncluttered? Leave a comment and let me know!