One step at a time.I don’t always have the time (or inclination) to set aside a few hours for decluttering. At the same time, I like to feel that I’m making progress in ridding my home of useless things.
My solution: the One-A-Day Declutter. It’s super-easy, super-fast, and most importantly, keeps me going in the right direction.
Every day, I commit to purging ONE item from my house. It can be anything—a worn-out pair of socks, a book I’ll never read again, a gift I could live without, a shirt that doesn’t fit, an old magazine article, etc. It doesn’t take much effort, and at the end of the year, my home is at least 365 items lighter.
Since I don’t like to put potentially-useful items in the trash (and ultimately, a landfill), I keep a donation box tucked away in my hall closet. I add items to it one by one, and when it’s full, donate it to the Vets, Goodwill, or other charitable organization. (If you don’t want to keep a box of “clutter,” you could certainly Freecycle items as you go along—it just takes a little more effort.)
All-around, it’s a win-win-win: I have less clutter, someone in need winds up with something useful, and the planet is better off!
I keep up this regimen even after I’ve done a massive decluttering—in fact, it’s become part of my daily routine. It may sound strange, but getting rid of something each day just makes me FEEL good. It puts me in control of my stuff, keeps the clutter from creeping back in, and moves me one step closer to my goal of having a minimalist household.
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Great idea! I love it! But do you ever find that you hold back on purging “too many” items on any given day, so that you have an easy choice the next day?
Hi Robert! Yes, I’ve been guilty of that on occasion.
Although usually it’s hard to hold back when I’m on a roll!
What I do is to set an hour of my day to declutter and I’m doing wonderfully. You’re right about how good it feels to get rid of stuff that you don’t use.
Great work, Miss Guimba! I have to warn you, though — decluttering can be addictive!
hello miss minimalist….i am a complete follower of all your posts and i have to admit that decluttering has become an addiction for me. if i need to uplift my mood or kill boredem…i reach out to declutter and donate all of it.
Hi Neetika! It feels great, doesn’t it?
I like this idea. I don’t have major decluttering to do any more, but the thought of spending a certain period of time on the project is sometimes overwhelming.
Thanks, Cari! Yes, it’s definitely a lot less intimidating when you take it a little at a time.
Hi. I have been decluttering for about 25 years. I
somehow felt that I was one of a very few similiar people and to be honest I was delighted to find this site. It makes me feel part of a community instead of
an oddbod who gives away or donates to charity anything
of no definate use to me. Thanks. Will continue to
read all the minimalistic stories and look forward to
reading the book.
I also declutter like a crazy thing, constantly! At least one item per day
result!!!
I just love the freedom of having less ‘stuff’ A friend and I both recently moved houses, we have the same amount of kids (lots!) however, she needed many trips back and forward to the house with a huge van and quantities of ‘stuff’ that makes me queasy to contemplate having!! I however needed one small van, one trip, bliss!
I follow the posts here avidly and always find new inspiration, new ways to minimalise!
My friend was amazed at how lit tle ‘stuff’ I owned, so i’ve been explaining my lifestyle, everything has a place and everything in it’s place, and if it overflows from it’s allocated place (DVDs being one example) declutter!! I’ve explained about setting limits, for example, clothing, I nearly fainted when she told me one of her children had eleven pairs of shoes! I think i’m getting through because she keeps talking about having ‘sort-outs’ which I think is non-minimalist terminology for a little bit of de-cluttering
Thanks for this great idea. I didn’t think I was much of a clutter keeper until I started to do this. So far I’m still working on the cabinet in my bathroom and there is still a lot of stuff in there that I know needs to go.
I have several cleansers (detergent, bleach,& the like), body soap, nail polish remover, and shampoo that I no longer use. Most of the cleansers are not green (an understatement!). I want to de-clutter and get rid of them all, but I have been conflicted about passing on toxic chemicals or alternatively pouring them down the sink or throwing into the trash. I imagine that I would be laughed out to the curb if I tried to take them to a hazardous waste facility. Any thoughts or suggestions?
P.S. The soap and shampoo can probably be donated. It’s the cleansers that I have the most angst about.