My Decluttering Obsession

I am OBSESSED with decluttering right now you guys!! It feels SO good and I can’t wait to declutter more ha! About a month ago I participated in Emily Ley’s Ruthless Declutter Challenge and it was FANTASTIC! I wanted to share with you 5 lessons I learned during my decluttering challenge:

Before I get started first read this blog post from Emily Ley’s mom, Nana and check out the below steps:

5 Lesson’s learned during my Ruthless Declutter Challenge:

1. Decluttering is not Organizing

This is probably the most important thing to remember to help you with that overwhelming thought of decluttering your entire house! To quote Nana from Simplified:

“Decluttering is not cleaning. Decluttering is not organizing. Decluttering is paring down and getting rid of things you don’t use or need to create a more pleasant and more useful space.”-Nana Lay

Amen sister!!

2. Start with a small space so you can see progress quickly

This is a fantastic tip if you think the decluttering process will take you weeks to complete (for you Dave Ramsey fans, this concept is just like the debt snowball approach ;)). Start with ONE drawer in the kitchen!!

I actually started the challenge with my utensil draw in my kitchen. I had utensils in there that I haven’t touched in three years!!

Did I need five bottle openers?? “Oh… I don’t actually ever open five beers at the exact same time… well then I probably don’t need five bottle openers”…yes we had five bottle openers in one drawer! Be ruthless!! Pick your favorite one or two and get rid of the rest!

It literally took me three minutes to declutter one messy drawer. So it was easy and I saw results quickly!

3. If you can’t organize the space… You have too much!!

I had always struggled with organizing my baking pans in my lazy susan. I never had enough room for all the different sizes and shapes. Well, guess what?!? I rarely bake! So why did I have three of the exact same cake pans and three 9×13 glass baking dishes?? Who knows?!

Another example is my spice cabinet above. This space was loaded with every type of spice you can think. When in reality I only use about 5-8 spices on a regular basis. So I got rid of expired spices, removed spices I never use, combined like spices and moved the most used spices to the front. Now every time I open this cabinet I don’t automatically get an anxious feeling of how unorganized it is… I think, “perfect, here is the paprika, right where I left it” 🙂

Think about what you actually use on a regular basis. Don’t keep things you haven’t touched in three years!

4. Do not try to organize while you are decluttering!!

This is SO important! This lesson can not only save your sanity but money as well! I found as I began to declutter a space, container after container, and basket after basket began to empty. So I am saving those empty containers and baskets for later when I need them to organize.

This way you won’t have to spend as much money on baskets or organizing containers because you can use the ones you already have! #genius

5. Take the items you don’t want straight to your car

In the past, if I had a few things I wanted to take to Goodwill I would let them sit in a room for weeks… But during this challenge, Emily suggests taking those items straight to your car! This way they are in your car, and it will force you to make a run to Goodwill sooner than later!

I hope these five lessons were helpful to you and gives you a little motivation to try decluttering. This is the schedule I worked off of for the Ruthless Declutter Challenge and I found it super helpful:

More random tips:

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