For those of you who prefer to read, here is a transcription of my video with this title.

Step 1: Clarify Your Why

If you’re anxious to start decluttering, you may be disappointed with me getting philosophical, but this is crucial to your success. Most people assume their reason for decluttering is obvious. Just look around! After 20 years of professional organizing, I can assure you it is usually not obvious. For example… You may be downsizing so you can sell your home. Maybe you need to convert the catch-all guest room to a baby’s room. Perhaps you would like to feel comfortable having guests over again. Or, maybe you just want your place to look prettier or be able to reliably find what you want, when you want it. When you resolve to declutter, you have probably found some inspiration that gives you a push, but when you clarify your why then you give yourself a goal that pulls you forward. You have a reason not just to start, but to finish. That’s crucial because then the decluttering process becomes less about what you are giving up and more about what you are gaining. With a clear roadmap you will be pointed in the right direction and you will go a lot further. By the way, this also helps define clutter for you. You may have an item that is valuable, but if it is not valuable in reaching your chosen destination, then it is just getting in the way. You might want to give it to a family member or sell it, but that’s clutter to you.

Step 2: Choose the right tools

Once you’ve clarified your WHY and you’re pointing in the right direction, it’s time to choose the right tools for the journey. NO that doesn’t mean it’s time to go to buy organizing products like bins or drawer organizers yet. You don’t need organizing products, you need decluttering tools. Here’s what we recommend: 

1. A clear work surface – for categorizing
2. A 10-pack of banker boxes like these from Staples – for sorting
3. Retractable sharpie and post-it notes – for labeling
4. Quart and gallon sized Ziploc bags – for collecting smaller like-items

Step 3: Start with the exit

Before you dive into the clutter, give some thought to where it’s going to go. If you’re decluttering your whole home, I recommend starting with the garage or other external location. You tend to find quick wins there and you can use the open space for discards and donations from the rest of the house. If you’re generating a lot of clutter, trucks can then easily back up to that spot and take it away.

Step 4: Work in stages

When decluttering, your only focus should be on separating the clutter from the keepers. Don’t also try to work out what containers you need for the keepers at the same time. Use the banker boxes, recycle bags, and labels temporarily to sort the keepers for now and simply separate the clutter by discard, donate, sell, and give-to. Only after you’ve fully separated clutter from keepers should you work out where to store the new quantity of keepers and in what to store them

Step 5: Floor, surfaces, shelves, then cabinets

This order matters because each stage makes the next stage easier. First and foremost, you need to work on a clear floor, so move everything to one side in a review zone. I recommend sorting it by very general categories. These are the most common categories that we see: tools/utility, keepsakes, office supplies, loose paper, media, clothes, décor, health & beauty. Save paper for last. Next, clear all surfaces. Why? Because a clear work surface is your number one organizing tool, so you can sort the items from the shelves and cabinets. Sort the open shelves next, then the cabinets, cupboards, drawers etc.

Step 6: WHY takes you to WHERE

Remember your WHY along the way. If your why is to create a baby’s room, is the treadmill that you’re now only using to dry laundry helping get you there or is it getting in the way? If you’re going through a category like books, ask why you are keeping them, because you can keep the same item for several different reasons. Books to read? Keep in a reading area. Books for reference? Perhaps house in your home office. Books for looks? Maybe a coffee table. Keepsake books to look at on occasion? These can be stored more remotely. Then, when you realize you don’t have a good reason why to keep, it’s easier for you to sell or donate it. It’s clutter and it needs to go. When you are clear on WHY you keep something it takes you to WHERE it needs to go.

Step 7: Regret-free process

When you find yourself saying I should probably get rid of this but I just don’t know if I’m ready, I say when in doubt DON’T throw it out. Why? Because nothing is more important in the decluttering process than keeping a good momentum and nothing slows down that momentum more than regrets. All I recommend is that you get clear on WHY you still value it. Is it a potential piece of décor? A keepsake? Move it to that general category and keep going with the easier decisions. This way you maintain your momentum with a focused mind. Also, when you do return to that category at a later time it will be easier to make a decision because it is in the right context.  Context drives decisions.

Step 8: Value the space

Whatever the reason WHY you choose to declutter, it probably involves opening up space. So don’t lose sight of that. Bear in mind, particularly with large items like that unused treadmill, that you will probably value the space left behind from that item more than the item itself.

Step 9: Quantity dictates systems

So with tips 1 through 8, you’ll have more decluttering success than you’ve ever had before. But now comes the part where you start to wonder, is there anything you can do to prevent the clutter from returning again? It starts by establishing dedicated zones. These are areas in your home- could be a set of shelves, one shelf, or a closet- that limit you to one category. Leave a little room for growth, but try to stay within these well-established zones. Otherwise, one dedicated zone will start to spill into another and you end up where you started. You will know the structure size you need for dedicated by seeing the quantities you have in your Keep Zone. Be prepared for the size of your category needs to change over time.

Step 10: Circulation Prevents Accumulation

The most important thing to create to keep the clutter from returning is a plan for movement in a series of manageable, reliable stages. That’s what I call the circulation solution and it is the subject of my book by the same name. The focus of this video has been on how to declutter your home. The focus of this book is on how to keep the clutter from returning. Download it for free at mattbaier.com or if you prefer the paperback, you can find it on Amazon.

Do you want to declutter your home in the new year?