Finding Motivation to Declutter

Often, decluttering can feel like the last thing you want to do. There is too much clutter around. You can see rubbish everywhere, dishes piled up and it feels like you can’t do one area until you’ve done another. Finding the motivation to declutter can be challenging. It becomes a vicious cycle that can bring you to a holt. But it doesn’t have to feel like that.

Mindset

Before we can move on we first have to let go of this mindset. It is no longer something we can’t do, but a new start. Imagine you are a complete stranger in your own home. Imagine you are seeing your home for the first time, maybe you could imagine that you are helping a friend sort out their house. You need to look at your home like an outsider. If you were telling someone else what to do what would you say? The truth is you would start by feeding them some motivational words, quotes or thoughts that are inspiring. You might ask them what their hopes are for the home – how do they want it to feel? Ask yourself these questions. Give yourself a mini pep talk. YOU’VE GOT THIS! Now you really do ‘got this’.

Do you need to tidy before decluttering?

I think often we confuse the two. We go to declutter the house, because we know we have too much, but get overwhelmed by the need to clean and tidy. This gut instinct is spot on. We can’t make any decisions about clutter until we have a reasonable starting point. That means we need to follow the 5 things tidy method to be in a position to declutter. I will leave a link here XXX Collect all of the trash, then the dishes, then the laundry. Then start putting things back. Until this step has been completed within the room it can be overwhelming.

Start small

Now that the basics have been sorted and we can move freely in the room and have space to work through our items, we can declutter. Often we want to take on the whole room and get it finished, but this can often be a much bigger task than we think. It doesn’t allow for us to be able to dispose of items and often we are left with piles of stuff everywhere. So we need to start small. One drawer, one shelf, one little area at a time. I share little acts of decluttering on social media – you can also download a free calendar on my website for each month. Complete one area and feel like it is done before moving on.

Get a declutter buddy for motivation

Keeping yourself accountable when decluttering can hugely impact your ability to keep to task and on the decluttering path. A declutter buddy could be a friend or family member that helps you to physically declutter in your home or they can support from afar. They may even want to declutter their own home at the same time. They key is having someone to talk to about it, to discuss where you’re at and to get you motivated again when you find a lull.

Finding motivation by setting yourself up for decluttering

You’re environment is key to how successful you become at decluttering. You need to make it fun for you. This could mean listening to your favourite music or podcast. It could mean watching a declutter with me video on the same area as inspiration.

Set a time limit

Too much time can be lost to decluttering in an inefficient way. Spending hours doesn’t mean we necessarily achieve what we want it to. Small short burst of time spent decluttering can be just as powerful. It gives you that daily habit of so many minutes a day, without feeling like it is taking over your life. It can also force you to speed up the process by encouraging you to make quicker decisions so that you can complete an area.

Finding motivation in before and after photos

Taking photos is a great way to be able to look back on the progress you have made. Sometimes it can feel like we have spent a lot of time on something and it feels like we can’t see the difference, but comparison photos will really show the transformation and the step by step progress made in each category.

Plan goals and rewards

We are all motivated to get started with goals so using them in a smart fashion can keep you going back for more. Make sure goals and small and achievable – aiming for weekly or monthly goals will allow you to be able to tick things off and feel that success is being made towards the bigger declutter your home goal.

Finding motivation to declutter is key to success. You’ve got this!

Rachel, Declutter Your Life X

For more information check out my youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/RachelNoakes

For more information, check out this post: https://declutteryourlife.co.uk/decluttering/november-little-acts-of-decluttering/