Stewie’s 10X Decluttering Toolbox
Welcome to my 10X decluttering toolbox! Within this single blog post is every trick, secret, and strategy I used to declutter my home. These are the tools I wish someone had handed me when I started decluttering ten years ago.
You’ll discover the best decluttering ideas from a dozen books and over a hundred articles. My goal is to provide you with a toolset that’s 10X better than anything ever published. It’s a high bar, and you’ll be the judge if I reached it.
But before we get started, I need to do something a little unorthodox—disclaimers!
- Your situation is unique. Not every tool applies to you. Use good judgment.
- Maybe you don’t want to declutter. That’s OK! This advice won’t make you do something you don’t want to do.
OK, enough disclaimers. Let’s get on with the show.
Decluttering Categories
What are specific strategies I can use to declutter?
- The container strategy
- Zone your home
- Utility vs aspirational identity
- Handling Yearbooks
- Handling ‘What if I need this later?’
- “Discard by Feb. 2022” box
- Does this spark joy?
- Exceptions to “Does this spark joy?”
- How to declutter clothes
How do I deal with people and gifts?
How do I stop accumulating clutter?
- How to be deliberate with your buying
- The container strategy
- Will you soon forget about this purchase?
- Don’t start projects you’ll never finish
- Change your environment, change your consumption
- Avoid all ads
- Create a long term goal
- Happiness levels stay consistent
- Craving completeness
- Limit pleasurable things so they don’t lose their novelty
- We’re trained to be dissatisfied with what we have (and how to fix this)
- Beware of consumption spirals
How do I adopt the right mindset?
- Imagine your ideal home
- Less space → less stuff
- Utility vs aspirational identity
- Thought experiments to adopt a decluttering mindset
- Cost per sqft
Decluttering Toolbox
Here are my decluttering tools in no particular order. Eventually, I’ll turn these tools into a book.
Tools
- Imagine your ideal home
- Less space → less stuff
- The container strategy
- Stop storing stuff for people
- Utility vs aspirational identity
- Cost per sqft
- Limit screentime
- 5-minute time box
- Handling Yearbooks
- Handling ‘What if I need this later?’
- “Discard by Jan. 2022” box
- Clutter-free Mother’s Day gifts
- Will you soon forget about this purchase?
- Don’t start projects you’ll never finish
- Change your environment, change your consumption
- Avoid all ads
- Create a long term goal
- Happiness levels stay consistent
- Craving completeness
- Limit pleasurable things so they don’t lose their novelty
- We’re trained to be dissatisfied with what we have (and how to fix this)
- Beware of consumption spirals
- Does this spark joy?
- Exceptions to “Does this spark joy?”
- How to declutter clothes
- Thought experiments to adopt a decluttering mindset
- How to be deliberate with your buying
- Zone your home
- Don’t sell old clothes
Decluttering News
Friday June 4, 2021
- 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home
- Tiny House Book Review: The Best Books To Help You Live The Tiny Life
- Organize Your House
- How To Declutter and Clean Your Home
- Storage unit declutter
Thursday June 3, 2021
- Digital decluttering: Organisation expert gives advice on tidying up your digital space
- How to downsize in an eco-organised way
- Product designs to organise your workspace and achieve a de-cluttered work desk + mind
- 7 Easy Strategies to Streamline Your Space, According to a Professional Decluttering Expert