Where to Start Decluttering
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Where should you start decluttering? That is the number one question that I have got over the years ever since I first started helping people declutter their homes. And it's also the number one decluttering search term online because it can, it can feel a little bit tricky trying to figure out exactly where you should start decluttering. So in this episode, I'm going to break it down.
Hello, hello, and welcome to the Take Charge of Your Home Show, the podcast here to help you step into your clutter free era where you not only clear away the clutter like a boss, but you also live a clutter free lifestyle where your house is clean and tidy, your mind is sharp as a tack, and your digital life is organized AF.
In your clutter free era, you show your family how to be mindful of their belongings. You have free nights and weekends to make memories with your kids, to prioritize your own needs, and to live your life to the fullest. My [00:01:00] name is Nicole Callahan from The Maximizing Momma. I am a mom of four with a chronic illness, who took my entire household from cluttered and messy to calm and organized. And now it is my life's work to help you do the exact same thing. I am honored to have you here, but I also want to honor your time. So let's get back to the show.
Now. There are people out there who don't have a hard time understanding where they should start decluttering. And there are people out there who have a really hard time. So I'm going to break down exactly why that's happening in this episode, because number one, awareness is always the first step. But also because once you are able to fully understand why you have not known where to start decluttering, it will literally open up so many windows for you so that way you're able to truly take charge of your home and create the tidy clutter-free space [00:02:00] that I know you're dreaming of.
Let's get into it.
So the reason why it can be so hard to figure out where to start decluttering. This happens when somebody has multiple different types of items that are cluttering up their home, that are making their house look messy and cluttered. So there's going to be things that you want to keep that are making your house look messy and cluttered. But you don't actually want to let them go. So therefore you, you can't really declutter them. So these items that you want to keep, they're getting left out on your counters and your tables and your flat surfaces. They're piling up on the floor next to your couch and your bed. They are strung on doorknobs and draped over the backs of chairs, and it's just, it just looks visually cluttered. And I would guarantee that every single one of those items are all going to be things that you want to keep. So what ends up happening is you're trying to make these items and these areas in your home look more tidy by shuffling [00:03:00] the things around and straightening up the piles and putting things inside bins and baskets, and just doing your best to make these areas look as tidy and clutter-free as possible.
But let me clue you into something. The reason why these items are left out in the first place, it's really a twofold reason. Number one, because of your habits. However, most of the time these things are left out because you have too much stuff, there's too much clutter taking up all of your storage spaces, like your closets, your cabinets, the drawers, your shelves, et cetera. So there's too much stuff in the storage spaces within your home and that has left you no room for the items that you use daily. And that is the reason why they're getting left out on the surface layer of your home. So I'm sitting here in my room right now, and I'm looking at this little rolling desk that I have, and there's like a hair clip in front of me. And then on my nightstand, there is [00:04:00] some medicine and an apple pencil and a, a lip mask and some essential oils. Well, the reason why these things are left out, one because of my habits, because I need to put them where they belong. But like the apple pencil, for example, that's left out because there's nowhere to put it. Now as I'm sure you've know, if you have been following the Take Charge of Your Home Show for awhile, we had a house fire, so we don't even really have a lot of our belongings anymore. They're in the process of being restored and cleaned. But since the house fire, I have witnessed firsthand how this comes into play even for someone who is practically living a minimalist lifestyle, because I literally don't have anywhere to put things because I literally don't have any furniture or storage spaces.
I literally don't have anywhere to put the apple pencil because I truly don't have any storage spaces, if that makes sense. But on the other end of [00:05:00] the spectrum, for someone whose house is very cluttered, there is no where to put the apple pencil because there is too much stuff in your closets and your cabinets and your drawers. So this just further cements into what I'm saying as 100% true and absolutely game changing when you really implement this in your home, because the reason why the messes are causing such a problem is because there is too much stuff in your storage spaces.
Now, of course, an apple pencil and a lip mask and a hair clip are not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of your entire home. And that's why I'm just giving that as one individual a little example. But when you, when you put that example in place for every single flat surface in your entire household, for every single table in every room, in every section of your house, you can see how the clutter and the messes and the things that are just all over the place are just multiplying. When you, when you think about this on the grander level of your [00:06:00] entire household and how there's not room for the apple pencils and the hair clips and the paper and all the things, it's all the things that you want to keep. There's not room for these items because there is too much clutter taking up all of your storage spaces. And that is why they're getting left out. That's why these apple pencils and hair clips and medicine and things like that are getting left out.
So that means that the answer to this question, where should you start decluttering? The answer is that it's not really that simple, because there are several different types of clutter and messes that are making your house look messy and cluttered.
Now, this is what I call the Big Three Messes. You've got everyday messes, homeless items, and accumulated clutter. And they all need to be handled in very different ways. So the Big Three Messes is a game changer because instead of looking at all this stuff in your home as clutter that [00:07:00] all needs to be handled, that can feel very overwhelming. Of course, you don't know where to start when you're looking at all this stuff the exact same way, right. But when you break it up into these Big Three Messes, you will know exactly what to do with every single item that is possibly giving you trouble in your home.
So let's get into this. The everyday messes, these are really easy to tackle because the everyday messes are the items that you know where they belong. You know where they go. They're just not getting put there, like the hair clip, for example. Or the hairbrush that's left on your bathroom counter. So the solution for these items, for these everyday messes is to put them all where they go. And that is the reason why a daily tiding routine or even a daily reset is so crucial because it helps you stay on top of these everyday messes from one day to the next. And side note, the reason why I named them everyday messes [00:08:00] is because these are the items that will get left out on a daily basis. They're getting left out because you live in your home. You're always going to leave a hair clip on the counter or on your nightstand. You're probably likely going to leave your hairbrush on your bathroom counter for the rest of your life because of your daily habits. It isn't until later on in the process, when you learn how to refine your habits and you learn how to put things away immediately when you're done using them that you will stop leaving these everyday messes out from one day to the next. But we're not even really talking about the everday message today because they're so easy to tackle. It's the homeless items and the accumulated clutter that you need to be prioritizing, especially when you're wondering where to start decluttering. I'm going to assume that you're struggling with both homeless items and accumulated clutter.
And this is what I mean when I say messes and clutter, because the [00:09:00] messes are the items that you want to keep that you don't want to declutter or let go of. And the problem is they're getting left out because you literally don't know what to do with them. Which is why why they're called homeless items. For the homeless items, you need to find a permanent home for all of them. That's the solution.
And then for the clutter, The clutter is the stuff that you should be letting go of. That's the stuff that you need to cull through and sort through and decide what to let go of. So therefore, you're struggling with both clutter and messes. You have things in your home that you want to keep that you don't know where to put them, you don't know what to do with them. And then you also have things in your home that you need to sort through and decide to let go of.
Now here's the kicker. Those are two very different concepts. On the one hand, you've got the homeless items and the things that you want to keep. Those items, that's what I call [00:10:00] overhauling. You need to overhaul those things that you want to keep, that you don't know what to do with. And then you also have the clutter and the items that you should be letting go of. You need to declutter those things. So if those are two very different concepts, overhauling and decluttering, if there are two very different concepts, that means that you should not be trying to do them at the same time.
Now, let me explain this just a little bit more. Let's say that you you need to overhaul and declutter one particular space in your home. Like your kid's bedroom before the new school year as a timely example. Then yes, you can absolutely overhaul, declutter, and even organize and tidy and clean all in one sitting if you're just focusing on one space. But when it's your entire house, when your entire house and every room in your entire house has homeless items, as well as accumulated clutter, if you're trying to [00:11:00] tackle them both at the same time, that's a recipe for disaster because you're going to end up just shuffling things from one room to another. And plus you will almost always get interrupted or have to stop halfway through and that as exactly why it seems like the rooms in your home keep getting cluttered all over again because you're trying to deal with the homeless. Items and the clutter. You're trying to deal with the messes and the clutter sporadically and randomly for every room in your house.
So, this is the reason why you want to take charge of your home in stages. You've likely, before now been overhauling, de cluttering, tidying, cleaning, and organizing at random. But instead, when you take charge of your home in stages, you're doing one of those concepts at a time for your entire house until you have mastered it. So you're overhauling and dealing with the homeless items from [00:12:00] every space in your home until you're complete. And then, and only then do you move on to start decluttering. And let me just tell you that once you have overhauled, once you have tackled all the homeless items and your counters and your tables and your floors are free of stuff and tidy and peaceful, then you will know exactly where you should start decluttering. There will not be one single question in your mind for where you should start, because you will have so much space and mental clarity. You will know where to start. You will be able to dive right in and start clearing away the clutter, like a boss until you have de cluttered every single room in your house. And then, from there you can do the same thing with organizing and so on. So this is my signature method. It's called the Peaceful Home Roadmap and it is truly a roadmap to getting a [00:13:00] peaceful, organized home. It incorporates overhauling, which is the step zero that needs to come first. It's the step zero that needs to come before decluttering. This step zero is crucial if you have ever wondered where to start decluttering. Or if you have ever felt like you can't declutter yet because you don't have room for the things that you want to keep.
So if that's you, if you've been wondering where to start decluttering because you have a lot of homeless items and a lot of accumulated clutter. Well, the answer is for you to overhaul first and foremost. You need to overhaul the messes. You want to start by overhauling the messes and figue out exactly what you're going to do with all those items that are getting left out around your house. You need to deal with them. You need to put them back where they belong and find a permanent [00:14:00] dedicated home for all of them. That, my friend, is the answer for where to start decluttering. Because once you've done that, once you have overhauled the messes, decluttering will truly be a piece of cake because you won't have a bunch of messes left out. The messes are what's stressing you out. It's the messes that are driving you crazy and making you want to create a change in your home. It's not the clutter that's taking up all of your storage spaces. It's not the piles of stuff that's in your master closet where you can just shut the door and not even look at it. I mean that is likely stressing you out in the back of your mind that you're not even aware of, but we'll get to that later on when we tackle the true clutter and you really learn how to let go of the excess things. But for now, when it comes to creating a tidy, clutter-free home, I can guarantee that it's the stuff that you can see with your naked eye that is driving you to make to [00:15:00] want to make a change. Those are the items that we need to be tackling first and foremost. And it really works hand in hand because these areas, these items that you can see with your naked eye, that's what I call the surface layer of your home. You want to tackle those items first because once you do, like I said, not only will you know where to start decluttering, but you will also feel so much more peaceful. Your house will be easy to tidy. You will have so much more free time. And your family will feel a lot more peaceful as well.
So the good news is that we're going to get there. We're going to get you a neat and tidy home that has everything put where it belongs and is easy to clean. And I can help you do this. So make sure to subscribe to the Take Charge of Your Home Show, because next Monday, August 5th, I have a very exciting announcement that will help you overhaul the mess. It will tell you exactly how to overhaul these messes and declutter like a boss. I'm going to go live that day on social media. And once [00:16:00] I wrap up the live and finish up, I will share the audio here as a podcast episode so that way you don't miss a thing.
So until then, I hope you have a beautiful week and I cannot wait for you to watch your clutter melt away like snow in the sun. I'll chat with you soon. Bye.
