The Number One Way to Simplify Your Life

Is it touching everything you own and asking yourself if it sparks joy?

Is it decluttering one area at a time and putting things where they go right away so you never end up with a living, breathing, “Keep” pile?

Is it limiting yourself to only one hundred belongings that you can fit into a duffel bag at a moment’s notice?

No. Or yes.

The number one way to simplify your life is to do something that works for you personally.

Not everyone has the time to change their life with tidy magic. And not everyone can take on a slow, speed-of-life approach when they want to get it done right now.

Sometimes people simplify, declutter, downsize, or minimize due to the need to move quickly or just because they’ve finally had enough and need to change something in their lifestyle because it’s driving them bananas.

No matter your reason for applying minimalism to your life, the best way is whatever way works for you personally, because everyone’s preferences, speed, and ability levels are different.

If you don’t know where to start, start by researching the different methods available to you and just pick one to try out. If it works for you, great! If it doesn’t, try a different method. This Ultimate Home Decluttering Guide breaks down the benefits of decluttering as well as several approaches to minimizing your belongings.

Benefits of decluttering include:

• Improved concentration
• Reduced stress
• Improved mood
• Improved sleep
• Finding things you thought you lost
• Increased home safety

Some of the Ultimate Home Decluttering Guide’s tips include:

• Establish a regular time to declutter daily and weekly
• Get rid of anything you haven’t used in the past year
• Have a friend or family member help you
• Ask yourself, “Would I trade inner peace for this?”
• Create a quarterly schedule to declutter large areas like the garage or attic
• Try out to-do lists to organize your efforts
• Learn to declutter your mail as it arrives daily
• Return borrowed items to their owners
• Throw away or recycle anything you don’t need
• Try filling one trash bag per day with donations, recyclables, or trash as a short-term decluttering method
• Declutter one item each day (throw away or give away)
• Try the “four box” method and sort things into keep/not sure/throw away/give away boxes
• Try the “cardboard box test” and pack items away in a cardboard box – if you don’t open it in a month, donate the whole thing
• Declutter room by room
• Look for easy things to discard, such as expired food or medicine (call a local pharmacy for tips on disposing of medicine)
• Try creative organization methods like an over-the-door shelf or hanger, drawer organizers, tension rods, etc.
• Start in one corner of a room and declutter one area at a time
• Declutter hidden spaces like dresser drawers and closet bins too
• Donate clothing that doesn’t fit well or isn’t comfortable (and therefore isn’t worn regularly!)
• Maximize your storage space
• Reduce the number of redundant kitchen tools you have
• Deal with your stacks of paper
• Donate unused comfort items like blankets if you have too many to reasonably use
• Teach kids to clean up their toys as part of their bedtime routine
• DON’T buy organizers before you see the final result of your decluttering and know exactly what you’re organizing
• Break tasks down into manageable chunks and schedule your decluttering

The Ultimate Home Decluttering Guide also identifies several clutter personalities:

• People who don’t recognize their clutter
• People who clear then re-buy
• The Superman (organizes without decluttering)

If you recognize yourself in these clutter personalities or you’re curious about trying some of the methods described, go check out and bookmark the Ultimate Home Decluttering Guide – it’s a very valuable resource for staying on task with a decluttering project.