For the past couple of years, I have been on a quest to declutter my home and my life. I have longed to find a life uncluttered with unnecessary possessions and obligations. A life with unhampered by destructive attitudes and mindsets. A life without the excess of our current culture.
I want a life not necessarily characterized by minimalism, but a life with “enough.”
This quest has led me to declutter my home. I’m not finished yet, but I’ve tackled my closet, my office, and my bookshelves.
In the process, I’ve researched how best to rid my home of the surplus stuff living in my closets and on my shelves. I’ve discovered that there are different modes of decluttering.
Declutter by Item
With this decluttering style, you will concentrate on one category of possessions at a time. For instance, take all your clothes out of the closets, drawers, and storage bins and sort through them. Which do you want to keep? Which can you toss? Or donate? You may recognize this as the Marie Kondo method of tidying. One disadvantage of this style is that it may make a big mess before you see progress. The advantage? You can see all that you own of that type of item and this may help you make decisions.
Declutter by Project
This decluttering style helps you organize specific areas of your home. Make a list of the cluttered spots like your bedroom dresser, the hall closet, the junk drawer in the kitchen. Get your sorting bins ready: Keep, Toss, and Donate and tackle one area at a time. One drawback of this style may be that it is difficult to see how many like items you have. But this method is easy to do in short pockets of time. It doesn’t require you to devote an entire afternoon to decluttering.
Declutter by Room
If you want to see a quick visible change to your home, you might consider decluttering by room. Take everything out of the room and sort by Keep, Toss, or Donate. Return the Keep items back into the room and toss or donate the rest. This organizing method will give you quick results that may keep you motivated. But it requires large chunks of time.
What decluttering style will work best for you?
I’ve created a quiz to help you find out. Click on the button below to access the quiz. Answer a few questions and you will discover which decluttering method suits you best!
And if you want to learn more about living with “enough,” check out my new book Enough for Now: Unpacking God’s Sufficiency.
To find out more about decluttering styles check out this post by Lady Decluttered.