17 Mini Moves to Help You Declutter

Stop waiting for someone else to take care of the clutter in your home—it's time to take action. Spring cleaning can be intimidating. It's hard to make the time, stick to a plan, and make the progress you want. Here’s how you can start strong and get it done.

Schedule Time

Clutter cleanses don’t spontaneously happen, so commit to the process by blocking out 30 to 45 minutes on your schedule for three consecutive days. A Friday-Saturday-Sunday schedule works for many people, but your ideal time might be weekdays immediately after dinner or first thing in the morning before everyone else gets up.

Recruit Help—Or Don’t

The choice of working alone or with a helper (or several) is purely personal. Work with a friend who is known for their honesty and objectivity. If decluttering with your family sounds like a fantasy, see “Teamwork Tricks,” below, for some fresh perspectives.

Promote Your Plan

Tell your family, roommates, or household ahead of time when you’ll be busy (so they don’t interrupt you). If they’ll be helping you, encourage them to work on their assignments during this time, too.

Gather Supplies

Have the following items ready for each decluttering session.

• Markers, index cards, sticky notes, and clear packing tape to make quick labels
• Cardboard boxes and plastic bags to sort and store items to donate
• Trash bags for items you want to throw out
• Scissors or a utility knife

Dress the Part

Wear comfy clothes and shoes. If you’ll need to try on clothing as part of your decluttering project, wear a tank or fitted T-shirt so you can change garments quickly.

Set the Stage

Put on a podcast (may we suggest the Real Simple Money Confidential podcast!) or some music you enjoy. Have a favorite beverage or snack close by.

Work the Clock

Set a timer (or play a specific number of songs) to keep sessions focused. Complete as much as you can in the allotted time and finish the task you’re working on. Take a 5-minute break to clear your head. If you have more to go and feel up to it, do another timed session. If you’re tired, wrap it up.

Touch Once; Decide Once

The core decluttering decision is to keep or to let go. Simply picking up or touching an item and asking, “Should I keep this?” will often yield your answer. If you instantly know something needs to go or stay (and you have storage space so it can), follow your gut.

Know Four Final Options

While you’re decluttering, don’t fret about what to do with stuff you’re not keeping. You can either sell it, give it away, donate it, or recycle/dispose of it. That’s it.

Work Like a Machine

Go through any space you’re decluttering in a methodical fashion—left to right, high to low, front to back—whatever makes sense for your project. Don’t jump around the space.

Focus on Quality and Function

Asking yourself the right questions during a decluttering session can help you quickly and confidently make decisions about what to keep. Most questions will lead you to set high standards for what to keep. Hold on to the best; let go of the rest!

Break Emotional Ties

Have a neutral person hold up items with emotional connections (collectibles, handmade stuff, books) and ask you whether they’re keepers. Without a physical connection to a toy you loved in grade school or a novel you read 10 years ago, you can make a clearheaded decision.

Keep Moving

When you don’t quickly know whether to keep or get rid of an item, place it in a pile and keep working. Save the last 5 to 10 minutes of the session to deal with your questionable items.

Remember Rewards

Do something positive at the end of each session. Enjoying something as simple as a piece of candy, a fresh glass of ice water, or an actual pat on your back (or someone else’s) reinforces your efforts.

Teamwork Tricks

Motivate family from the start of a project to play their part in cleansing clutter.

Get Specific

Identify exactly what you need help with and set concrete deadlines. (“By bedtime Saturday, I need you to sort all the video games into two piles: those you play and those you don’t.”)

Reinforce Deadlines

Assignments carry weight when you back them up with both a reward (“You can have the money we make from reselling the old games”) and a consequence (“After Saturday, I’m moving all unsorted games to a box in the basement”).

Try Leaving Assignments to Chance

Organizer Jamie Novak recommends writing a numbered list of 12 mini tasks and having each family member roll dice to see which task they’ll work on. You can also pull slips of paper with tasks from a bowl or make a deck of assignment cards.