Often when we shop our main decision basis is one of price. We review the price tags as well as asking ourselves questions like; is it on special? Does it come with something free? Can I get two for one or buy one get one half price? We assume that we are frugal or budget savvy by considering these price points before purchasing. The issue is that this often means that the true cost of a purchase is not considered.
When we only consider these price points in the decision making process for new purchases we forget the most important costs. One of the prime and irreplaceable costs being – our time. One of my favourite quotes is from Minimalist blogger Joshua Becker from Becoming Minimalist. He says “We don’t buy things with money. We buy them with hours from our lives.” A thought I try to be conscious of this each day.
Before we head out to the shops, or to buy something online – or anywhere, we need to consider a few things. Not just the money spent to make that purchase, but the investment of time involved in owning something. This assessment allows us to truly make wiser purchasing decisions and to consider the true cost of our stuff.
There is much more that needs to be considered than just price alone. Here are 7 other things you should consider when making purchasing decisions to assess the true cost:
Lack of mobility
When you consume excessively your rob yourself of future opportunities. What if a new position came up interstate that would be perfect for you but because you have a huge home filled with stuff you can’t move. What if you find the perfect rental property and you need to be out in a week but miss out because you can’t physically pack up all of your stuff that quickly. What if you need to sell your house whilst the market is booming but you take three months to declutter and pack your stuff and during that period the market drops suddenly and you lose thousands in the lost market price? Having too much stuff can hold you back from decisions that make you happy and add to your life and stop you from being mobile when you need to be.
Environmental Cost of Excessive Consumption
When we consume in excess we increase our impact on the environment. Everything you buy comes with packaging – boxes, plastic, tape, tissue paper, foam and other stuff that will quite possibly end up in landfill. Not to mention the cost on our natural resources. Clothing manufacturing uses vast amounts of water and chemicals. The more we buy, the more our valuable resources are depleted and the more waste we create.
This impact is often not seen by the consumers but born by the wildlife and locals who live in the areas of manufacturing. Check out True Cost on Netflix for a great documentary on the environmental and human cost of our fast fashion industry.
Opportunity Cost
This is the cost of what you could have done with that money had you not spent it on a new outfit or tech gadget. Instead of buying more stuff you could have invested that cash in yourself such as; by starting your own business, signing up for an educational course, contributing to your retirement, going on a holiday, paying off your mortgage or other debt. All these things have the potential to greatly improve your circumstances.
When people reach the end of their lives the common regret is not wishing they bought more things over there life times, but wishing they would have spent more time with family and friends and traveled more. There would be more time to do in our younger years if we stopped working more and more to buy things we don’t need. Rather than spending our hard earned cash on more stuff, we should consider the true cost – the opportunity costs of spending that money on stuff which could have been redirected to save for our future and retire earlier and have more time to spend with the people we love, doing things we truly enjoy!
Less time for your important relationships.
Whilst you are spending all Saturday morning cleaning your large home you’ve missed out on brunch with a friend, going out with the kids on a road trip, a morning walk with your wife.
The more stuff we have the more time we invest in cleaning it, maintaining, repairing not to mention the other stuff we don’t think of – the time we spend unpacking and setting it up, the time we spend reconciling our accounts each month, filing our receipts, finding a place for the item, washing it, moving it to dust or vacuum. The list goes on.
When buying something new ask yourself what is the true cost of this item? Are you prepared to spend the extra time to look after this item, dust it regularly, iron it weekly, pay for maintenance costs, take it for repairs when necessary and so on.
This goes for buying a house. A house is one of the biggest drains on your time. Consider whether you really need a two story mansion for you family of three or if you would rather spend the time you would have spent cleaning each weekend with your family not to mention the extra work hours needed to cover the larger mortgage.
The more we spend, the more money we need to bring in to stay ahead and on top of our debt. Maybe you are working 80 hours a week to bring in the big bucks to keep up with your spending. As a result of overworking you get home too tired to spend time with your family or do anything for yourself like exercise or read a book. You begin to live for the weekend with Monday to Friday just being a blur of alarm clocks and falling asleep on the couch.
Not only is your health suffering from lack of time to exercise, cook a nutritional meal and relax after work but you will be carrying around a lot more stress if you are living pay-cheque to pay-cheque. This can soon escalate if you are constantly worrying how you will meet your bills and debt repayments each month. Many people are reaching retirement age saddled with large consumer and mortgage debts without considering the consequences if they suddenly have to retire due to health concerns.
Anxiety and Stress Caused by Excess Clutter
Having lots of stuff adds stress and anxiety into our lives even if we are not aware of it. Clutter makes it difficult to relax physically and mentally and can make it an embarrassing time if unexpected guests rock up. Not to mention the added stress of not being able to find things, having to step over things constantly, pick up things endlessly to tidy up, or seeing cluttered spaces every time you open your drawers or wardrobe. The clutter is always there to remind us. This stress can be reduced by minimising your possessions and limiting what new items you bring into your home. Having space in your home, a sanctuary that you love can do wonders to alleviate stress and anxiety.
Missing Out On Valuable Experiences
When we become so obsessed with buying more and more stuff we often miss out on the important things in life like experiences. How many people do you know that have never been on a holiday but easily spend money on other things without much thought – their nails, a daily coffee, an expensive car, new jewellery or outfit for a party. They constantly say I can’t afford to travel and yet don’t realise that if they were just a bit more intentional with their spending that they too could go on an occasional holiday. Whether it be a local one, interstate or overseas.
It doesn’t even have to be a holiday. Maybe they want to go to a fancy restaurant for their anniversary but can’t afford it. Sometimes we place more value in things that we can see and hold and keep and hold onto for years and years and we forget the importance of creating memories with loved ones. If you just saved $20 a week – just 2.5% of a $50000 annual after tax salary, you would have over $1000 saved with interest to invest in an experience that is important to you. It could be a weekend away, spa day and nice dinner and only takes a very small sacrifice each week.
Have you identified the true cost of stuff in your life? What changes have you made since to your purchasing choices? Share you comments below 🙂
What if I told you there was a whole new way to financial stability that you may have not yet heard or considered? You might say something in reply like ‘Well, I’ve tried everything and there is no way I can get ahead’ Or ‘I don’t earn enough to save or have any financial stability’. But don’t fret!
What if I could show you that there was a way to get your finances in order without having to save every cent. Without living miserably whilst trying to keep your head afloat financially. Hoping that one day you would land a better paying job or win the lotto and your financial problems would be solved. A lifestyle where you could buy that expensive insert quality material possession you’ve wanted guilt free with a bit of forethought.
A couple of years ago, I stumbled across the term Minimalism by accident. It was during my lunch time Pinterest scroll where a few Pins came across my feed. I’d never really heard of ‘Minimalism’ before and wanted to learn more. I started to read the first post I came across. Then another and another. I became infatuated with the idea of living a more intentional life, reducing the excess to focus on the essential. Not long after I was reading and watching everything I could about the Minimalist lifestyle. What I didn’t realise at the time was how much this would have a positive effect on my financial stability.
Fast forward a couple of years to the present as I am typing this article. Minimalism has allowed me to change my whole relationship with money. I’ve always considered myself a frugal person that budgeted and saved and was keen to stay out of debt as much as possible. Those are all great financial habits and helpful to get to a point of financial stability, but I now see the missing piece of the puzzle. Through Minimalism, I have developed a more intentional approach to my finances and even more foresight for my financial future than ever before.
In the past most of my financial decisions were based on a price basis. I’d ask myself questions like – Was what I was buying a good price? Was is it on sale? Good questions by all means but they weren’t getting to the heart of the spending issue. Minimalism has opened my thought process up to a whole new dimension of financial decision making.
Instead of being focused just on price, I now consider other aspects of the purchase. These include asking myself questions before spending my money such as; is this the best use of my money? Could something I already have do the same job? Could I borrow this from a friend or family member if I only need to use it for a short amount of time? Is this something that will last me and be a quality product? Could my money be better utilised elsewhere?
The Minimalists define Minimalism as a tool that allows you to make decisions more consciously, more deliberately. To live a minimalist life to me, means living within your means and living more intentionally, getting off auto-pilot and reassessing your daily interactions and decisions. This I believe, is the key to financial stability. It doesn’t matter if you are earning a six figure salary and are spending more than six figures or only on a small wage. Minimalism can be used to help people on any income at any point on their financial journey.
I have found Minimalism a great tool in many areas of my life and one that can greatly add to your financial health. Here is How I discovered Financial Stability Through Minimalism.
I trust myself to plan for the future.
I know that I will, through everyday actions, be thinking of ‘future me’ and how I can ensure ‘future me’ is not left behind at the expense of ‘today me’. This gives me confidence to know that my financial future will be one of stability as I have plans in place in order to prepare for any financial emergencies that may present themselves unexpectedly.
I consider the bigger picture in decision making.
Minimalism has taught me to consider each purchase and take pause. Every purchase is well thought out and intentional. If I’m in kmart it’s because I’ve already made a list of what I need or want, where I am buying it and asked why I am buying it, and where it’ll be stored in my home. The temptation to impulse buy is reduced when you have to stop and think about your purchase decisions more thoroughly. The less I am buying on impulse, the less I will have to deal with buyers remorse and the shopping hangover that comes after a shopping binge.
I no longer feel the need to impress or keep up with others.
Minimalism has taught me to appreciate what I do have and shown me that I don’t need to make decisions to impress others. Being more aware of what truly makes me happy gives me financial stability and the financial freedom to make decisions for the right reasons, not to impress others.
Not everyone has the same financial circumstances and bank account balance as you. No one knows what everyone’s personal financials are and we shouldn’t be blindly trying to keep up at the expense of our own financial stability. If you want something and can afford it, that’s great, but don’t do it because of some need to impress others.
You’re more aware of your needs vs wants.
We bought our first home in our mid 20s, assuming at some point in the future we’d need to upsize when our one garage home with small rooms and one bathroom started feeling claustrophobic. Since discovering minimalism, instead of upsizing to a larger home, we donated, sold and cleared over half our our possessions.
Rather than getting a bigger home (and mortgage to go with it) we’ve stuck with our humble abode that is the perfect size for us. Sure, it might be nice to have some extra space and a more modern home, who doesn’t want that?! But we would rather have a smaller mortgage we can comfortably afford to pay. And even better, being able to afford additional payments means we can be debt free earlier and that is more important to us.
Seeing the importance of planning for unexpected financial disasters.
Before I discovered minimalism I maintained a small emergency fund and always made sure that if the car broke down or the hot water system blew we wouldn’t be stuck. There was some foresight to tackle any small potential disasters. But it was through discovering minimalism that I discovered a whole new level of financial stability.
I learnt how important it was to forgo temporary joy in the present for my future financial stability. This includes saving up three to six months of expenses to prepare for even bigger hiccups such as the possibility of a job loss. Having a goal to get an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses is no easy feat, but certainly adds a level of financial security.
If you were to lose your job tomorrow with a few months of pay stashed away, it would still be an unexpected development but one that you were prepared for. This emergency fund could give you the time to find a new job without worrying how you will pay your bills or put food on the table.
I value my time and money more
Minimalism has taught me to value my time and money more and that means finding ways to spend my hard earned cash more efficiently. Like looking for new ways to decrease my expenditure and therefore hours required to earn that money, without necessarily decreasing my spending. Spending time to find discounts on bills such as insurance, registration, utilities, and phone bills which can add up quickly in your budget and often only require a quick call or online quote.
I save time by automating my saving transfers and ensure my money is transferred to a separate savings account before I am even tempted to spend it.
Each small investment of my time to reduce expenses not only decreases the time I need to spend working to earn that money, but also better manage my money so it can be better utilised and contributing to my financial stability.
Minimalism frees up time which can in turn increase your savings.
In addition to the above point, one of the biggest benefits of minimalism is finding more free time and using it more efficiently. When you spend less time organising, cleaning, maintaining stuff and less time shopping for things you don’t need, you open up time to dedicate to more value adding activities.
This could include freeing up time you might have spend at the mall that you can now dedicate to reviewing your budget and analysing your expenditure to check in with your finance goals and to be more in control of your finances.
It can also free up time that might otherwise have been wasted. This could allow you to take up a side hustle to bring in extra income to further contribute to your financial stability.
My debt appetite has been re-routed.
Minimalism has helped me to become more aware of how intrinsic debt is in our society. People will pay out their car loan and not long after they are going out to buy another car with another hefty loan. They are so accustomed to having a debt repayment they haven’t even considered what else they could be doing with their money if they were just willing to hold onto a slightly older vehicle. I am now even more unwilling to go into debt than ever before and focused on reducing my current debt as quickly as possible.
Having less credit card debt, or any other kind frees up your cash to invest in your savings account and allows you more financial freedom to plan for the future. If we don’t have cash for something we don’t buy it. Our emergency fund also helps ensure we never have to rely on a credit card for unexpected costs.
Minimalism encourages living within your means.
If you are not living within your means, your income is less than your expenses and you are going to end up going into debt to fund your lifestyle. Minimalism has shown me that it is possible to save and have financial stability despite the level of income, if I choose to live within my means.
Just because you earn six figures doesn’t give you the ability to be financially naïve and ignore your incomings and outgoings. Nor does it mean someone on $40000 can’t have a savings balance. By working out your income and expenses for the pay period and planning your budget, you can ensure that you aren’t spending more than you earn.
Always asking is this the best use of my money?
Minimalism has taught me the importance of re-evaluating where my money is spent and asking whether that is the best use of my savings and income. It has shown me the importance of acting in the best interest of my goals.
Maybe you want to go on a trip to Europe next year but your friends want to go on regular shopping days. Or your friends asked you to go out for an expensive night of bar hopping that is going to blow your entire weeks spending budget. Minimalism reinforces how important it is to make intentional decisions each day to reach your goals.
Being more intentional about how I spend my money has helped me reach financial stability. Don’t be afraid to say no to an event or suggest alternate budget-friendly plans if something is going to put you in a financial pickle. Being open honest with friends and family can make this easier. If they understand your goals and why you are savings I’m sure they will be happy to make more budget friendly plans that can involve you.
Have you discovered financial stability through Minimalism? Please comment below and share your experiences!
Sometimes it can be hard to know where to start with decluttering, particularly when there are so many decluttering methods available and so many different forms of clutter. It can be difficult to know which decluttering method is going to be the most useful to you on your decluttering journey. And more often than not, you probably don’t have the time or patience to research or try them all out.
A couple of years ago I too was frustrated with the amount of stuff that had accumulated in my humble sized home. Every cupboard, drawer, shelf, the countertop was filled with stuff and added stress to everyday life. Trying to cook dinner was a chore with piles of stuff on our small kitchen island that was hard enough to prepare meals with. It was a fight every time I tried to open a cupboard to get a set of sheets or towel out. Getting dressed often involved pulling out endless clothes only to realise that nothing went together, no longer fit, or had a button missing.
I knew something had to change and so I set out decluttering every area of my home that I could think of. Not a single drawer, shelf or cupboard was safe. It was a slow process I carried out in my spare time day-to-day over a period of 2 years. Lucky for me I found it therapeutic and it became something I am really passionate about.
Of course, that isn’t the case for everyone – some people find the process tiresome and tedious and may just not have the time to dedicate to decluttering or researching different decluttering methods. so I am here to save you the trouble (at least some of it)!
Since starting my decluttering journey, I have researched and tried and tested many decluttering methods so keep reading for a brief introduction to some decluttering methods from some amazing minimalism bloggers like The Minimalists and Courtney Carver at Be More With Less.
Here are 9 Top Decluttering Methods to Declutter Your Home that I believe on their own or in unison, can help you get on your way to a more decluttered home that you love!
9 Methods to Declutter Your Home
1. The Konmari Methid – Organising by category
The Konmari method of decluttering was created by organising expert Marie Kondo and is based on identifying what you want to keep, rather than what to get rid of. The decision on whether to keep each item is decided by asking if the item sparks joy. If the answer is yes, it goes in the keep pile. If no, it goes in the donate or trash pile.
The approach to this method is to declutter by one category at a time, rather than location. If you have books in different rooms, you are to move all of them into one location and sort all of them at once. This allows you to see the vast amount of stuff you have of one category and helps you to avoid keeping multiples of things you might not have known you had, if they were kept in separate locations.
Take clothes for example, if you have some in your drawers, cupboard in the hall closet and have some in the laundry you may not realise how many clothes you really have until they are piled up on your bed in a clothing mountain.
The Konmari method sets out the order for decluttering which is based on perfecting your decluttering skills before you move onto the harder items like sentimental items.
Marie Kondo suggests the order of decluttering your home is: clothes, books, papers, komono (miscellaneous household items like valuables, craft supplies, stuff for hobbies, office supplies, electronics and kitchen items) and finally, sentimental items.
Pros: This decluttering method focuses on identifying what you love rather than what you don’t. Over time it allows you to be more aware of what you do love and what you don’t. It also encourages us to be thankful for what we do have and appreciate our things as we say thank you to each parted item. Part of decluttering is to learn to be grateful for what we do have so the Konmari method really speaks to that.
Cons: Taking every item from one category such as clothing can be extremely time consuming and overwhelming. Marie Kondo, says that decluttering is a special event to be done once, so this might be too big of an undertaking for some with smaller pockets of time. This method also can make it harder to let your stuff go if you find yourself saying everything sparks joy.
2. Four Box Method – relocate, donate, trash, sell
The four-box method of decluttering allows you to make quick decisions and tackle small areas to declutter. Start with grabbing four boxes, containers, washing baskets or whatever you have on hand and labelling them with Keep, Toss, Donate and Sell. As you move through each area make a decision for each piece in the area you are decluttering and place it into the appropriate box.
This decluttering method can be flexible to sort through a whole room or a small area and can be used for quick decluttering or bigger time slots. Anything you decide to keep can stay in the same location.
Keep: Anything you love that you want to hold onto.
Toss: This is for any items you no longer need or want that are damaged, unsaleable or not in good condition to donate. Sometimes it is best to split this into two containers one for trash and one for recyclables. Just bring your regular recycling bin into the room ready for any recycling. Do your bit for the environment and dispose of each item as thoughtfully as possible. If it can be donated, recycled or sold take that option and limit what ends up in landfill.
Donate: These are any items that you no longer want or need, that are in good condition and could be used by other people. When the box is full put it in your boot and drop it off at your local charity bin or shop.
Sell: This container is for any items of value that you no longer want, but that you could sell on eBay, Facebook or local buy, swap sell sites. I would recommend setting a $20 limit, if you can’t sell any items for more than $20 it is probably not going to be worth the time and effort to list it and deal with shipping it or arranging a pick-up. If you are in need of cash and have the time by all means set a lower limit.
Pros: This decluttering method helps you to easily keep track of each item and sort it with one touch. It gives you 4 options to help limit any overwhelm from decision making. Sometimes having the decision based on what to keep, rather than what to get rid of makes for easier decision making on what to keep or dispose of.
Cons: This decluttering method doesn’t really give you any guidelines on where to start like the Konmari method.
3. The Minimalists Packing Party
The Packing Party is a game established by the Minimalists Ryan Nicodemus and Joshua Fields Millburn for people who don’t want to take a year to declutter their stuff and want fast results.
The idea is that you box up all of your possessions and only take out each item as you need them to decide what you do use and what you don’t. As you need towels, plates, clothes, shoes and other items take them out of the box. After 21 days see what you didn’t touch and make a decision on what’s left as to whether it stays or goes. If there is anything not out of the boxes consider whether it truly adds value to your life and consider selling, donating, giving it away or trashing it.
Pros: A great method if you don’t want to spend months decluttering or longer. Allows you to declutter your home quickly and see what you do and don’t use on a regular basis.
Cons: This can seem like a pretty extreme, messy decluttering method. It may save time decluttering and speed up the process, but packing up all of your stuff is going to take a significant amount of time in itself.
Minimise With Me’s Tip: If packing up your entire house seems daunting, unnecessary or impossible, try packing up one area at a time. Your towels, make-up, wardrobe, your kitchen utensils, plates and cups. After 3 weeks assess what you didn’t need from each area and declutter accordingly.
4. The Minimalists Mins Game
The Mins Game is a game developed by The Minimalists to make decluttering a little more fun and to ease you into the process.
Start off on day one decluttering one item. Day two declutter two items. Day three, three items and so on until you get to day 30 where you declutter 30 items.
Over the space of 30 days, you will have decluttered a total of 465 items. A great game to start off a new month and keep you on your toes.
To keep you motivated and keep track of your progress you can post your photos with #minsgame to look back on your decluttering journey and see others’ progress to help motivate you.
Pros: Builds momentum, starting small with one item and gradually increasing the number. Great way to motivate you to declutter a large number of items in a small space of time.
Cons: It can be frustrating initially to only declutter one item. Not extremely flexible in terms of time as you need to have more and more time to declutter as the month progresses which may not suit your schedule.
5. The Minimalists 90/90 rule
The 90/90 rule is one that you can use to look forward in time and backwards to make a decision on what to keep. It can be applied to your wardrobe or whatever else you like by simply asking ‘Have I used this in the last 90 days and do I see myself using it in the next 90 days’?
If there is something you have been holding onto ‘just in case’, ask yourself the question.
Writing a list of these items can help keep track of what things you are considering. Over the next three months be mindful of the item. If you have a use for it, you’re most likely going to use the item over that time frame. If at the end of that six month assessment period you still are yet to use an item and it isn’t something seasonal, consider if it is something you truly need. The 20/20 rule below can help you make this decision.
Pros: This can speed up the decluttering process by allowing you to consider the past three months in your decision rather than only looking ahead like the backwards hanger method.
Cons: This decluttering method doesn’t take into account that some items are things that you want to keep but might only use for a small period of the year such as seasonal items like ski equipment. For these items, it is probably best to stretch the assessment period to looking back six months and forward six months as opposed to three.
6. The Minimalists 20/20 Just in Case Rule:
The 20/20 Just in Case rule is a helpful tool to allow you to let go of those ‘Just In Case’ items that you aren’t using but keep you thinking – what if I need it one day?
This rule can be used in conjunction with the 90/90 rule and sets out that if you don’t need something but feel like you should hang onto it just in case you need it one day, consider whether you can replace that item within 20 minutes for less than $20. If that is the case, let it go.
You’ll often find that 99% of the time, what you have donated or sold won’t be missed. If there is that one item that you ended up needing you can easily go and reacquire it without having it take up valuable storage space in your home when you are not using it and at $20 it won’t blow your budget.
Pros: Helps in letting go of some of those ‘just in case’ items you’re reluctant to get rid of.
Cons: You may have a handful of items that you dispose of that you have to repurchase at a later date. By being honest with whether you need something, this will be kept to a minimum.
Methods to Declutter Your Wardrobe
Here are some decluttering methods specifically aimed at decluttering your wardrobe and help you to build a more curated wardrobe that you love!
7. The Backwards Hanger Method
This decluttering method is used to downsize your wardrobe and assess what you do and don’t wear.
Simply take all the clothes on your hangers and turn them backwards so the coat hanger hook is facing towards you. As you wear each piece and wash it, return the item to the wardrobe facing forward. Set a note on your calendar for three, six or twelve months, whatever you prefer, to remind you to review what you have and haven’t worn in that time.
Whatever is still facing backwards at the end of the calendar period is what hasn’t been worn and can probably be donated or sold. Keep in mind that some items like coats, will not be worn for 3-6 months across the summer months so it is probably best to separate your clothes by season and only include the clothes you will wear that season for review.
Pros: Takes the difficulty out of decluttering your wardrobe. Just set a reminder on your phone and have a reassessment at a later date. Allows you to ‘save’ clothes that you might have put off wearing and will encourage you to wear your favourite item more.
Cons: It is only useful for clothing and for items that you have hung up. If you don’t have much hanging space it won’t allow you to declutter much of your wardrobe.
8. Courtney Carver’s Project 333 Capsule Wardrobe
Courtney Carver’s Project 333 is a capsule wardrobe challenge to only wear 33 items. It includes clothing, accessories, jewellery, outerwear and shoes over a three month period. It excludes sentimental jewellery that you never take off, underwear, sleepwear, in-home loungewear, and workout clothing.
Once you have picked 33 items that you love and that can be mixed and matched, box up the remainder of your wardrobe, seal it with tape and put it out of sight. This capsule wardrobe is created every three months in order to tailor a wardrobe for each season of the year.
Pros: Takes the stress out of getting dressed every day. Everything in your wardrobe is something that you love wearing so you won’t have to stand at your wardrobe each morning looking through clothes you don’t like or wear. Helps you to get to know what clothing you enjoy wearing and what suits you so you can reduce buying clothes that end up unworn.
Cons: Paring down to 33 items for 3 months is definitely a challenge. If you can’t do 33 items, set a reasonable limit – 40 or 50 and see if you can manage that and try and pair it down with your next three-month wardrobe. It is meant to help you streamline your wardrobe not torture you.
9. Minimise With Me’s Drawer Rotation Method
After all my research on decluttering methods, I haven’t really found any decluttering method that catered to clothing that was not hung up but folded in drawers. I wouldn’t have been able to hang up all my clothes in my wardrobe due to the space limits. I also wanted to avoid going out and buying more coat hangers or special hangers to hold up singlets, shorts and the like, temporarily. I wanted a decluttering method that would allow me to assess what clothes I did and didn’t use, like the backwards hanger method for the clothing hung up in my wardrobe, but for the clothing, I kept in my drawers.
I came up with the Drawer Rotation Method which is a system I use, along with the Konmari Folding Technique, where you put your clean, folded washing to the back of your drawers – rather than in front.
This encourages you to wear all the items in your drawers, not just the items that you regularly wear and put back to the front, leaving the back items to sit for weeks or even months unworn and potentially forgotten, cluttering up your drawers.
This Drawer Rotation Method has helped me to keep an even rotation of the clothes I wear that are folded in drawers. It also helps to identify what you do and don’t wear. After a while, that old shirt that you hate wearing will be sitting at the front of your drawer as a constant reminder of how it might be time to donate or trash it.
Pros: Helps you to assess which clothes in your drawers you wear more frequently over a period of time and which ones you can declutter.
Cons: Only works if you use the Konmari folding technique where clothes as stacked horizontally in parcels, rather than in vertical, less-visible piles.
Have you tried any of the above decluttering methods? Did you find them helpful? Have you come across any others that have helped you? Please comment below with what has helped you declutter your home!
Are you finding yourself overwhelmed and stressed out by clutter in your home?
If you’re looking to minimise the excess in your life, Declutter With Me: A 12 Week Guide to Declutter Your Home is a go-at-your-own-pace course that will give you the step-by-step, room-by-room instructions to help you clear the clutter in your home in as soon as just 12 weeks!
But clearing the clutter isn’t just about getting rid of your excess stuff. It’s important to change your behaviour and consumer habits so you can avoid re-cluttering your space once you have decluttered. Included in Declutter With Me, are “Keep It Minimal” tips for each area in your home + 7 Tips To Help You Keep Your Home Minimal, to give you strategies you can implement to help you spend with intention so you can avoid bringing clutter back into your home.
If you are keen to minimise your unwanted clutter check out Declutter With Me so you can create a home you love!
It can be hard to know where to start when decluttering. There are so many rooms and areas you could begin with and it can seem overwhelming when starting out. When we are so focused on bringing new things into our home we can forget the importance of removing the items that are no longer useful to us and could be taking up valuable space in our home.
Do you open your kitchen utensil drawer only to become flustered trying to find the one thing you actually need?
Have you accumulated twenty mugs in the cups cupboard and seem to forever have endless ones to wash?
Is your linen closet overflowing so closing it is a struggle to open and close?
Downsizing our excess stuff can allow us to reduce stress in our lives and make some of our chores less bothersome. We are limited to the space we have in our homes so if your cupboards and shelves are overflowing with stuff it might be time to start clearing some of it out.
Here is a list of 101 Things To Declutter In Your Home Right Now that will give you a place to start your decluttering journey by area and hopefully the start to a less cluttered, more simplified life.
To make life easier I have included a Printable Decluttering Checklist for you. Simply click this link or the one at the bottom of this page & sign up to grab your free printable in seconds!
101 Things To Declutter In Your Home Right Now
Kitchen 1. Duplicate utensils. 2. Excess kitchen knives. 3. Excess cleaning supplies. 4. Cutlery. 5. Plates. 6. Cups and mugs. 7. Bakeware. 8. Single purpose appliances such as doughnut makers, popcorn makers etc. 9. Restaurant menus. 10. Excess vases. 11. Pots and Pans. 12. Tupperware with missing lids. 13. Expired medicine. 14. Unwanted cookbooks.
Fridge/Freezer 15. Expired condiments in your fridge. 16. Uneaten leftovers. 17. Unwanted drinks. 18. Frozen meats with freezer burn. 19. Food that you don’t plan on eating due to a change of diet etc.
Are you finding yourself overwhelmed and stressed out by clutter in your home? If you’re looking to minimise the excess in your life, Declutter With Me: A 12 Week Guide to Declutter Your Home is a go-at-your-own-pace course that will give you the step-by-step, room-by-room instructions to help you clear the clutter in your home in as soon as just 12 weeks!
But clearing the clutter isn’t just about getting rid of your excess stuff. It’s important to change your behaviour and consumer habits so you can avoid re-cluttering your space once you have decluttered. Included in Declutter With Me, are “Keep It Minimal” tips for each area in your home + 7 Tips To Help You Keep Your Home Minimal, to give you strategies you can implement to help you spend with intention so you can avoid bringing clutter back into your home.
If you are keen to minimise your unwanted clutter check out Declutter With Me so you can create a home you love!
Pantry 20. Expired food in your pantry. 21. Unwanted alcohol. 22. Expired spices or any you don’t use. 23. Any food you don’t plan on eating.
Bathroom 24. Shampoos and conditioners. Avoid buying separate ones for each person unless necessary. Try and stick to the same brand so you don’t end up with multiple bottles going unused cluttering up your cupboard. 25. Old or unused Makeup. What makeup do you currently use, is there something you haven’t touched in the past year? Do you have ten different eye shadow pallets when a few would be enough? Makeup has a limited shelf life and should be used up in 1-2 years for most products. See this link for details onexpiration dates of makeup. 26. Beauty products. Limit beauty products to what you need and avoid buying more until you’ve used up what you have. 27. Lotions and leave-in conditioners. If you don’t plan to use it give it to someone who will or toss it. 28. Decor. Remove excess decor from the bathroom and countertops. The less you have, the less you have to move when cleaning. Have a few nice decorative pieces and clear the rest. 29. Hair accessories. 30. Old razors.
Manchester 31. Towels, face washers and hand towels. 32. Quilt covers. How many quilt covers do you have? Assess what ones you still love and donate the rest. Ideally, you need one to use and one spare for when the other one is in the wash. 33. Blankets. 34. Pillows. 35. Bath mats. 36. Spare curtains that are no longer in fashion or have been sitting in the linen closet for years.
Master Bedroom 37. Perfumes or fragrances you don’t like. 38. Bedroom decor you no longer love. 39. The stuff under your bed. 40. The bedroom TV. Do you really need that eyesore in your bedroom sanctuary? 41. Books on your nightstand that you aren’t currently reading. 42. Anything that doesn’t belong in your bedroom (for us more often than not it’s guitars :p).
Wardrobe 43. Shoes that you don’t enjoy wearing. 44. Worn belts. 45. Ties that you no longer like. 46. Handbags that are no longer your style or worn. 47. Jewellery/Accessories that you no longer like or wear. 48. Clothing that you haven’t worn in the past 6-12 months. Use the backwards hanger method to establish what you do and don’t wear. 49. Socks that are missing a pair or have holes in them. 50. Underwear that is uncomfortable or has seen better days. 51. Old pyjamas that have had their time.
Laundry 52. Reduce your wardrobe. 53. Excess laundry baskets or hampers (once your laundry is reduced). 54. That random stuff that you find in pockets. Have a catch-all container or box to collate items found in pockets. Empty this regularly. 55. Cleaning supplies you no longer need. 56. Laundry products you tried and didn’t use again.
Kids Play Rooms/Bedrooms 57. Books. 58. Unwanted Toys. 59. Stuffed Animals. 60. Games or puzzles with missing pieces. 61. Kids art. To make room for new artworks to be displayed scan the image or take a photo of it and create it into scrapbooks or store them digitally. 62. Old unwanted electronic games. 63. Dried out texters and pens.
Garage/Shed 64. Old paint cans or other chemicals you no longer need. 65. Car oil or parts for cars you no longer have. 66. Cardboard boxes that have passed their warranty period. 67. Any broken gardening tools that you haven’t got around to fixing. 68. Things you haven’t used in the past year. 69. Scrap building supplies you won’t need.
Living Areas 70. Excess decor cluttering up your living spaces. 71. Excess furniture that is being unused. 72. Extra lounges when they are mostly empty. 73. Artwork or photos you no longer love. 74. Excess or drab cushions. 75. Rugs that don’t go with your colour scheme. 76. Excessive photo frames. Keep a few on display but don’t go overboard.
Entertainment/Media 77. CDs you no longer listen to. 78. DVDs you won’t watch again. 79. VHS. 80. Excess TVs. 81. Unused Gaming Consoles. 82. Games you haven’t played since finishing. 83. Old mobile phones and phone chargers. These can be dropped off at the local library or Mobile Muster collection points. 84. Old cameras. 85. Your DVD or VCR if you don’t use them. 86. Old laptops you no longer use.
Sentimental Items 87. Old cards. Scan them and save them digitally. 88. Bad quality or blurry photos or people that you no longer want in your life. 89. Other photos taking up space in large bulky photo albums. Consider making your prints into a photo book or displaying them in a digital photo frame and backing them up digitally. 90. Sentimental items that you have no connection to. Take a photo of the item if that makes it easier to let go. 91. Jewellery you don’t love. Find someone in your family who will love it or get it melted down into something special.
Home Office/Paper 92. Books you no longer read or reference. 93. Magazines. Cut out what you need and put them in a folder and recycle the rest. 94. Old bank or credit card statements. These can all be accessed online. 95. Utility bills. Get these emailed to you and reduce some of the paper coming into your home each month. 96. Old receipts. Scan them as they come in on your phone and recycle them or keep them in one file. 97. Excess notebooks/pads. Keep a few or put them in areas where they will be useful like your handbag or car. 98. Stationery from your uni days, that you no longer need. 99. Your printer (if you don’t use it). 100. Excess pens. Test what works and bin the rest or any you don’t like using. 101. Manuals for electrical goods.
Don’t forget to grab your Decluttering Checklist to get you started below.
