When better to start a decluttering regimen than at the beginning of the new year. But I really believe that you can start a decluttering regimen any time of the year. The main point is that you start, especially if you are experiencing stress due to your mess, as I will discuss in this post.

Having too much stuff means you might need to declutter. While I do love to shop, accumulating more stuff is not always what I need to do. But I am going to make more intentional decisions when I buy things from now on. Maybe I will do a blog post about mindful or intentional shopping sometime in the future.

Consumerism does keep our economy moving though. But as many brands found out during Covid, they had too much inventory, so they make far less and do more sell to order now or make a certain amount and that’s it. This helps some, but in some ways it makes you want to buy something more because you know there is only a limited amount produced and available.

So to get on with this post…over the past several months, I have realized I have accumulated so many things and I am have not been getting rid of anything. So in enters the mess of stuff and the stress and overwhelm. It has left me with no other choice than to declutter.

In the past, when I have decluttered, I have tried the Kon Mari Method by pulling everything out of an entire space, say a closet, for example, and starting with a clean slate. While yes that method is effective, it’s time consuming, tiring, overwhelming, and can be the opposite of confidence boosting. But sometimes, that method works.

I am proposing that same method, but in smaller portions, that is less overwhelming, less time consuming, less tiring, and more confidence boosting. To choose a very small area, box, drawer, cabinet, etc, and do just that space completely.

So here are the steps for decluttering…

Write down every single room or area of your home.
Then break it down into even smaller parts like boxes, containers, drawers, cabinets, etc.
Then put it into your calendar to do one item/box/container/drawer per day at least. If you do more, great.

Once you have mapped out your plan, then it’s time to prepare to declutter. But I want to share an acronym I have created that I use in every space I declutter. It is: DCO. Declutter – Clean – Organize. In that order. This is the order you need to perform your decluttering task.

So first you want to declutter. Take your 1 little box/area/container/drawer and empty it’s contents completely. Then declutter the contents by going through what you emptied and deciding if you want to keep, trash, donate, sell, or give away each item.
Next, clean the container/box/area before you begin putting any contents back in the space.
Finally, you want to organize the items before you put them back in the space. So as you put each item back, organize it neatly.

While this method might take a lot longer than the Kon Mari Method, it will help prevent large messes and overwhelm. However, if utilizing the Kon Mari Method works for you, that is great. Whatever works for you. I have just found that working with a smaller area, is better for me.