I'm just two days into a 28 Day Decluttering Challenge, and I had an ah-ha moment.
When planning what to focus on for this challenge, I decided to spend one week decluttering in each of four rooms. My "game" is 10 minutes of decluttering each day. If I just do that much, I get to color in that day on my chart. I realized that 10 minutes a day for a week is just barely over an hour.
I started to feel like that wasn't enough time to make a difference, so I set out to make sure that it WOULD make a difference. Here’s how.
I got Strategic about what I would Declutter
To make my 10 minutes of decluttering the most effective, I decided to get very specific with WHERE I'm decluttering in each room.
I’m starting each day decluttering one VISIBLE spot, like the kitchen counter that can be seen from the living room, or the entry table.
After I've decluttered that VISIBLE spot, if I want to keep going, I can continue with anything else I want, but still prioritizing visibility.
I Prioritized Visibility for Maximum Impact
Why am I focusing on what is visible? Because it makes the most impact.
I don't want my hard work to all happen inside the cabinets or drawers where I can't see it. I need that little hit of dopamine from seeing a clean space (even if it's small).
My Ah-ha Moment
When I realized I needed visible progress, those small wins—that's when the ah-ha happened.
Decluttering what’s visible first is a lot like the Snowball method of paying off your debt. Sure, the garage is the biggest clutter mess of them all, but spending 10 minutes in there won't make a dent I can see, and I'm much more likely to lose steam.
It's like when your largest debt is also your highest interest. Logically, if you can get that taken care of you'll save the most money, but with a big debt like that it takes so long to see progress, that people too often quit before they've made a good dent.
Starting with the easy stuff, the visible clutter on the counter, is like starting with your smallest debt first regardless of interest rate. You pick off those little guys first and you really start to notice the difference, which inspires you and kicks in your motivation to keep going!
Woohoo!
So I'm Snowballing my Clutter!
I'm not going in deep quite yet. I'm just working on the stuff that's most likely to relieve the stress of seeing the clutter, the visible stuff. Once I've got momentum, I'll dig deeper into the depths of the cabinets, and eventually, the garage.
Decluttering? How to Decide What Stays and What Goes
How to Stay Motivated and Finally Get that Decluttering Done!
Join the Challenge!
I'm doing the 28 Day Declutter Challenge for February, and I'd love you to join me!
You can get the whole Decluttering Pack here.
These charts help me keep track of my progress and make a plan I can stick to, room by room and visible spot by visible spot!
I’m using four of the 12 pages to keep track of what I’m doing.
- The 28 Day Decluttering Challenge Game - My goal is to spend 10 minutes minimum per day.
- The 7 Day Decluttering Plan - I’m focusing on one room per week and what I want to do most in each room.
- The Clutter Free Land Game - This is where I’m tracking my total minutes decluttering. Each space is 10 minutes.
- And the Room by Room Decluttering Log that will be ongoing, not just for the 28 days.
You can follow along, as I'm posting a little about what I'm getting done in my Instagram Stories and in my free Facebook Group. I'd love to see what you are decluttering too!
Commit to posting pics on social of what you declutter, or even just your chart, for the extra accountability. And be sure to tag me @debtfreecharts, or use #declutterchallenge, so we can all see your accomplishments!
Happy decluttering!
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Have you tried my decluttering strategy or do you have a strategy of your own? I'd love to hear about it; leave me a comment below!
Related:
Decluttering? How to Decide What Stays and What Goes
How to Stay Motivated and Finally Get that Decluttering Done!
When Heidi and her husband Bob were getting out from under a mountain of debt, she wanted something to help her see her progress visually. She created her first chart for herself and shared it in a forum (pre-social media) and she was thrilled to learn the charts helped other people stay motivated too. She is most known for creating over 50 totally free charts for getting out of debt, and so far over 150,000 people in 143 countries around the world have used her charts (map shows actual locations of customers), impacting more people than she ever dreamed. To read more about that map, click here.
way to go on the DEcluttering.
Check out the CLutterbug Cas is great and can help with ideas on different styles.
It is one of the few things that has helped me declutter,
Best wishes.