Sometimes people feel overwhelmed with the clutter in their homes. They don't know where to start. I would suggest three different strategies that I have tried and they all work. You just need to figure out which works best for you or do a combination of some of them if you like that better.
1. Get rid of a certain amount of items per day. I tried this in August for my monthly challenge and got rid of 25 things a day. It was a challenge to find so many things, but I really wanted to do a drastic purge. I went through our pantry and donated things to the food bank that I wouldn't eat before they expired. I could have saved money by incorporating those items into our meal plans, but I also believe that it is one way I can share with others and am happy to do that. I think a balanced approach is a good idea. I also went though our files and through every room getting rid of things. Towards the end of the month, I had to get rid of things that were good, but didn't fit or didn't work for us anymore, that I had been hanging on to.
2. The second approach is to set a time limit and just declutter until the timer goes off. You are done for the day and don't have to think about it until the next day or week, depending on what you determine for yourself. I find that spending 5-15 minute time periods work best for me. Short periods of time are easy to fit in a busy schedule and they don't cause too much emotional drain going through things. It is amazing to see how much you can get done in a few minutes.
3. Decide on a particular space that you are going to work on for the day or week. For example, every day you can clean out one drawer or shelf. When it is done, you are done. It doesn't take a lot of time to go through one drawer or one shelf. Or, you can choose a room to work on for the week. When the room is done, you don't have to declutter any more that week.
Ben Franklin said, "A Small Leak Can Sink A Big Ship". Working a little bit at a time can get rid of a large amount of clutter in the same way.
Often I find I can hear or read something many times without being able to put it into practice but then read the same thing expressed a different way and it suddenly makes sense. You did that for me here, so thank you. It makes sense - now that you have written it! - that there is no one perfect way for everyone or for one person all the time. I think I definitely need several approaches because my schedule and energy levels fluctuate.
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