Home · 11 recordsDeclutter the house

Decluttering stalls in two places: deciding about each object, and the bags that then sit in the hall for a month. This agrees the rule before starting and treats getting things out of the house as its own project.

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Goal

Every room done, and the things actually gone Month 3

Gone from the house, not bagged up in the hall.

Room by room Month 3

Starting somewhere small and unsentimental.

  • Agree the decision rule before touching anythingDo firstDay 2
  • Do one drawer or cupboard, to test the ruleDo firstDay 5
  • Work through the rooms, easiest firstMonth 3

Get it out of the house Month 3

Its own project, because this is where it stalls.

  • Find where things go: charity, sale, tipDo firstDay 7
  • Clear the first load within a week of sorting itWeek 2

Routines

  • An hour of sortingweekly
  • Take one load out of the houseweekly
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The rule, then the route out

Deciding about each object individually is what exhausts people two hours in. A rule settled in advance turns hundreds of small judgements into one.\n\nBags that sit in the hall are how a successful declutter quietly reverses itself. Getting things out is a project, not a step.

Questions

Declutter the house, answered.

Somewhere small and unsentimental — a drawer or a cupboard, not photographs. The first room is mostly for establishing the rule and proving the route out of the house works before anything difficult is attempted.
Because deciding about each object individually is what exhausts people two hours in. A rule settled in advance turns hundreds of small judgements into one, which is the difference between a weekend and a year.
Get them out within the week, which is why disposal is a project here rather than a step. Bags that sit in the hall are the most common way a successful declutter quietly reverses itself.
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