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Declutter Boxes In Basements & Attics

March 12, 2018 by Alice 17 Comments

Declutter Storage Easily
Declutter Boxes Of Forgotten Stuff
How To Quickly Declutter Boxes in Your Garage, Attic or Basement
Declutter your boxes - use this simple declutter trick to banish all the boxes overwhelming your home #declutter #simplify #organize

Boxes. Boxes. Boxes.

Full of random stuff.

Forgotten stuff.

Stuff we don’t know what to do with.

Boxes in the garage and the shed and the basement.

In the attic and under the beds.

In the wardobe and the closet.

Packed to the rafters in the spare room.

And squeezed under the stairs.

Clogging up the kitchen cupboards.

And inch by inch taking over the bedroom floors.

Until they have invaded every last space in our homes.

Sound familiar?

Boxes of clutter are overwhelming aren’t they?

AND the thought of tackling them.

Of trying to fight back.

Even more so? Huh?

There’s just SO many of them.

It feels like an unwinnable battle.

That we’re defeated before we even start.

BUT … don’t give up! Please!

BECAUSE I have an unbelievably simple trick for you.

That WILL easily banish your boxes.

Just as it has mine.

And … BIG and … it will only take 5 minutes a day.

Hurrah!

So, are you ready for this?

OK. Well first things first.

And the very first thing you need to do is put the kettle on!

Declutter your boxes - use this simple declutter trick to banish all the boxes overwhelming your home #declutter #simplify #organize

Put The Kettle On

I’m serious.

You need to put the kettle on.

For a nice cup of tea. Or coffee.

Because our first weapon for fighting our overwhelming boxes, is to relax.

As I’ve shared before, clutter feeds off our anxiety.

So we’re going to stay calm.

If it would help, you could even pour yourself a nice little glass of red 😉

Once you’re armed with your drink.

You need to take up your next weapon.

Which is two empty boxes … and just a little bit of space.

Just A Little Bit Of Space

Now I know when we’re overwhelmed with boxes, finding a little bit of space can feel hard.

But you just need somewhere you can store three boxes –

I’ll explain the third in a moment –

AND sit down next to them with your drink.

My little bit of space is tucked under my bed.

Declutter your boxes - use this simple declutter trick to banish all the boxes overwhelming your home #declutter #simplify #organize

It doesn’t look pretty.

BUT this little bit of space gives us phenomenal power in our battle to banish boxes.

Once you’ve found your space, take just one box of stuff.
 

Just One Box Of Stuff

It absolutely doesn’t matter which box of stuff your pick.

Declutter your boxes - use this simple declutter trick to banish all the boxes overwhelming your home #declutter #simplify #organize

Just take whatever is easiest to reach.

Without bringing all the others toppling down!

Now take that box of stuff to your special space.

And fit it in next to the two empty ones.

Declutter your boxes - use this simple declutter trick to banish all the boxes overwhelming your home #declutter #simplify #organize

Now you are already to let stuff go.
 

Let Stuff Go

What you’re going to do, is sit down every day.

With your drink.

For at least 5 minutes BUT no more than 15.

And work your way through the box.

Item by item.

If you’re ready to let something go, brilliant.

Put it in one of the empty boxes.

If you’re not, DO NOT worry.

Just put it in the other empty box.

Declutter your boxes - use this simple declutter trick to banish all the boxes overwhelming your home #declutter #simplify #organize

The important thing is to work steadily through the box.

Whilst you drink your drink.

Putting each item in one box or the other.

But NOT on the floor.

When your five minutes or your fifteen minutes are up.

Just leave the three boxes, neatly.

All ready for you to pick up where you left off tomorrow.

And the next day.

Until you empty the box.
 

When You Empty The Box

Right, you’ve emptied your first box.

With almost no effort at all.

Hurrah! Well done you!

Declutter your boxes - use this simple declutter trick to banish all the boxes overwhelming your home #declutter #simplify #organize

Now get all the stuff you want to let go, out of the house.

In the bin. Or recycling. Or to a charity shop.

As quickly as you can.

So you actually get the pleasure of it being truly gone.

But what about the stuff you couldn’t let go?
 

The Stuff You Couldn’t Let Go

Well, the most important thing is NOT to worry.

As you get into the habit of decluttering a few things daily, it will become easier to let stuff go.

And easier. And easier.

Every little thing you let go, builds your strength to fight those boxes.

And you can boost your strength even more with these lovely simple:

  • Declutter questions
  • And declutter mantras – (trust me, they do work!)

Just be gentle with yourself. You will win through.

If you’re keeping quite a bit from this first box.

Transfer the things back to the original box.

And tape on it a sheet of paper with a rough list of contents.

Then put your box back where it came from.

If you can keep it to one side, wonderful.

But it’s not a problem, if not possible.

If you’ve only kept a little, you can ditch the original box.

And leave your keeps in your working box, to be joined by anything you keep from your next box.

BECAUSE you are now ready for your next box.

Your Next Box

You’re going to follow exactly the same process for your next box.

Bring it to your special space.

And in 5 to 15 minutes every day.

Over a cup of tea …

Declutter your boxes - use this simple declutter trick to banish all the boxes overwhelming your home #declutter #simplify #organize

… or glass of wine,

Work through each item, steadily.

Putting it in the let go or keep box.

Once you’ve emptied the box, get everything you’re letting go out of your home fast.

Be gentle with yourself about stuff you’re keeping.

For the moment.

And mark up your keep box with a quick contents list.

Put it back where it came from.

Take the next box. And repeat.

It IS as simple as that.

But it ALL adds up, and truly will banish your boxes.
 

It All Adds Up

If you sit down for 5 minutes or so every day, with your drink, and calmly work through your box, you will easily process one if not two boxes a week.

If you do one box a week.

And keep half the stuff from each.

You’ll still have over 25 less boxes by the end of the year.

If you do two a week.

And keep half, you’ll be 50 boxes lighter.

AND you will have done it ALL over a nice cup of tea. OR a glass of wine!

With no stress. No running around. Getting exhausted.

Just calmly.

And that IS why this declutter trick works.
 

Why This Trick Works

We all have clutter in the first place, because we are overwhelmed.

In our busy lives we’ve lost the time and space to truly process things, and to move on and let go.

But then the clutter itself becomes overwhelming.

And with all that stuff whirring around our homes AND our minds we can’t let go of anything.

AND if we try yanking loads of stuff out on the floor.

Or purging the garage all in one go.

For hours on end.

We just make it worse.

Our brains literally shut down as they are bombarded with all those boxes of clutter.

By creating a little bit of space.

And a little bit of time.

Every day.

To be calm.

Focus on one box.

And let things go.

Gently.

We can make steady progress.

Until, like Aesop’s litte tortoise – remember him? – we triumph.

And banish our boxes.

For good.

I truly hope this declutter trick helps. It made a massive difference to me.

For more help sign up for my FREE weekly support mails.

Every week I share the practical, honest tips that have helped me let things go.

Declutter Boxes In Basement & Attic
Declutter Boxes In Basement & Attic
Declutter Boxes In Attics & Basements Easily

Original image sources : woman with box by rawpixel.com

Filed Under: Declutter, declutter, happier without Tagged With: declutter, declutter tips

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Angela says

    May 11, 2018 at 6:08 pm

    What a beautifully written post. No stress, no dictatorial approach, just a gentle way of sorting out those boxes and a great way of unpacking if you have just moved house and managed to move a lot of clutter with you and don’t know where to start. I’m going to use it as a way to sort out the last of my sewing and craft materials as it means I don’t have to really sort those I want to keep immediately until I know what I’m keeping and then I can decide where is the best place place to keep those. A very soft stress-free approach for me. Thank you

    Reply
  2. Hayley says

    September 8, 2018 at 12:06 am

    This makes so much sense, I will start tomorrow, I think this will be the method that works for me. I’ve been trying to clear my spare room for months and it’s just been so overwhelming and I’ve felt like such a failure. So glad I found this post. Thank you!

    Reply
  3. heidi trigg says

    May 3, 2019 at 5:23 pm

    thank you for taking the time and energy to share your methods. i’m crying with relief that there may be hope/help for my difficulty with letting things go…after years of having my life-long issues brutishly stomped on by people insisting that i have too much stuff, that i have to get rid of stuff (as if i hadn’t noticed!) but never following with any kind of REAL ways to help me do it…
    you nailed it by identifying that some of us are beaten before we start because we’re overwhelmed.
    i’ve no idea how i found your site, but am so grateful the universe nudged me your direction! i feel like i finally have a chance of success, since i have solid, practical, manageable steps to follow.

    Reply
    • Alice says

      May 7, 2019 at 9:34 am

      I truly hope it helps Heidi. We can’t clear all that clutter overnight but I have found just doing that little bit every day I can has been life changing – little by little it has cleared the clutter and really importantly lifted my spirits every day xx

      Reply
  4. Toni H says

    August 12, 2019 at 3:17 pm

    Wow, this couldn’t have come at a better time. We just moved into our forever retirement home after moving quickly from one house to another TWICE with no time for sorting. Now I have a garage FULL of STUFF! It’s been SIX MONTHS since we moved here and I tangent sorted through ONE BOX of stuff. The only stuff I moved were the necessities for every day life. So THANK YOU for giving me a calm way to deal with a very stressful situation. Every other time I’ve read about decluttering, I’ve been left with a racing heart and panic attacks! You’ve saved me!

    Reply
    • Toni H says

      August 12, 2019 at 3:19 pm

      The typo tangent should’ve said haven’t!

      Reply
    • Alice says

      August 20, 2019 at 9:25 am

      So glad it hit the mark – “keep calm” is definitely the big secret to successful decluttering x

      Reply
  5. Mindy says

    February 19, 2022 at 5:15 pm

    Thanks so much! I have several autoimmune diseases and chronic pain/fatigue. I have read and tried so many approaches to decluttering and organizing my life and failed, leaving me feel ashamed and depressed. And I LOVE your honesty about the anxiety and anger that follows! I feel so bad about myself when I have panic attacks or yell for no good reason, because all of this ways on my shoulders. I am writing ideas and mantras into my planner as we speak. I CAN do 5-15 a day! Thank you again.

    Reply
    • Alice says

      February 20, 2022 at 7:23 am

      Thank you so much for getting in touch Mindy, I really hope this approach helps. It can seem like such a small amount of clutter to clear but sticking to it most days – when you can – really can clear loads of stuff over the year.

      Reply
  6. Natalie says

    September 16, 2022 at 6:30 pm

    Thank you for sharing, I often pull everything out of my spare room, get really stressed and totally overwhelmed to the point of tears sat in the middle of bags and boxes of stuff, then end up putting it back, exhausted with not much progress. I’m definitely trying your tips thank you!

    Reply

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