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You’re desperate to declutter right?

But feel overwhelmed.

How can you possibly tackle it when you’re so BUSY?

AND where on earth do you start?

Well the good news is you CAN declutter easily whilst getting on with your life!

I have let go of over 100 bags of clutter without ANY big declutter sessions.

I share simple declutter tips that work in my FREE newsletter.

BUT my biggest secret IS the just 10 things method.

It got me started. Kept me going.

AND helped me let go of most of my clutter.

So what on earth is it?

Just 10 Things

Well.

Just 10 things is super simple. BUT super powerful too!

You just let go of 10 things everyday.

Any 10 things that you will be happier without. (There’s a big list of ideas here.)

10 less things everyday is over 3,000 less things by the end of the year. WOW!

BUT it also turns decluttering into a power habit.

By doing it everyday, you become brilliant at letting go of stuff.

SO you can whizz through chunkier declutter projects in a spare 15 minutes or half hour.

But then the BIG question everyone asks is “What project should I tackle first?”

And this is my – hard won – advice …

What Should I Declutter First?

The most important thing to do when you start decluttering is to succeed!

“Er, yeah??!!” I hear you cry.

But the thing is, some supposed declutter gurus, tell you decluttering will be hard.

And if it’s NOT hard, you’re NOT doing it right!

This IS officially – I can now reveal – complete AND utter nonsense!

You NEED to start decluttering with the easiest things you possibly can.

IF we make it hard, we won’t do it. Or at least most of us – including me! – won’t.

Starting with easy wins creates a positive feedback mechanism whilst we’re learning to let go.

By practising on easy stuff, we get ourselves ready for the trickier stuff to come. It’s common sense.

HOWEVER what is easy for me may not be easy for you. BECAUSE guess what?

We are all different – hurrah! – and have different interests, obsessions and hang ups.

BUT typically the easiest things to declutter first are:

Low financial value – NOT things we’re hoping will bag a fortune on eBay
Easily disposable – stuff the local charity shop will take or are recyclable
Easily accessible – NOT that pile of boxes trapped at the back of the garage
Unsentimental – nothing with bitter-sweet complicated emotions
Unquestionably expired – whether food, toiletries, tickets or stuff beyond repair

You know your home and your stuff better than I do.

So these pointers might be enough to help you identify easy projects to start decluttering.

BUT if not – and you like a bit of structure – try following the 10 project plan below.

From my experience, these are ALL easy wins for very little effort.

Complete one project each week for 10 weeks and you’ll be flying through your clutter!

Just remember to let go of 10 little things every day, as well.

It is the daily habit AND the small weekly project together that bring success.

10 Quick Declutter Projects

Bathroom cupboard – our bathroom cupboards are full of stuff that NEEDS to go. Ancient toiletries and mouldy bath toys are a health hazard. Use this list to quickly ditch stuff.
Under the kitchen sink – most of us don’t use half the dodgy chemicals under our kitchen sink! With this list quickly get rid of stuff you will never use and stop wasting money on it.
Food cupboard – we’re all horribly guilty of wasting food. But if you create space by chucking out expired stuff and donating unopened stuff you’ll never eat to a food bank, you’ll find it easier to stop buying so much. Strangely, the more we hoard, the more we buy!
Mugs, cups & glasses – get all those unloved ones to the charity shop. Keep enough for the family and small scale entertaining. Remember you can always borrow stuff for parties!
Make up bag – come on now! Be honest! How long have you had some of the stuff in there? If it’s over a year it probably needs to go. And over two definitely.
Children’s shoes – anything smaller than the feet of your youngest child can go!
Pens, pencils & crayons – how is it possible to have thousands and never find one when you need one? Have an “amnesty box” for a week and get the whole family to fill with any they find round the house. At the end of the week, chuck those that don’t work and donate surplus to a playgroup, school or youth group.
Bed linen – do your homework and find out where you can take textiles for recycling. Schools and playgroups and even your local theatre group may be able to reuse them.
Cookery books – ALL the cookery books in the world won’t get dinner on the table! Most of us have got shelf loads we’ve never or rarely cooked from. If there are one or two recipes you love, copy them out. Then get those books to the charity shop. Tackling cookery books early will also help us let go other books AND tackle our food hoarding, later.
Small kitchen gadgets – alongside those cookery books we also all have lots of small kitchen gadgets we don’t use, everything from multiple corkscrews to fancy peelers and slicers and zesters. Because we see them every day, we stop noticing them but they’re there cluttering up the drawers and the counters and adding stress to the kitchen. Food and cooking and the kitchen actually plays a massive role in our crazy clutter psychology. Food is at the the heart of the human instinct to hoard. Being honest with ourselves about what we really need to prepare food can seriously help us fight that hoarding instinct ALL through the house. Yay!!