Have you ever found yourself staring at a pile of stuff in your room, wishing the clutter would just magically get rid of itself?
Of course, your stuff doesn’t do you that favor, so you simply live with the growing piles in your space day after day after day. You wonder how other people do it, then eventually arrive at the following conclusion: “I’m just too messy to get decluttered.”
Thing is, though, anyone who wants to get decluttered, can. There may be a few obstacles that need to be overcome, but there’s no “messiness” personality trait that will definitively prevent you from decluttering a space and keeping it decluttered.
Decluttering is a skill, not a talent
While some people are more likely to enjoy the process of decluttering and organizing, even they aren’t necessarily good at clearing their own clutter. There are many people who love organizing things, yet are somehow never done with their tidying attempts despite their constant fiddling. Even they can be ongoing victims of the vicious clutter cycle.
That said, success in tidying doesn’t require any “natural” talent at all. You don’t need to be a special kind of person to be free from clutter. Decluttering is a life skill anyone can learn and improve upon, much like driving or changing a lightbulb. However, decluttering does require a little bit of thought.
Random decluttering will frustrate you
While “just doing it” is one way to go about decluttering and organizing, it rarely ever keeps clutter at bay for long. “Just do it” isn’t motivating advice either, especially if you’re struggling with feelings of dread and overwhelm.
As tempting as it is to attack clutter areas randomly at the surface level, if we fail to deal with clutter at its source, the clutter will inevitably return. And each time the clutter returns, our resolve to declutter again gets only weaker and weaker.
So if you think you’re bad at decluttering because you’ve failed a few times before, you might just be in need of a better decluttering strategy.
Understand the why behind the how
Our suggestion? Learn the principles of decluttering—and apply them! It’s equally simple advice, but one that’s often passed over in favor of quick hacks that usually create more clutter instead of clearing them.
Principles are important because they allow us to understand the reason behind each decluttering task. One such principle is “declutter before you organize” (or “don’t organize your clutter”). We refrain from organizing while decluttering, because much of our clutter is meant to be removed, not made to look pretty. Don’t color-coordinate your closet before you discard clothes, or you’ll end up keeping clothes you don’t like because it look nice in there. Just because an area is organized doesn’t mean it’s clutter-free.
Understanding principles like this is what builds our discernment and confidence in the decluttering process. And the better we understand these principles, the more effective our attempts will be.
No matter who you are or how messy your space currently is, you can learn and apply the principles of decluttering with great result. The progress might be slow-going at first, but getting going is what’s key. You might even find yourself enjoying tidying as you improve your skills and see your progress. Here’s a secret: decluttering is hard, but it gets easier as you go.
Just start taking steps in the right direction, and you’ll get there soon enough.
