Why Decluttering Habits Beat Big Decluttering Projects Every Time

Most people think decluttering requires a free weekend, a surge of motivation, and a huge mess. That’s exactly why they never follow through. When decluttering feels like a massive project (which it absolutely does when you’re in midlife!), it becomes something you’ll ‘get to later’ and you repeatedly kick it down the road. If this sounds familiar, I have a new approach for you to try. Stop dreading the huge decluttering project and start forming some small decluttering habits.

Small, repeatable actions done consistently over time will change your home faster than waiting for the perfect Saturday that never materializes.In this blog I’m making my case for decluttering as a habit vs. a project. I’ll be drawing on some strategies from two of my favorite books: Atomic Habits by James Clear and Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg, PhD. By the way, if you are taking on midlife decluttering projects and having success, fantastic. Keep up the good work! I would still recommend reading through these suggestions. Most of them also work well for painless maintenance after you’ve tackled something big. Before I get to the actual strategies, a bit about why decluttering habits are so effective.

Decluttering Projects End. Decluttering Habits Maintain.

A big decluttering project has a finish line. That finish line feels far away and often out of reach. The prospect of the amount of work required to complete the project is too intimidating so most people never even start. Even when people make it 90% of the way through their decluttering project, they often never complete the last mile (getting the clutter out of the house.) It’s a very common scenario, and one I see a lot because many of those folks end up reaching out to someone like me for help!

Meanwhile, a habit becomes part of how you live. It doesn’t depend on motivation. It becomes ingrained in the daily fabric of your life. The effort required to ‘finish’ the action of a habit is deliberately small so as not to be intimidating. Which in turn means you are more likely to complete the action. It’s the opposite of a vicious cycle – more like a glorious snowball quietly gaining speed and momentum. And before you realize it, you’ve blown past the ‘finish line’ you had in your head.

The bottom line is, even if you do complete a giant decluttering spree, the clutter will creep back without good habits in place. Causing the need for another big, intimidating project.

Here are some easy examples of what I’m talking about.

• Sorting and disposing of mail  instead of adding it to the pile on the counter
• Taking 3 expired/uneaten items out of the fridge before grocery shopping
• Clearing clutter from one surface before heading to bed

None of these are dramatic. Nor are they intimidating. They won’t give you the dopamine-fueled high of a transformation. Rather, they are easy, therefore you will actually do them. And to be easy, you need to make them small.

Make Decluttering Habits Small Enough to Repeat

I often say that if something feels intimidating to start, the first step is too big. With a habits approach to decluttering, we make the efforts really small. That works because it makes the effort manageable. Think minutes, not marathon sessions. Or a single shelf instead of a whole room.

There are two ways to make decluttering efforts small. A small space or a small amount of time. In the context of building decluttering habits I like to focus on the time element. I call it time-boxing and I like to use an actual timer when I do it. This timer is my favorite (it has proven to have magic powers for some reason) but you can just use your phone timer! 

You can time-box a decluttering session from any room in your home where you happen to be spending time. All you need to do is simply put a critical lens on and find a few things in that space that you no longer need, want, or like. Some examples:

• Expired/old medications in your bathroom while you’re getting ready in the morning
• T-shirts you never wear while you’re getting dressed
• Mugs you don’t use when you’re getting your morning coffee

The possibilities are endless for this exercise. Put the discarded objects in a donation, box, or in  the trash if warranted. It’s not going to feel momentous in the moment. But the point is you actually did it. And when you did you sent a signal to your brain that it wasn’t painful. So then your brain gives you the green light to do it again. 

If you try to go deeper or get sucked down a rabbit-hole, your timer yanks you back into the present. If you like, make a note on your phone of the spot you’re going to hit next. But keep the effort small, because that’s how you build consistency.

Make Decluttering Habits Consistent

Small efforts won’t make a dent in your midlife clutter if you don’t perform them consistently. That’s the other key to a habits-based approach to decluttering: being consistent.You can absolutely commit to a ‘15 minutes a day’ strategy to accomplish this. But there are a couple of other hacks that make consistency even more achievable because they don’t require finding time to make them happen.

The first one is using what I call ‘dead time’ or ‘waiting time’ in your day. The few minutes you have while you’re waiting for the water to boil in the kitchen. The commercial break during the football game you’re watching. Or how about the 10 minutes left over when you finish a call/meeting/task early? That was already ‘planned’ to be productive time so why not declutter for a few minutes instead of scrolling on your phone?

Another very-effective tactic is to attach a decluttering habit to something you already do. James Clear calls this ‘habit-stacking’ and I love it! I use it all the time. Find a routine that is already happening and add decluttering to it. Here are some examples:

• While unloading groceries, clear a few pantry items
• While putting away laundry, remove one clothing item you no longer wear
• While cooking dinner, declutter one kitchen drawer

No extra schedule required! Just better use of moments that already exist. Pepper in some short, scheduled decluttering sessions and before you know it, your home will begin to feel lighter, calmer and more organized!

Small Consistent Efforts Yield Big Results

If you have been waiting for a big burst of motivation or free time to suddenly appear, you are never going to peel back the layers from multiple decades of clutter buildup. Success lies in small, consistent efforts. Keeping things small makes the efforts doable. Doing them consistently leads to progress. If you declutter in small ways regularly, your home starts changing almost automatically. And the great things about decluttering habits is they help prevent clutter from ever being a problem in your home. Ever again.

So stop waiting for a weekend project. Start becoming someone who cultivates small decluttering habits. And just watch what happens to your clutter!