How to Get Motivated to Declutter Your Home
You’ve always been looking forward to having a clutter-free home. There are so many benefits of decluttering.
You wanted to start decluttering. However, each time you come back home from work and look around your cluttered house, you feel defeated.
You know you need to clear the clutter, but you’re overwhelmed by mess all over the house.
It is hard to get motivated to tackle a mountain of stuff. All things have been accumulated for years and it’s impossible to get rid of them overnight.
You’re overwhelmed with too much stuff. You probably don’t even know where to start decluttering your messy house.
Decluttering your entire house can be hard. It not only takes a lot of time, effort and energy but it also needs the motivation to keep going.
A cluttered house can have a bad impact on our mental well-being. It may lead to stress and anxiety.
“When our space is a mess, so are we”. I don’t know about you, but if my home is cluttered, I won’t be able to focus and make me less productive.
In today’s post, I’m sharing 9 ways to get motivated to clean and declutter your entire home.
If you’re feeling constantly overwhelmed, try the following decluttering tips for finding the motivation to declutter and keep the momentum going.
Before you start getting rid of things, have your supplies handy.
- Garbage bags for trash
- Boxes for items in good condition that can be donated
- Recycle bags for things that need to be recycled
- A laundry basket for things that you want to keep and need to relocate to a proper place
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9 Ways to Motivate Yourself to Declutter
1// Visualize the space
Before you declutter a room, close your eyes and picture yourself in the room. Imagine what the room will look like when uncluttered and what you want this space to be.
For example, when you enter your bedroom, visualize what you want this space to become. Everyone has their preference. I love the simple decor and making my bedroom feel cozy. Nothing is allowed to stay on flat surfaces.
If you’re struggling to close the closet door, it’s time to donate all those clothes that haven’t been worn in the past years.
Or if you have space in your wardrobe, the problem is you don’t put clothes back in the closet, it’s time to change your habit.
Forming a picture in your mind helps you declutter your home easier. This practice of thinking about what you want can make you realize what things you should get rid of. So when you’re ready to declutter the room, you’ll feel motivated to start and you can purge things accordingly without a second thought.
2// Tackle your clutter hot spots first
Everyone has different decluttering methods. Some people like to declutter their homes room-by-room or start with a category. It might be easy to follow. However, sometimes it’s just not working.
Especially when you’re dealing with tons of clutter in every room in your house. Clutter is equally the same and it’s hard to choose which room to get started with. You’re ready to clean but the question is… you’re so overwhelmed with where to start.
If you feel like tackling the entire room is too overwhelming, just pick the clutter hot spots in your home that is bothering you the most.
In my home, I can’t stand the clutter on the kitchen counters. And I also hate things or papers piled up on my office desk. They all sapping my mental energy. So, cleaning up those hot spots first is my priority.
You don’t need to think hard about where to start. When you’re struggling to declutter, just pick your clutter hot spots and get started. This helps to motivate you to clean a messy house.
Related post about Living Simply with Less Stuff:
10 Minimalist Tips for Beginners
3// Before and after pictures of cluttered rooms
Have you ever heard progress is a powerful motivator? Taking before and after pictures is one of the best ways to motivate yourself to declutter.
Pick a cluttered spot and take a photo. Clean out this space and then take a photo again. Taking before and after photos give you a sense of accomplishment.
Achieving small wins always has a great impact on overall motivation. It inspires you to move forward to finish up the decluttering projects.
Photo by elena popova on Unsplash
4// Create a decluttering checklist
It’s good to have a master decluttering plan. It helps you realize what you’ll go through in a declutter project. However, a long list of things to declutter seems overwhelming and always makes it harder to motivate yourself to clean.
What you need is a daily list of decluttering tasks. Break your giant declutter project into smaller and more manageable tasks. Write down your goals for the day and be specific. Take it as a decluttering challenge to encourage yourself to clean.
Instead of decluttering the whole kitchen, make it clear. Clean out the fridge, declutter the kitchen cabinet, declutter the kitchen counter, etc. Breaking down small pieces of work helps motivate you to get the work done.
Make a to-do list the night before you declutter. I always feel productive when I know exactly what I need to do when I’m ready.
Make the declutter list short and manageable. You’ve now got the tasks on the list, do them one by one, and cross off one item at a time.
Crossing items off is immensely satisfying and can make you see your progress. This helps you motivate yourself to keep going to clean an overwhelmed mess.
5// Just start, don’t wait for the day off
Most people can’t declutter their houses in one day or one weekend. So, don’t get burned out. You don’t need to wait until your day off to get started decluttering. Just start.
Instead of purging the entire house in one weekend, just start with small spots on weekdays. Getting rid of things a little bit at a time will make you feel less overwhelmed and less stressed.
Also, tackle small decluttering tasks if you’re short on time. Even 5-minute decluttering tasks throughout the week can add up to a much tidier home. You will soon see every small step leads to a big improvement.
If you plan a big weekend purge, don’t forget to schedule a lunch break and small breaks. Taking breaks can help keep you feeling motivated, regain focus and make you more productive.
6// Make decluttering fun and celebrate
Without a doubt, decluttering is so hard for most people because massive decluttering requires a lot of time and energy. The lack of motivation can cause you to procrastinate and make you don’t even want to get started on decluttering.
However, making decluttering fun will change the way you think. Set a timer before you start, challenge yourself to get rid of things as much as possible. When time is up, you’re done. If you want to continue, feel free to declutter more.
Setting the timer not only can boost your productivity, but also help focus on getting things done.
You’re much more likely to stay motivated to declutter when you know you’re timed. You will tend to be less distracted because you want to complete the task on time.
Planning a reward for yourself. Celebrate your hard work and effort. When a decluttering task is done, congratulating and rewarding yourself will motivate you to keep going.
The reward system helps you reach your decluttering goals faster. So, when you feel like decluttering is a daunting task, make it fun and more enjoyable by rewarding yourself for the hard work.
Rewards don’t have to cost you money. Treat yourself to a fancy coffee, take a nap, a hot bath, watch an episode, etc. They are all consumable rewards and clutter-free.
Rewarding yourself will make you feel good and become more motivated to keep going.
7// Progress over perfection
Quote by Winston Churchill, “Perfection is the enemy of progress”. The journey of decluttering doesn’t need to be perfect. It’s more important to measure progress over perfection during a decluttering process.
Don’t wait for the perfect time to tackle your clutter. Don’t need to declutter and clean your home perfectly.
Instead of overwhelming yourself to declutter in one weekend, consider adopting a slow and steady decluttering. Plan out to declutter your home in a month, a few months, or a year. Over time, you will see progress and you’ll find decluttering is so much easier.
Perhaps you don’t have a perfect organizational system to keep your things nice. That’s okay. It can be fixed later when you’re done decluttering.
Perfectionism can cause procrastination. Many people with perfectionism have a fear of failure. They don’t want to make mistakes and are afraid of things not being perfect. So, they put off their decluttering projects because they want to complete the decluttering tasks perfectly.
Related Decluttering Guide:
The 7 Biggest Decluttering Mistakes To Avoid
Progress is always better than perfection. Striving for progress and not perfection will give you small wins in your decluttering journey and put you on a path to success.
Photo by Thanos Pal on Unsplash
8// Watch youtube videos, and listen to podcasts or audiobooks for motivation and inspiration
We all know decluttering is such a good thing. Eliminating the clutter makes us feel lighter and happier. But why still many of us feel hard to maintain motivation and keep going on?
Decluttering takes time and energy, and even though you have no problem spending a certain amount of time each day, keeping the energy level to declutter is not easy.
No wonder after a long day of work, you’re so exhausted and have no energy to declutter. Be kind to yourself and allow yourself to get rid of 5 things only. Be mindful and listen to your body, don’t exhaust yourself.
Decluttering the entire home needs a lot of motivation to keep going. When you start feeling overwhelmed or feel hard to stay motivated, watch some inspiring youtube videos, you’ll rediscover your motivation each time you watch them.
If you prefer an audio format, listen to some inspiring podcasts or audiobooks. You’ll always find some helpful tips from them.
9// Review your “why” and keep your eyes on the bigger picture goals
When you’re feeling stuck and struggling to stay motivated to declutter, think back at your original intention, why decluttering is good for you, and how decluttering can change your life.
When you have lost sight of your end goal, ask yourself why did you start this declutter project? How decluttering can change your life for the better?
Reminding yourself of the intention and having a strong purpose will help you maintain motivation and keep momentum. Make a plan and have a deadline to declutter effectively.
We’re human and imperfect. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Because when you get burnt out, you will easily find yourself losing motivation and interest in the whole process.
Stay consistent and make decluttering a habit. It’s always very satisfying to see the progress. Progress helps you motivate yourself to stay focused on your ultimate decluttering goals.
Final Thoughts
When you’re overwhelmed with too much stuff and gets hard to start decluttering your entire home, try using these decluttering strategies to motivate yourself to clean.
Once you start clearing the clutter in one room, you’ll feel much easier to declutter the next. You’ll finally be able to take back your space.
After you’ve decluttered your home, make decluttering a habit to keep the clutter at bay. Creating daily routines will help to get your home clean and organized.
For more decluttering tips and inspiration, check out the following posts:
12 Decluttering Methods When You Have Too Much Stuff
How to Declutter When You’re Overwhelmed by a Messy House
100 Easy Things to Get Rid of Right Now
16 Five-Minute Decluttering Tasks You Can Do Today
7 Areas to Declutter Before Christmas
What to do when spouse does not want things to go. This sounds like a one person job but really it takes a whole family to agree to let things go.