How to Motivate Yourself to Get Rid of Clutter

Do you have too much clutter, but no motivation to get rid of it? Too much clutter can take over your life and make you lethargic, it drains your energy and makes you not want to deal with it. There are ways that you can motivate yourself to get rid of the clutter in your life and so improve the quality of your life.

Take a tour of your house

First take a tour of your house as if you didn’t live there. Ask yourself where are the places that look a mess, make a list, write them all down. Mark which piles of clutter have been there for a long time and which piles are more recent. Don’t spend a long time doing this, just spend a minute or two in each room. If the whole room is a mess, write down whole room.

Choose six cluttered areas

Choose six cluttered areas that you think you can manage, write them down and number them 1 to 6. Then shake a die and whatever number it lands on will be the area you tackle first. Aim to improve it, not to make it perfect. Just work on that one area for about half an hour.

Offer yourself a reward

Set a goal and offer yourself a reward. Make your goal attainable, yet challenging. A whole room organized would be an attainable goal if it wasn’t totally full of clutter. Promise yourself small rewards for small areas and larger rewards for larger areas.

Schedule a time to do a little every day

Have a time slot in your day that between one time and another time you will tidy and declutter. For me, I declutter from 4pm until 5pm. Experiment with different times of the day to see which time slot works best for you.

What time of the day are you most awake?

Following on from the last idea, ask yourself if you are a morning person or an evening person. Evening people could never do decluttering in the morning and morning people wouldn’t think of sorting and organizing after 9pm. Some people work really well late at night and others first thing in the morning. Schedule time for when you are at your most energetic.

Invite someone over

Nothing makes you crisis clean like having someone come to visit. If you can, invite people regularly, like holding a group meeting once a week. Even if you don’t find time to organize your house through the week, you’ll find time just before they arrive. Just be careful you don’t stuff things out of sight because otherwise you’ll have more chores to do at a later date.

Ask a friend for help

Ask a friend to help you get rid of your stuff. Then when your friend arrives you can have some together time while doing a much needed chore. If you choose the right friend they will see your stuff for what it’s worth and not with emotion attached to it and you may end up getting rid of more stuff than if you just work on your own.

Plan early for the holidays

With the holidays in November and December, start planning in September and October how you will get your house how you want it so you can relax during the holidays. Write down your plan allowing for days when you won’t be decluttering. Don’t try to attempt to do too much and don’t plan any major remodels at this time.

Get mad at the clutter

There is a time to be angry and this may be just the right time for you to get angry with your clutter and the mess your house is in. Some people tidy much better when they are angry. Don’t get so angry that you throw things away you will have second thoughts about later, but channel your anger into improving your accommodation.

Hire a professional

If you are so overwhelmed you really can’t help yourself then it may be time to hire a professional. Their rates are about $50-$100 an hour. Sometimes just one hour with a professional can spur you into action.

Declutter daily

The most important thing with clutter is to attack it daily. Even if you only do 5 minutes a day, it’s better than leaving it sitting making mess in your home. You do not deserve to live in a cluttered environment, so free yourself from the clutter.

Do it now

Just start. Don't put it off until tomorrow. You will be glad you did.