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Hot take: You don't need to declutter everything at once | Declutter Support - Thought Shares

Hot take: You don't need to declutter everything at once

Last month I tried to tackle my whole garage in one weekend and basically just moved piles around for 8 hours before giving up. Three years ago I had the same problem with my kitchen cabinets, kept pulling everything out then shoving it back in. I finally figured out that doing one small shelf or one drawer at a time actually sticks. Has anyone else found that pacing yourself works way better than trying to do a whole room in a day?

3 comments

3 Comments

robin5913mo ago

Oh I feel this so much. I did the same thing with my basement last spring, pulled everything out and ended up just making a bigger mess that took me weeks to recover from. The small shelf approach is the only thing that has ever worked for me too. I started with just my bathroom medicine cabinet, one little shelf at a time, and it actually stayed organized for once. There's something about that sense of accomplishment from finishing a small spot that keeps you going, rather than burning out on a whole room.

cora5183mo ago

YES, the "anchor spot" thing @paul_taylor21 mentioned is EXACTLY what I needed to hear. That book sounds like it gets it because my brain absolutely does shut down when I look at a whole room. I have to ask though, how do you STOP yourself from getting that itch to expand too fast? Because I did the medicine cabinet perfect and then got overconfident and tried to do my whole linen closet the NEXT WEEK. Total disaster, everything ended up on the floor for three days. Did the book say anything about pacing yourself or is it just willpower at that point? I feel like the small win gives me this false sense of being Super Organizer and then I crash hard.

paul_taylor213mo ago

Read something similar in a home organizing book a while back. They called it the "anchor spot" method where you just pick one small area and get it perfect before moving on. Tried it with my junk drawer of all things and it worked better than any big declutter I ever attempted. The book said most people fail because they try to tackle too much at once and your brain just shuts down. Seems like there's some real truth to that based on what you said.