This blog post, along with my recipe posts, is part of this site’s Styled Home Life series on food, home, and everyday living.

A real mom’s thoughts on decluttering, how to manage constant clutter with kids, and 15 simple general strategies that make decluttering easier and more realistic.

A Mom’s Thoughts on Decluttering: Why It Never Ends And What Helps

                                                             “To declutter or not to declutter, that is the question”.

For most of us, the question is more in the direction of, “How many times do we need to declutter our homes”?

As a case in point, my linen closet looks wonderful after a declutter but if I leave it for a week, I will see signs of clutter coming back right in.

It is like a garden tidied up. In no time, weeds will grow again, and plants need trimming to make it look tidy and not cluttered. The sooner we can make peace with the nature of decluttering, I believe, the sooner we can let go of our false expectations. How many times do we hope that one big sweep of decluttering will solve our clutter problem? I certainly have this expectation that a big declutter will mean the space will stay that way for a long time. Of course, for us with a busy family life, this is not so, and causes us great frustration.

Decluttering As a Mom Is Different

I have read books on decluttering, courses on decluttering and videos on decluttering. While they were helpful, what helped me the most were my actual actions of decluttering, and not just consuming information about it.

Decluttering can be a real challenge for most of us homemakers, myself included, especially when my children were young. It was so hard for me to pare down the number of toys because my kids might miss them and get upset when they remember a toy one day and it's gone. To avoid this, what I found helpful was to just ask my children if they were ready to let the toy go or keep the toy in our toy rotation bin until they want to play with the toy again. The bonus is, kids tend to be delighted when they see their toys again, as if they're new toys or a familiar old friend. Indeed, it can be difficult to get rid of stuff to create “breathing spaces" in our homes and we need decluttering hacks to get clutter out of our houses.

Decluttering with kids in the house is a different experience. You’re not just sorting things; you’re managing emotions, memories, and sometimes your own guilt at the same time. Certainly tips such as doing a toy rotation helps but I found out that I needed a group of tips working together as a system being key. I also needed habits to maintain the system, which of course, keeps changing with our seasons of life. I write this no longer in frustration but in acceptance, just like we welcome spring after winter.

No matter how many organizers I brought in the house, their relief can be temporary especially when I had too many storage containers that the containers themselves are making my spaces feel crowded. Getting over this hurdle, though, the right container in a strategic space in your homes can be your decluttering friend because they do keep clutter at bay and make retrieval of items easier. I love organizing containers and I can be particular about their design, colors, etc. but I digress:)

There are many thoughts playing tug of war in our minds, too. When we are in the process of decluttering it is easy to get overwhelmed with decisions as we go, whether to keep, toss or donate the stuff we have.

There is hope, friend. I know you will find ways that will help you declutter. Below, I am sharing with you the things that helped me declutter:

1. Having a support person, which in my case, is my husband. It could be your friend who can lighten your load of decluttering.
2. Getting rid of things, not just relocating them in the house
3. For things I needed to keep but cannot store inside the house, they had to go to the shed. This is only helpful for toys in rotation, seasonal clothes, decorations, and a small number of sentimental items or “may be useful one day” because I am only human:)
4. Having a garage sale with a friend to get rid of my excess household items.
5. I gave away what I think were needed by people I know.
6. I donated items to op shops.
7. I shopped more intentionally.
8. I learned that decluttering often at a pace that suits me is better than planning for a big decluttering day.
9. I used a planner to get me organized and be efficient in my decluttering.
10. I stopped thinking of perfection in my decluttered spaces and decluttering efforts and managed my expectations.
11. I stayed hydrated and allowed for a snack break on longer decluttering times.
12. I used a timer.
13. And labels. And only when I can. When I cannot label the containers at a given decluttering session, I just make a note to do it next time around. I also learned that label makers are nice, but their aesthetics is optional. A legible scribble on a tape is functional and can do the job. Of course, if pretty labels make you want to maintain your spaces organized, do so by all means. I am partial to pretty labels because they finish my decluttered spaces nicely and they help with organization. For example, labels with good -sized and legible fonts will be helpful for others in my family.
14. I embraced a simplicity mindset, which for me, just means going with a simple and doable version of things.
15. I leaned more on the “less is more” thinking. For example, I now realize that I do not need a huge array of kitchen gadgets to cook well- just the essentials, and a few special kitchen gadgets:) For me, I would rather chop onions with an onion chopper, though. I find using this gadget more fun, tidy, and means no tears when cutting onions.

How about you, what helped you in your decluttering efforts?

Benefits of decluttering for moms:

> When we declutter as moms, it is not just about having a tidy house. A decluttered home can mean fewer visual reminders of unfinished tasks, less time spent looking for things, and a calmer start and end to the day. For me, simplifying what is around inside my home gives me a clearer mind and a sense of calm so I can say it supports my mental health. With a clear mind, we tend to be clearer on things and we can produce simple and creative ways to manage our day. I believe decluttering contributes to mom mental health.

With an orderly home, we can make daily routines smoother with young children. For example, it is easier to help young kids with their chore chart if they know where the needed materials are stored. It helps them put away their toys if their toys have a designated home in a room. It helps kids get dressed efficiently when they know where their clothes, shoes, and school bags are.

For us moms, we can easily find the spices we need to complete a dish. We can even save money in the kitchen because we see what we already have before buying more. We can also clean our homes better when there are not’ random small furniture or stuff getting in our way each time we clean. These are just a few examples on how a decluttered home helps us in simplifying our home management. I would like to say that a freed up physical space in my home, frees up more space in my brain. As years go by, my favourite way to transform my home environment is to first see how I can free up more space – especially in my kitchen, living room, and entryway. Then I can decorate easily with what I've decided can stay in the space.

A gentle approach:

We usually feel already overwhelmed when we consider it’s time to declutter. So how about taking small steps like choosing one drawer at a time? Thinking along the lines of one closet shelf, or one toy basket at a time make decluttering feel more realistic for us moms. It is a great feeling to have an organized, peaceful home and for me to achieve this, decluttering in short bursts of time is the first step. Basically, I choose a 15 to 25 minutes time frame to declutter and use my timer and planner (especially for 25 to 30 minutes of decluttering).

Going back to the initial decluttering question, the best answer I can give is, "declutter as often as practicable for you". I wish you the best in your decluttering goals because the payoff, we’ll realize, is usually bigger than our decluttering challenges.

If you would like more structure in approaching your decluttering projects, our "Declutter in 30 Days Planner" is a planner you will find helpful. It is designed to help you create a more organized, peaceful home at a pace that is doable for you. For a limited time, you can use code DECLUTTER35 at the checkout to get 35% off the planner.