A Mom’s Thoughts on Decluttering

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

                                                             “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.

I have read books on decluttering, courses on decluttering and videos on decluttering. While they were helpful, what helped me were my actual actions of decluttering, and not just consuming information about it. Decluttering, though, 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 pair down the number of toys because my kids might miss them and get upset when they remember the toy one day and we cannot “find” it because of course, I got rid of it without their knowing. And that could have happened one time when I was brave enough to get rid of a toy without a child’s knowing, a.k.a. “permission.” Because deep down sometimes, I just had the need to get rid of stuff to create “breathing” spaces at home- and this was my permission.

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.

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 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 see how I can free up more space – especially in my kitchen, living room, and entryway.

A gentle approach:

My approach to home decluttering for moms is to treat it as a slow, kind process rather than a one-weekend makeover. Small steps like choosing one drawer, one shelf, or one basket at a time make decluttering feel more realistic especially in busy seasons in life. It is a great feeling to have an organized, peaceful home and for me to achieve this, decluttering is the first step.

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, our Declutter in 30 Days Planner is a decluttering 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.