For years, I had a “put together” living room. It was the room I kept immaculate no matter what, in case someone popped over. Because my hand-me-down couch was 70’s-era brown and orange floral, I spent several minutes each day tucking in and straightening a velour couch cover. I had the matching pillows, a beautiful entertainment center, and the shiny wood piano my husband played. There wasn’t a stray book, paper, or dish to be found.
But the other rooms were a different story. My desk looked like an avalanche of papers and books. My kitchen drawers were crammed with various cooking tools, some of which I hadn’t used since I bought them. My closet was a mishmash of wardrobes consisting of several sizes. Homeschool books and other materials covered every flat surface.
I spent too much time looking for things and trying to organize way too much stuff. I was the master of the dash and stash. Everyone thought I was a well-organized and capable housekeeper, but my messy Marvin tendencies were a problem.
Here’s the irony — because I wasted so much time trying to look like I had it all together, I never actually had it all together. My thinking was as cluttered as the hidden parts of my home.
As long as my thinking was cluttered, my home would be too.
I’ve learned that there are three ways our cluttered thinking prevents us from getting clutter out of our homes:
Comparing Ourselves to Others
Our journey isn’t going to look like another person’s. We all have different reasons we’re overwhelmed with clutter, so our solutions can’t all be exactly the same.
We’ve all seen photos of perfectly decorated rooms on Facebook or Pinterest without a single speck of dust, let alone clutter. But what we can’t see outside the angle of the camera lens is the piles of stuff the photographer doesn’t want you to see.
Rather than giving up and deciding that you’ll just hide it, consider your reasons for wanting to declutter.
Often our motives for doing something indicate whether we’ll be successful. Our big wins come with the right motivations.
Do you want to impress others and look good? Or do you want to declutter so that you can be free to do what you’re created to do?
All or Nothing Mentality
Sometimes we look at our twenty years’ worth of clutter and decide that it isn’t going away anytime soon, so we might as well not even try.
At first, 15 minutes a day doesn’t seem like it would be effective, but after several days in a row, I saw victory in one section of my house. Then I wanted to take back another section, so I kept going.
After awhile, I noticed that I spent less time looking for missing books and cooking utensils. I also spent less time “tidying up” when we expected company. The realization that I will never be “done” decluttering gives me the peace and sanity I need to continue with a faithful decluttering routine that frees me up to do better things.
Rather than feeling lousy about how much decluttering we have left to do, we become more productive when we achieve small gains that add up to big victories over time.
One and Done (Wishful) Thinking
If we look at decluttering projects as a big monster project to tackle, we’ll become discouraged when we realize that the same space just gets cluttery all over again. That’s because we haven’t resolved the real issue: decluttering is like brushing your teeth—it’s much more effective if you stay on top of it and do it regularly, rather than expecting your twice-per-year dental visits to maintain dental health.
Kerri Pomarolli, comedienne and author, writes, “Aren’t most of us constantly feeling as though we are in a race but we have no idea where the finish line is?”
That’s how I’ve come to think about clutter. No finish line. But we can have success with an established regular routine.
Enter the Drawing!
Harvest House has generously offered our readers the chance to win five copies of Kerri’s new book, Confessions of a Proverbs 32 Woman: How I Went from Messed Up to Blessed Up Without Changing a Single Thing.
One grand-prize winner will also win:
Kerri’s devotional book, She Rises Late and Her Kids Make Her Breakfast
To enter, leave us a comment.
What is one way you plan to change your thinking to unblock your clutter-free efforts?
- #655 Finding Grace in Your Imperfect Space: A Conversation with Hilary Bernstein - February 4, 2025
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- #652 The Clutter Free Lifestyle: 10 Habits That Actually Work - January 14, 2025
In 2020, I vow to declutter in 15 minutes pockets of time each day. At least once each day! Then I will use at least 15 minutes each day to grab my handy “magic basket” to make a decluttering run through my home. Bliss.
I am working on handling things once- especially papers one time. I tend to make piles and go through them without making decisions.
As said I have set a goal for 2020, not a resolution to de clutter. I will not hold on to all this “stuff” any longer. And I will start with just one area, box at a time. But I will overcome this problem!
I am a “want it done right now” kind of girl. I have to focus on decluttering being an ongoing effort that really never ends…and it doesn’t all have to be done at one time.
I get easily overwhelmed with big projects so 15 minutes a day sounds manageable.
I just discovered this podcast and your website, thanks. It is hard for me to declutter at all! I have the messiest house, and 2 girls that won’t clean up after themselves (again my fault) and there are 5 of us living in a house. I work full-time outside of the house and take my girls to everything after school with the help of my husband. I do not think I am a Proverbs 31 – I am much more of a Proverbs 71! Now that I have found you and this site, I will try and help me into the next year, I really appreciate this!
The tip to recognize that decluttering is never a totally done process, is what really has & will continue to help me to not give up in frustration. Although there are some days like today when a mess was in every single room, that I wanted to light a match and start all over, but I know that in many ways, we’ve made good progress. And I’ll have to keep on faithfully working to minimize what comes into the house and always be looking for the things that need to leave our house 🙂
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What a great idea is the 15 minutes a day declutter! Starting today!
Loved the post and the podcast. I want to make use of the pockets of time I have – 15 minutes at a time- and work in one space until I’ve completed the task. I need to accept that this is a life long journey and not a sprint to some unknown finish line. Thanks for the encouragement.
Congratulations, you are a winner! Please check your email for more details. ~Kathi Lipp Giveaway Team
I need to let go of all the things and trust my Lord to provide when I do need something because He is the great Provider! I forget that when I hold on to things “just in case” that is actually a symptom of not trusting in Him with all my heart but instead trying to be self-reliant. There are so many people in need right now who can use my “just in case” stuff right now.
I need to get consistent with the 15 minutes/day rather than waiting til a day when I have time to tackle a much longer decluttering session. It always ends up taking much longer than expected and being a much bigger mess so from now on I give myself permission to do it 15 minutes at a time.
So I was going to comment on my most Proverb 32 moment.
When our oldest started getting loose teeth, she swallowed the first two.
We figured we’d better get more aggressive with the next ones. We snuck
into her room while she was sleeping and tied floss on the loose one. She
woke, but my husband shushed her. But the floss was stuck. Then she awoke and
felt the floss and said, “Hey!” My husband pulled the tooth out with one little jerk and I popped up with, “I brought you a dollar.”
I need to stop putting off the decision to get rid of something until later. Once I am sorting through the magazines or clothes, etc., I need to make a decision and follow through with it. I like the 15 min of de-cluttering idea.
If I see something I want to try or research more in a magazine, I tear out the pages instead of saving the whole magazine. The result: I have a LOT of loose magazine pages cluttering my desk! I’ve begun to transfer the info, in one or two lines, into a spiral notebook. Those loose pages are then recycled. What a change it’s already making!
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I am really hoping to unblock some of my clutter-free efforts! I am trying to get my whole family involved in decluttering rather than taking it all on myself.
I plan to spend declutter one room at a time so I don’t get overwhelmed!
I plan to focus more on decluttering as opposed to just finding new places for all of my stuff.
I like the 15 minutes/day declutter practice. Just need to start somewhere and15 min feels doable.
Knowing that decluttering will never end is more daunting than peace giving so I need to work on that mindset still. Thanks for the helpful post.
Congratulations, you are a winner! Please check your email for more details. ~Kathi Lipp Giveaway Team
Just start, not procrastinate and do something, not nothing, be content and invite friends over.
This blessed me so much! I’m working on decluttering, but now I’m going to try for at least 1 time every day of 15 minutes. Also, I refuse to beat myself up that I never seem to be completely done.
I need to remember to be happy with what I can do today–with three children, homeschooling, and a dh that works hours of work and overtime outside the home. Most days my to-do list doesn’t get done, but I can accomplish some things each day by doing a few minutes here and there.
Small bits do add up! I’m noticing a difference and a difference in what I choose to bring into the house.
My sister says I can’t see the tree for the Forrest. I feel overwhelmed by everything I see in my home. I need to go back and read Kathi’s books again, if I can find them. Lol. Thank you for this opportunity
These words!!! Yes! Just tackled the closet that literally was pouring out of the closet boundaries! It took all day the thought of just doing 15 minutes a day makes me feel like I can do the dining room, I mean the catch all room , is there a table even in there?
Thank you so much for the podcast..I sure get overwelmed, just once I start I push myself to finish but then get frustrated when dont get it all done. Yes the 15 min a day is great
and have to do that might make it 30 minutes. Love to win the book.
God bless you for all you doing ~
Congratulations, you are a winner! Please check your email for more details. ~Kathi Lipp Giveaway Team
15 min a day. I am going to try this. Usually i get so overwhelmed with the large task at hand.
My thinking is no longer, ‘one-and-done’, or once one room is done it never needs to be decluttered again.
Now, it is, “It didn’t get this way overnight. BUT I can make a dent in it every single day. Just like eating that ‘elephant’.”
Also, i think of decluttering like breathing. I don’t want to stop doing either one!;)
My issue is the same as so many others! All or none! It frustrates me to no end and yet I keep on with the same cycle of thinking. I tell myself that if I don’t have time to scrub every millimeter of grout in the shower then there’s no point in cleaning the bathroom at all. Just typing that feels ridiculous. I have to embrace your small doable steps mentality, Kathy. So thankful for your blog and podcast.
Congratulations, you are a winner! Please check your email for more details. ~Kathi Lipp Giveaway Team
I can never take myself seriously when it comes to clutter!! I have to decide on my plan for decluttering and schedule 1, just ONE, task to complete a day that will take around 10 minutes. The key for me is to decide and write out my plan then I have no excuses when the block comes up of, “I don’t know what to do!”
I have to stop with the comparison! It makes me feel defeated before I have started. I need to focus on what I can do in my home in this season of life to get the clutter under control.
As a mom of a 3 year old and 1 year old, we constantly have clutter, and sometimes at the end of the day, both my husband and I sometimes don’t have energy to deal with the clutter. What I have found helpful and need to remind myself to keep doing is to put away what I can throughout the day. One of those things may come out of the cabinet again, but at least the other 3 things that were out are put away at the end of the day!
I’ve loved listening to your podcast! I need to do so many things, one is rid my house of paper clutter! I love listening to the Proverbs32 woman podcast. I’m not a cutesy Pinterest decorator, but I do need to be better at dejunking! Hope to win a book.
The area that overwhelms me is paper clutter. I have an all or nothing approach to tackling it. And that’s not working for me as I never get to dealing with it. The 15 minutes a day approach, a little at a time is something I want to try. I have set the timer for dealing with other areas of clutter but not with dealing with papers. Even if I only do it 3 times a week, that’s 45 minutes more a week than what I am doing now, which is nothing! Thanks for the inspiration.
I have got to change my all or nothing thinking!!! Years of that mentality have left me with mountains of “stuff” that I am somehow able to block out with the thoughts of well, I don’t have time to really tackle it. My plan is to start the 15 minutes a day, and to stay with it!! Praying I can do it and see what a difference it will make! Also, in listening to the podcast this morning (so great), you all were discussing being a proverbs 32 woman and I LOVED that!! I so often feel how much I have fallen short and I feel guilty about that! I would love to win this book and begin to change that thinking too!! My constant Proverbs 32 moment is with laundry. Never, ever, ever am I caught up and our normal method of operation is to start a load of what we need for the next day at night and then put it in the dryer before bed. The next morning we restart the dryer and later get dressed out of whatever is in the dryer that day!!
I need to let go of my all or nothing mindset. I feel like if my house isn’t t totally fixed up, then it’s not good enough. And with 3 kids that’s basically impossible anyway!
I need to let go of holding on to something just in case or because someone gave it to me. Would love to read the book.
I like the part that says our journeys won’t look the same. I get so overwhelmed with the constant daily stuff and have lists in my head of all the decluttering or beautifying projects I want to do. Or just cleaning that I want to get in. I need to take the small steps of deciding what needs a “dumping place” and what of that needs to go to the dump! That might get us in a routine and reclaim a few areas so we then won’t have to keep going back to dig out from under a pile!
Over Christmas break I plan on pulling all of my sewing and craft supplies out and really being honest with myself about what I’m actually going to use. I purchased a steel shelving unit and that’s going to be my limit. My life is changing and I don’t sew as much as I used to so it’s time to part with some things.
Needed to hear this! Just the word “accept” made me sigh a tiny sigh of relief, to know I’m not alone and the fact that I’m still needing to declutter is “allowed”. I’ll declutter and eliminate, and the next thing I hear is a horrified 9 year old voice, “WHAT?!?!? I found this in the recycling!!!!” , and she’s holding up a scribbled late note from the office from 1st grade or an old chewed up coloring book she hasn’t used for 6 years. I’m never home when the kids aren’t home, and hubby works nights, so can’t whisk them to the library for an hour or anything. The most I can do is stuff an occasional black garbage bag and toss it in the garage, leaving me with 10 random unlabeled black garbage bags in the garage. Is that my grandmother’s china? Or school papers from 2nd grade? AAHAHAHHAHAAHAHRGH
By changing my thinking to the fact that I can declutter for 15 minutes then stop and come back the next day, helped me not to feel overwhelmed. Also recognizing that I will always need to go through and declutter. This post was very helpful for me
Thank you for this reassuring post – that it takes time and perseverance to declutter. I have been overwhelmed by stuff – my yarn stash and projects, boxes of paper stuff, books, etc. Guess “slowly, but surely” is the name of the game.
Thank you for your encouragement!
Thanks for the great article. I am trying hard to stop holding on to clutter…just in case
Man, I honestly wake up and feel anxious. I work solidly on one space and 30 min later it’s in chaos. I have had a goal to give 1 black bag of stuff to charity a week. Reason being is I feel the massive amount of stuff (that I often feel guilty to get rid of as they were given to me) is the major problem. But at the same time the momentary satisfaction of getting one area in order is kiboshed by my 11month, 3yr old and 6 yr old causing chaos literally behind me as I go. I like the idea of routine and for sure I think I’ll try that. Your articles are very encouraging even if I don’t read that weeks email just seeing your name in my inbox reminds me that I can do it.
I very much appreciated the statement at the end about developing a routine when it comes to clutter. This is something that would help me immensely. Thank you for giving me something to think about. A new way of looking at things.
I needed to hear this today. Even though I have been working the clutter free life for a few years I have not crossed that finish line. I need to work on my brain clutter, I tried to find something yesterday and couldn’t find it. I usually kept it in one place and now it’s not there. Harumph.
I plan to take 15 minutes each day to declutter and stay on top of the clutter. I can’t tell you how much I needed to read this today, thank you so much!
My change in thinking: I plan to accept decluttering as an ongoing project that can be chipped away at in small doses. I also commit to not self-condemn if I can’t take on larger doses like my girlfriend can. My small doses will be 30 minute time chunks or a bag to donate instead of getting a whole room done.
My goodness,
My old farmhouse had an attic full of clutter when we moved in. The prior owners were elderly and weary, so blessed us with it. We had nine kids at the time and then there is the clutter of homeschooling, plus more kids kept arriving (don’t know how that happened :)) Now-25 years later, there is the “declutter and downsize” mood upon me. This morning I thought it too huge a task but instead I will start taking 15 minutes a day to work on it before we are ready to move.
Thanks for the encouragement.