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Not all decluttering methods will be a good match for the time and energy you can give to getting organized. Here you'll find 30 techniques that can help you make decisions, clear clutter, and maintain order.
There’s no one perfect decluttering method that will work for everyone. Some techniques require just an hour of your time from start to end, while others will require hours to complete over a week or month. You may even find that different approaches work better in some rooms or categories of stuff than others.
Different factors can make one decluttering method a better match for you than another technique –
Energy level.
Time you can give to decluttering.
How long you can focus on sorting through things.
Your tolerance for chaos.
If reading the description of a method makes you cringe, don’t even bother attempting it. You don’t want to start a process that you’ll give up on (and likely end up with a bigger mess than you started with).
On the other hand, if a method sounds too easy, give it a try. Chances are that it involves a minor commitment of your time. You can always use two (or more) easy methods that complement one another.
Didn’t Know
The "Didn't Know" decluttering method is straightforward ... if you find something that you didn't remember that you owned, you put it in your box to donate. It doesn't matter how wonderful or useful you think the item is. The fact that you forgot you owned it is a clue that it isn’t as useful as you think it could be.
But, but, but … okay, if you are going to start using it immediately, you can hold onto it. But don’t pull it out of a bin or closet, think you might use it someday, and then stow it away. That’s an indication that you can pass it along.
12 – 12 – 12
I’ve also seen this as 10 – 10 – 10. Every day, you throw away 12 things, put 12 things in a donate box, and bring 12 items to where they belong in your home and put them away.
This is a nice balance of getting rid of trash, putting things away, and finding things to declutter from your home. Do this for a month, and you’ll be over a thousand items tidier by the end of a month!
60 in 60
60 in 60 can be the decluttering method you use every day or once a week. It also can be a "booster" whenever you have the time and want to power through some clutter.
For this, you set a timer for 60 minutes and make it your goal to gather 60 items you can declutter in that time.
As an alternative, you can push yourself to see how many items you can declutter in an hour and then see if you can beat that number the next time.
This technique is easiest if you are just starting out and have a lot of clutter to eliminate.
Boundary Method
You keep what fits … in a drawer, on a shelf, in a bin, etc. You give a drawer or bin a category of items which it will contain … socks, bowls, office supplies, cookbooks, etc. You keep what fits in its space.
If your drawer holds six sweaters and you have eight, you eliminate two as opposed to stowing them someplace else. This helps you identify what you can keep and stops you from tucking the extra items wherever you can find the space (which you may then end up forgetting about since the items are kept together.
20/20 Rule
The 20/20 Rule from The Minimalists suggests that if you can replace something in 20 minutes or less or for less than $20, that you don't need to hold onto it "just in case you need it."
The goal isn't to eliminate things that you know you use or to waste money and the planet's resources by tossing things for the sake of decluttering.
Instead, this is about realizing that you don't need multiple "junk" drawers to hold onto things that you might need. The 20/20 Rule provides a metric that helps you see which things aren't that important.
One-in/One-out Rule
One-in/One-out is a great way to maintain order after you’ve decluttered (but keep reading and I’ll explain how you can adapt this for reducing stuff).
This complements the Boundary Method because it acknowledges that you only have so much space for stuff. For example, if your shoe rack holds a dozen pairs, when you purchase a new pair, One-in/One-out prompts you to eliminate a similar item. If you buy a new book, you eliminate a book you won’t read again.
This rule keeps order because stuff never gets out of hand.
If you are still decluttering, you can adapt this technique and get rid of three, five, or even ten items for each item you purchase. In this case, it doesn’t have to be the same type of item since buying a new shirt doesn’t always mean that you can get rid of ten other shirts.
The 90/90 Rule
The 90/90 Decluttering Rules was created by The Minimalists, Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus. If you have an item that you can’t quite decide whether to keep or let go, ask yourself two questions:
Have you used this item in the past 90 days?
If not, will you use it in the next 90 days?
Of course, this timeframe doesn’t allow for seasonal items, so you can decide as you encounter those types of items, or you can wait until you are closer to the season to determine what you have or will use.
The 30/30 Rule
The 30/30 Rule from The Minimalists suggests waiting to make purchases in this way: If it costs more than $30, wait 30 hours before making the purchase; if it costs more than $100, wait 30 days. These time frames give you time to consider if you truly want and need the item.
80/20 Rule
The 80/20 Rule is also known as Pareto’s Principle. For decluttering, it tends to refer to the idea that we use twenty percent of our possessions, eighty percent of the time. So, if you owned 100 items of clothing (to keep the math simple), you’d likely be wearing the same 20 pieces most of the time.
This doesn’t mean you should only own 20 items of clothing (or anything else). However, it is a reminder that you use far fewer things on a regular basis than you might think.
Five Second Rule
The Five-Second Rule suggests that you make decisions about items in five seconds. Yeah, that’s quick! A benefit to quick decisions is that you go with your gut reaction as opposed to overthinking your decision.
If just the thought leaves you feeling stressed, don’t even bother trying this method. If you do give this a try, you may find yourself going back and convincing yourself that you should hold onto something your first reaction was to toss!
This type of quick decision-making could leave you feeling exhausted more quickly as you fall into decision fatigue … so don’t plan on getting through hundreds of decisions in an hour.
KonMari Method
If you read Marie Kondo’s Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, you know that you start with clothing, books, papers, and komono (“miscellaneous” items, which ironically, is everything in your house that doesn’t belong to those three mentioned categories.
She recommends that you assess items for the joy they spark in you (many people find this challenging). If you aren’t familiar with her method, check out a few articles online before diving into her books. Her decluttering methods are strict, but I am fond of the way she describes organizing the items you keep.
Two-Minute Rule
The Two-Minute Rule suggests that you immediately do tasks that can be completed in two minutes or less. However, this doesn’t mean that you should spend your day doing quick but inconsequential tasks.
Instead, if you are engaged in an action, push to complete it if it can be done quickly. This could include taking off your coat and then hanging it up. Or bringing in the mail and then tossing the junk mail before setting the stack on the counter.
This also includes having a Donate box accessible so that if you find something you realize you no longer need, you have someplace to toss it. If you don’t have a place for these items, chances are you’ll return it to where you the thing … while telling yourself that you need to declutter.
Two minutes doesn’t seem like much time, but it can make a difference when quickly dealing with trash or items that can be put away.
Quieting a Room
The idea of quieting a room comes from minimalist Myquillan Smith. To “quiet” a room, you remove everything from a room and leave it empty for a couple of days (yes, this could include removing furniture, carpeting, curtains, and anything on the walls.
After appreciating the feeling of calm spaciousness, you begin bringing items back into the room. Theoretically, you are more mindful of what you return to the room after enjoying the clean and clear space.
This process requires serious commitment. The rest of your home will end up very crowded. At the beginning of the year, we emptied the living room to fix a sagging ceiling. We live in a small house and life was miserable for several weeks as we navigated stacks of boxes.
While I love the theory, the process could be difficult if the room you are quieting is very cluttered. You need to know that you can put in a lot of time and effort to both empty the room and then intentionally return items to the space. You’ll be dealing with chaos for multiple days … perhaps even two or three weeks.
The Mins Game
The Minimalists, or Mins, Game, has you remove a number of items each day equivalent to the day’s date. It’s easiest to do this by starting on the first of the month. You start out with one item on the first of the month, two on the second, twenty-two items on the 22nd of the month. Within 30 days, you declutter 465 items. Of course, you can repeat this for numerous months.
30 Day Decluttering Challenge
Each day of the month, you declutter a set space, like the medicine cabinet, coffee table, nightstand, kitchen table, surface of your desk, etc. The time you have available defines how small or large a space you will declutter.
Grab a sheet of paper and list the 30 spaces you plan to declutter. When in doubt, go smaller so you have a better chance of succeeding. If you have a dresser with six drawers, one person may be able to do that in one day whereas someone else will need six days to go through this space because they have less time.
Plan out your 30 spaces so you don’t waste time each day debating where you’ll be decluttering.
3x9 Decluttering
This technique is a gentler version of The Minimalists Game where each day of the month indicates how many items you need to declutter that day. In 3x9, you only pay attention to the final digit of the day’s date.
So, on the 1st, 11th, 21st, and 31st of the month, you’d declutter one item each day. On the 5th, 15th, and 25th, you’d declutter five items each day. You cycle through decluttering one-to-nine items three times over the course of the month. On the 10th, 20th, and 30th, the ‘0’ indicates that you don’t have to declutter anything.
You’ll still declutter 135/6 items in the month, which can feel less stressful. This method would also work for someone who’s been decluttering but realizes there is still more work they could do.
The 6-Month Box
This is a way for dealing with “maybe” items … those things you don’t want or use but hesitate to let go of. You take those items, put them in a box, seal the box, and then label the outside with a date 6-months into the future. If, on that date, you haven’t looked for anything in that box, you can then donate the contents (without looking at them!).
When you use this technique, you haven’t decluttered until you actually remove the box of stuff from your home. And you need to remember to eliminate those items in six months’ time. Unfortunately, it’s all too easy to forget.
Spark Joy
If you’ve even thought of the word “declutter,” chances are that you’ll see the phrase “spark joy” show up in an internet search. The phrase comes from Marie Kondo’s KonMarie Method. It suggests that you hold an item and ask if it sparks joy in the idea of possessing it.
This can be difficult to do and can lead to indecision as you try to decide if an item has you feeling joyful just looking at it. However, you can give this a try. Find a space in your home that is relatively free of distractions and hold an item that you aren’t certain what you want to do with.
What feelings arise as you hold this item? If you don’t know what you’re feeling, notice your body language as you hold the item. Do your shoulders sag? Do you hold the item away from your body or do you clutch it close to your heart? Sometimes, you can see your feelings in your body.
Take Away 10
I saw this method in an article by Shifrah Combiths on the Apartment Therapy website. A friend told her how she’d go into every room in her home and declutter 10 items that she’d donate or giveaway, and Shifrah decided to give this a try.
This method is done with family members (all of them or only some in each room). The idea is to quickly look around and find items that are no longer necessary.
Depending upon where you are in your decluttering journey, you could do this activity weekly, monthly, or quarterly.
100 Things Challenge
Dave Bruno wrote a book called The 100 Things Challenge about his attempt to be less consumeristic by reducing his possessions while also eliminating some of his buying habits. Bruno had a family and so he decided not to count “house” things like the couch and tea kettle toward his 100 Things. Also, he counted his entire library of books as one thing.
Counting possessions can be an objective way to control your possessions. You don’t even have to do this with all your possessions. For example, you might tell yourself that you’ll limit your personal library to ‘x’ books, your footwear to ‘x’ items, and so on.
Julie Morgenstern’s SPACE Method
Julie Morgenstern’s Organizing from the Inside Out is the classic book on decluttering. (It’s from 1998 and I wish she’d update it to incorporate how technology affects our stuff, but the core information is still useful).
SPACE is the acronym for the steps in her method:
Sort – group like items so you can see what you have.
Purge – declutter the things you don’t need.
Assign a Home – decide where you’ll store the item.
Containerize – While containers can be bins, honestly, drawers and shelves also contain items.
Equalize – Spend a few minutes every day putting things away.
Swedish Death Cleaning
Margareta Magnuson wrote the slender book that introduced us to The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning. Her approach is practical and a bit unsentimental because she is guiding you to declutter now as opposed to leaving things for your family to sort through.
This isn’t about tossing things, but deciding if there are things that you can pass along to recipients now, so you can see them enjoy and appreciate them. You don’t have to wait until you are 80 years old to start this process of reflecting upon and downsizing your possessions.
When a bank teller saw my business name on a check, she was excited to tell me how inspired she was to do Swedish Death Cleaning after a divorce … she was in her late 30s or early 40s … and took the opportunity to declutter things that she realized would no longer be a part of her life.
Project 333
This wardrobe decluttering method is from Courtney Carver of BeMoreWithLess.com and you can find inspiration all over Pinterest. The concept is simple, you identify 33 items of clothing (including jewelry, accessories, and footwear) that you will wear for a three-month season. No, you aren’t buying new items, you are building this capsule wardrobe from your own closet.
By mixing and matching items, you can pull together numerous outfits. After the three months, you select another 33 items for the next season (and you can use repeat items, if you choose).
There is some leeway here … you don’t have to count what you wear to sleep in or workout in.
If you think that you could never do this, keep in mind that most people wear 20% of the clothing they own 80% of the time.
DOOM Box
DOOM stands for Didn’t Organize, Only Moved. This is the box (or bag) you fill when you have people coming over, but you don’t have time to do a proper declutter. So, you move around a room, as quickly as you can, and toss the visible surface clutter in the box. The result is satisfyingly tidy.
The problem? You now have boxes of miscellaneous items to sort through. But, because your room looks neat, your motivation to go through the stuff will be low. There’s a good chance that stuff that goes into a DOOM Box will stay there.
CLEAR
Over the years, I’ve come up with different techniques to encourage decluttering. CLEAR stands for:
Clarify your goals for your home and life.
Love It or Let It Go
Energy – if you feel stuck, is it because you’re trying to push a decision you’d rather not make (I should keep this even though I don’t like it, and it takes up too much space … but it was a gift).
Acknowledge that Your Life Has Changed – You don’t declutter things that you use. However, things that are no longer useful to you are just taking up space. Maybe you have things from a former career or past hobby or interest. Your life has changed, and these things no longer have a place in the life of the person you are today.
Rank Your Favorites and Make a Decision – Group similar items and consider if you use all these things. Identify the things you do use. You can then use characteristics like quality, fit, enjoyment, and so on to compare one item to another, ranking your favorites.
READY to Get Organized
READY is an acronym for the components of being organized that I came up with a while ago. Some can help you declutter, but they are geared to helping you stay organized after decluttering.
Retrieve and Return – Instead of storing items where you find the space, put them where you’ll find and retrieve them. Another key part, it should be easy to return items when you’re done with them so you can find them next time.
Everyday Practices – Create habits and routines that you engage in every day so to keep the clutter from returning. These could include hanging up your coat, dealing with junk mail, and putting dishes in the dishwasher.
Ask Questions – Do you use this item? Do you enjoy displaying that thing? Is where you’re storing this item working for you?
Do It – Take action as opposed to overthinking or procrastinating. Can you complete an action in a minute or two? Can you break that big project down into small steps that can be done more quickly?
You – This is your decluttering journey. How can you make this easier for you? Identify a time of day when you feel energized. Understand how long you can work before physically or mentally tiring. And understand what you want for your life and how decluttering can support your dreams.
The READY framework that I developed, includes elements from some of the decluttering methods mentioned throughout this guide.
Packing Party
This comes from the experiences of one of The Minimalists who packed everything in his house in boxes (well-labeled). I think he may have even covered items of furniture as well. Only when he needed something, did he locate it in its box and give it a place in his home. For example, when he needed his toothbrush and toothpaste, he’d pull them out of their box and then give them a place in his bathroom. Within a month, he saw what he used and what he didn’t.
You don’t have to box up everything in your home. Instead, you could focus on a particular group of items or the contents of a room … say, boxing up your kitchen to identify what you truly need.
This is an extreme method but clarifies what you use and what you don’t.
40 in 40
I’ve seen people post this technique during their celebration of Lent. You could adapt this for any season. (I recently saw a variation as the Reverse Advent Calendar method, where you declutter one item for each day of December leading up to Christmas.)
40 in 40 can involve decluttering one item or one bag of items for each day of the 40-day Lenten season. You could select any holiday or season (even a professional sports’ season) to encourage your decluttering efforts.
KEEP
KEEP is an acronym I came up with to help people focus on what they wanted to keep … thereby also identifying what you don’t want.
Key – What is important to you? What do you use, display, cherish? What would you go out and buy if you didn’t own it?
Enjoy – Do you enjoy using, wearing, or displaying an item? Sometimes, we use things just because we own them even though they annoy us in some way (that itchy sweater that was expensive).
Enough – How many items do you need – pairs of sneakers, mugs, cake pans, scissors, bowls, pillows, etc.
Practice – Practice making decisions about items and you’ll become more confident about decluttering. Make small actions daily to practice keeping order and maintaining the results of your efforts.
Pretend to Move
This is a classic decluttering technique. You imagine you are packing for a move, and you need to decide if an item is worth the effort of packing, paying for it to be moved, and unpacking it.
Create Your Own Method
What methods have you used to declutter? Are they mentioned above? When I started researching methods, I expected a list of 10-12 methods. But then I started remembering more techniques and my news feed is always full of articles about decluttering, so I rounded out the month with those.
It isn’t necessary to use all these methods, but there are options here for everyone, whether you want to work quickly or slowly. If a method catches your interest, give it a try!
What methods did I forget to mention? Add them in the comments -
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