Do You Need to Follow Decluttering Rules to Organize Your Home?

If you’ve come across a decluttering rule or two on your journey to become organized, you know they are supposed to make decision making easier. But how do you decide which rule will work for you and which will leave you frustrated? Check out this sampling of eight common decluttering rules.

The Benefit of Decluttering Rule

Decluttering rules can be helpful because they eliminate decision-making. Should you keep this item or not? You think through the rules you’ve chosen and see where the item fits into those rules.

Most of these rules likely came about because someone crafted a set of instructions that worked for them. Or maybe in a conversation between friends, one person came up with a suggestion that made sense for the other person and a rule was formed. 

Basically, decluttering rules help because they ask you to make your decisions before you even start to declutter. These pre-decisions make it easy to clear through your possessions because instead of debating the merits of each item you pick up; you’re applying the rules that you’re following.

This can do away with some of the angst that comes with worrying that you might need an item “someday.” If you’ve bought into a rule, you do what it tells you. You streamline your decision-making process.

The Disadvantages of Decluttering Rules

Honestly, decluttering rules are totally arbitrary. They aren’t there for a reason like, stop at red lights. That rule helps people to live in groups and stay safe. But a rule that tells you to get rid of something you haven’t used in the past six months? That’s just made up. 

As a professional organizer, I often recite a variety of decluttering rules because a lot of people just want to know what to do. They waver while trying to make a decision and a rule tells them, “Do this.”

Hooray, an easy answer!

But these rules eliminate choice. Scientists love studying how people choose. Sometimes they design experiments where people face too many choices and other times, the experiment eliminates autonomy and choice.

Thanks to all the authors who read and summarize these studies for me, I can tell you that people thrive when they have a say in their own lives and can choose what they want (as long as they aren’t being inundated with options).

While you can follow arbitrary rules, you may end up feeling helpless and depressed. You may experience a backlash where you do the opposite of what the rules tell you. You declutter your closet, so you’re left with 40 items but then you go on a shopping spree, even buying clothing that you’ll never wear.

If you’ve ever gone on a diet where you were told not to eat cake, you may have found yourself craving cake … even though before your diet you hadn’t had a piece of cake for months.

Should You Follow These Decluttering Rules?

I’m sure that I don’t have all the decluttering rules listed below. I’ll discuss some of the pros and cons of each.

If one makes sense for you, you can choose to use it. Key word there is choose. If you feel you must or should follow any or all the rules I’ve listed, know that you’re setting yourself up for future struggles.

These are your possessions, and you want to feel that you are making choices about what to keep or get rid of based on how an item will support your life.

Many, but not all, of the following rules come from or were popularized by The Minimalists.

The OHIO Rule (Only Handle It Once) and the 5-Second Rule

These methods push you into making quick decisions. When you pick something up, you have to make a decision. This may mean that you avoid picking up anything because it’s overwhelming to determine the fate of an item in three-to-five seconds. On the other hand, if you have a clear reason for decluttering (like downsizing), you may be able to make quick decisions.

The One-In/One-Out Rule (Could Also be One-in/Ten-Out)

I like this rule as it helps people to maintain a level of possessions that suit their needs and the space they have in their home. The rule suggests that if you buy a book, you donate a book. Buy a pair of shoes, donate a pair.

This also helps you to curb spending because you realize that you don’t want to get rid of any of the shoes you own, and so those shoes that caught your eye may become less appealing.

If you want to reduce the clutter, you can choose to up the ratio.

However, this decision can feel exhausting if you receive a gift and now realize you need to “make room for it” by eliminating something else.

The 90/90 Rule … Also, The 6-Month Rule

The 90/90 Rules has you look at an item and ask, “Have I used this in the past 90 days? Do I plan on using it in the next 90 days?” With the 6-Month Rule, you’re simply changing the time frame of those questions.

While these are clear rules, they may not allow for short-term changes in your life. If you’re pregnant, that will affect what you’re wearing. If you or someone close to you gets ill, that can also affect how you spend your time.

Does this rule really fix your situation?

The “Didn’t Know” Rule

If you only remember that you own something because you uncovered it while decluttering, will you really miss it by getting rid of it? The rule suggests getting rid of the item because if you needed it, you would have been using it.

Honestly, I agree with this. My parents had an attic filled with boxes and bags of stuff that I had no clue they owned. I donated or sold the lot when I emptied their house. While I had someone suggest I wasn’t sentimental about my parents’ possessions, I just didn’t see a connection between these things (that had been in boxes for decades) and their lives. 

If you’re going to choose to start using a rediscovered treasure, then keep it. But if you’re going to pack it away, ask what you hope to gain.

The 20/20 Rule

If you’re debating getting rid of something, ask if you can replace it within 20 minutes or for less than $20. The items that fit this category are often inconsequential. They may be useful, but you also may be able to use something else in its place.

Should this sound appealing, you can use your own number to work with.

The 30/30 Rule

This rule asks you to go without something for 30 hours before spending more than $30 on it. This isn’t a bad rule and can help you control impulse spending. However, delaying a purchase shouldn’t cause you hardship.

The 12 – 12 – 12 Rule

Here you toss 12 pieces of trash, put away 12 items where they belong, and declutter 12 items each day. You may find that you can clear clutter more effectively with these goals to achieve. However, there’s nothing sacred about the number 12.

If you have less time or low energy, you could change this to 3 – 3 – 3 or 6 – 6 – 6.

Which Rules Rule?

A rule should help you to feel freer as opposed to constrained. Remember, handing over decisions about the things in your home to an arbitrary rule can lead to overwhelm, procrastination, and even a backlash of spending to fill the perceived deprivation left in the wake of decluttering.

Should you decide to try a decluttering rule, ask how it will serve you (as opposed to how you will serve it). If you choose a rule that works for you, it will not only help you to declutter, but it will also become a habit that will help you to stay organized.