How to Declutter WITHOUT Making a Mess!

well I hear this comment so often that we put off decluttering because it makes a bigger mess right so today I want to try out this method for decluttering without making a bigger mess it's by Dana from Aslam comes clean and we're going to try it out today on this closet see if it works and see if it could work for you too well hi I'm done from the minimal mom if we haven't met before I'm married to Tom we have four kids ages 5 through 10 and we love sharing about family and minimalism and how you can simplify our house quickly and with like as little pain as possible right and I know this comment comes up so often that we get frustrated when we're decluttering because a lot of times it makes a bigger mess and then we get interrupted and then it just looks so much worse than when we started we should have just left it alone right so this is Dana from a slob comes clean it's her method for decluttering without making a bigger mess you can find it in her book decluttering at the speed of life this is an awesome book I don't know how I've missed it up until this point but it is so good and it is so relatable so I'll link to it down below she has a podcast and other helpful tools too so let's get started with this method there are only three things that you will need one is a black trash bag black so no one else in your family sees what it is you're throwing away so we have that a donatable donation box so we have a box that we can put stuff to donate in and then the last thing you need is your feet like I could raise my foot up here is your feet because this is the magic behind this process is that you actually take stuff and put it away right away so you use your feet to bring the stuff to where it's supposed to go alright I'll tell you how this closet turned into such a disaster a little bit later on but the whole premise behind Dana's method is that we put things away as we come across them and that's how we don't make a bigger mess because if I'm in the middle of decluttering this and the kids need something I get a phone call I have to run all I have is my garbage bag and my donation box to put away and I'm back to where I started I I have not made a bigger mess especially here in our entryway which is a really high traffic area and I hate making a bigger mess in this area and so here is our crazy mess idiot closet which can feel a little bit overwhelming so Dana would also recommend that you start with the easy stuff is there obvious garbage or easy stuff that needs to get rehomed and so I can tell you right away like we'll even just looking at this shelf bug spray stays in here and I actually have a bin for it up there that I can put it in but then this is like a fogging thing no comments on chemicals in town bought this but this actually needs to go in the garage so what I need to do right now is literally walk this out to the garage and I leave my hat is saying like walk all the way out to the garage one thing why don't I just make a pile of all the stuff that goes in the garage like I know I'm gonna find other stuff for the garage in here right and so digging I would say then glance around see if you see anything else that needs to go in the garage take that with you but yes you are gonna walk this out to the garage right now so let me do a quick glance see if there's anything else that I can really obviously see right now it needs to go out there - okay these need to go out there wasps or spray I don't know how deep you're supposed to look first this looks like go out there alright this might be this is like fly spray for animals that should actually be in the barn so as long as I'm going out I'll go put this away as well okay I think that's the obvious stuff I can see right now that needs to go out there so here we go I I'm not gonna put a little pile I'm gonna go put this stuff away right now [Music] okay so my initial thought was that like this is gonna be really annoying or frustrating like constantly leaving the space I am decluttering but I'm one trip out to the garage and I already feel like oh it just feels nice that I did it but I don't have a pile of stuff now that I'm gonna have to put away later that like that's done like I actually have made progress now because I've already like totally taken care of a couple things and it's not sitting in a pile and that's finished right it's not sitting around unfinished so I'm thinking there might Dana I think you might be onto something here I think this is good and I'm wondering how I didn't like why didn't I try this out sooner okay okay so the next kind of layer of obvious stuff here is winter stuff so part of the reason this closet looks like this is because I've never put away any of our winter stuff because we couldn't get to the basement so Tom took out this staircase we had a ladder going down there for a little while so you could get down there kind of okay and now the ladders gone he took it out to the shed so it's nearly impossible at least for me to get into the basement right now to put the winter stuff away which I have totes down there where it goes so what should I do um I think I'm just gonna put it into a plastic bag right now and then I'm gonna that I can drop it down and then I can go climb down there and go put it away it's a I see I've been putting this off because of this like barrier but I'm like I want this closet clean so I just need to do whatever needs to be done right now to get there so so I'm gonna put this stuff in a bag but then I'm gonna go put it away right now so I'm not gonna just like drop it down there and then forget about it or just set it aside like I'm I'm gonna fully take care of it right now and that's what's gonna feel really good so here we go so the one thing I am kind of delaying right now is that I don't know if all of these winter stuff is gonna fit the kids for the next winter season but we usually do just like a big Tryon in the fall when we bring it back out so for now I'm okay just packing it all away and then in September we'll pull everything out and try everything on oh my gosh I get one full bag so okay we're going on to another okay so that was like all the coats and snow pants but now over here these are the baskets where we put hats and mittens so now I need to grab that stuff out and what was happening was stuff was just kidding shoved in here because the hooks were too full and so then like lightweight coats we're just gonna be shoved in there so okay so this is an instance where the black trash bag comes in handy because this coat is you can't really tell - well I don't think but it's it's actually like destroyed like our middle daughter like has wore this coat out and it's too small like I know it's not gonna fit again this fall so it's - it's not a good enough shape to donate so I just need to throw it away but I know if I had a clear bag it there's a good chance I would get pulled back out so I'm gonna put this into the dark colored trash bag okay I keep keeping this think you know you will wear it somebody it's like a shawl and I have not so this is gonna get donated yes even for a living in Minnesota with four kids we have too many hats and it's like a clown car the Pathak never ends oh my goodness oh okay I think that's everything so I have actually two full bags now to go back down to the basement so I don't want it to take care of this right now but I know it's gonna feel so good and already just having this extra space in the closet again feels really awesome so I am gonna go take this down there and put it away and I'm gonna keep track of how long it takes to so I can let you know alright so that took about 10 minutes to get it down there and get it all put away but 10 minutes like for how long I've been putting this off in for how much space it was taken up in here it feels really silly that I didn't do that sooner so I would have to say so far I am really enjoying this method of decluttering without making a bigger mess because if I did have to leave right now or still all I have is my garbage bag in my donate box which hardly they don't have much in him yeah and I've made a bunch of progress and I haven't made a big mess so so far so good okay so I got these baskets now pared down quite a bit and so now there's just kind of some random stuff in there so let's go through that and see what we need to do so this is just like one of those drawstring bags you get for free one of our kids was using it for a little while they're not using it anymore so that's gonna get donated knee pads for rollerblading these are actually supposed to be in this basket so that was good to stay in here and then this is a return that needs to happen so what do I need to do I'm gonna go put this on the front seat in my car right now oh but actually I'm gonna look for other returns because I know there's at least one or two other returns in here okay yeah so I have three bags up that needs to return that's been getting enough ha I'm gonna go put this on the front seat of my car I definitely shouldn't park the car so far away so what else is in here okay so DVDs so this has to go into our TV room I mean only good thing about this is I usually like track my steps like during the day so I'm getting a lot of steps into of so I guess it's like a double win so like work gloves those actually usually stay in this basket too so I'm gonna let those stay in here this is a reusable bag that actually needs to go back to our library and I have some books over here that need to go back to the library too so I'll put the books in it take this out to the car I'm gonna see if there's anything else that needs to go aha the pair to the work clubs even better we have a pair right this I'm gonna grab the books and bring it out to the car and I'm just trying to glance around and see if there's anything else all right books in book bag okay so now I have this top basket just down to knee and elbow pads and work gloves so that's cool and that's what I supposed to be and now that whole shelf is actually empty besides that so good this shelf is done back to square one and I don't have a big mess at my feet we're doing really well so far dirty sock I'm actually the laundry room is like right behind me that's anything else for laundry laundry room okay these are reusable shopping bags and these can stay in this basket so the bottom of firework probably the boys wanted to reuse but I'm just gonna throw that in the garbage you see all these treasures here this we've actually replaced so we don't need that anymore so that can go in the garbage and then all this stuff is like what is this right I just can't imagine anyone is going to miss that alright another shelf down this is feeling really good so far all right I am feeling really good about this process I'm feeling energized I feel like if I had to walk away right now I'll be totally fine but let's tackle this shelf next there might be some mystery items here so Dana's two questions when it comes to cluttering is if I were looking for this item where would I expect to find it so if I were looking it for a 50 amp plug in where would I expect to find that um I think I'm gonna put it in the basement with our electrical stuff so that means right in the basement again all right let me look around and see what else I know there's more stuff here so this is vehicle paint of Tom's but we'd like to keep paint in the basement on the garage because it's climate-controlled so that goes in the basement this is this is chalk paint so we got two of these when I painted the the sope for the camper we don't have to talk about that so this actually gets to get returned we can get $10 back for this okay so this is another basement this has to go out to my car so let me see I want to see if there's anything else that needs to go to the basement first here's a paintbrush that needs to go with our paint stuff catclaw thought I'd go paint stuff oh there's a big one right in front of me this is we have this handy-dandy container with over like wall-mounting stuff but it's supposed to go in the basement but again it's been up here because of no basement stairs okay so now I have two handfuls so all right here we go I'm gonna go put it in the basement okay back from that and then I have this canopy that needs to be returned and then I also just sawed down here we have another can of paint that we accidentally had mixed in flat instead of sat in and so our home improvement tour will take this back so I have two more things that can go out to the car and I really do feel like I'm getting a workout and with this process you but it's a good it's a good thing okay so here's like messed up okay so I'm seeing okay so I'm trying to focus on this shelf but I kind of get pulled in other directions too but okay so here is another well here's a dry erase marker I'm pretty sure it's fine dried out so I'm not going to test it that's gonna go on the garbage alright more treasures that's why in the garbage this dark garbage bag is this is important alright another reusable shopping bag so that's gonna go down here shoes this is our extra shoe basket I'm just going to put them in there for right now this is like a stadium blanket or lap blanket obviously we have never used it and so I'm just gonna donate this it's been in there for like a year - right like I keep thinking like Oh that'd be nice - grabbed if we go somewhere I don't remember it's there and that's the other thing thing that says is that if you would not remember that you have this then you're not gonna remember it again and so do I want to have this have like a permanent spot in our closet where I'm still not gonna remember I have it and still not remember to bring it if we're going somewhere no that's just silly it's and it's not worth it we got it for free so this is getting donated all right shoes in a bag why I don't I don't know right so I'm gonna put these with the extra shoes and throw this away you don't have to think like you're the only one that just has all this random weird stuff in their closets you don't so these are seeds but they're empty and I was going to keep the packet so I could remember if we like the variety or not I'm not actually gonna do anything I'm not good I'm not gonna make like a gardening journal this year we're past that so I'm gonna throw these away all right this is a hardware hook that we never ended up using this could get returned on him I want to return this no more zucchini seeds or done way okay I'm gonna hold this I until I see if there's anything else that he's get returned all right I guess I'm making another trip out to the car here we go okay so we got this shelves mostly done these are this is a venice shoes that they're like extra sandals and stuff for the kids so we only try and keep on on our shoe bench like one or two pairs for each person and then these are extras because some people in our family like more shoes than others and that's fine like I'm totally fine with that and so but what we need to do is go through them and see what fits and what doesn't so I want to do that with the kids but I don't want to have them come over here just yet I want to go a little further so now I think I think we're gonna focus on stuff that's on the floor and see if we can get through that really quickly because we've made a lot of progress it hasn't taken a lot of time and so I'm feeling good about this I want to see if we can get little bit further before I have to quit before today can you tell by how dusty these are do you think tom is actually worn these they're really dirty I think I'm gonna throw them away all right so I think I just need to straighten up all these shoes then and this area oh another return I'm kind of excited to make all these returns now because it's me a pretty good amount of money back and it's went into our hardware store we want to get an umbrella for the for our new deck and so I can go ready turn all this stuff and it'll probably pay for the umbrella so it's a pain to return stuff but I'm actually getting kind of excited about it that so I'm gonna go bring this out to the car okay so here's where a garbage bag donate box and then this is how much progress we've made so far it's not perfect but it is so much better than before so the last section I want to tackle for today is this top shelf which hopefully won't take too long to get pulled back together okay so I have been here for organization so it's just kind of getting them back on track so let's see a mask this is Tom's this should go in the shop so I think I'm gonna gather up some stuff for him to take out to him in the shed bungee strap that can go out to the shed oh my goodness all right these are going to the shed too so oh no oh this is hard work all right put this back up there we go and I'm going to take all of this stuff out to Tom in the shed all right here's some bread Corbin go yeah so I'm cleaning the closet and I found some of your stuff oh it's nice to throw in the garbage All Right see you later are you telling me you don't actually wanna have to do it in my own space so I know I have a place for my stuff now I know it's beautiful but you don't want to have to put this stuff away to you you got it all right all right well I have a whole closet to finish so I'll see you later this is kind of funny because tom has been looking high and low for these they're like for watering chickens and yeah they were just at the back of this top shelf I mean why didn't you think to look there right all right so here is our final donation box not too much I didn't expect too much donation stuff out of here this kind of surprised I would just stuff to throw away it just accumulates right so that's where we ended up but this space mostly stayed clean the whole entire time except for some shoes that I want to have the kids go through so hi yeah how did we get so many I think your feet grew like two sizes in the past six months you're doing good makes it makes it a shoe girl so that I'm excited about and definitely want to keep using it this method moving forward I will admit there were times where I was tempted to make piles like to go to the basement or to go to the garage or to go back out to the car but I'm really glad that I resisted and I just made those trips each time because there's nothing worse than to be working in here getting it all organized back in order and you turn around and then there's these huge piles behind you that you still have to do it then there's still a ton more work to do so even though it took a little more time while I was doing it I'm really glad that I made those trips each time and so I think this I think this is a winner again you can check out Dana's book down below it definitely gets worth reading or listening to and so you can listen to it while you're going through the specific areas of your so I think it's very helpful so I'll link to that down below but I hope this helps I would love to know if you think it could work for you if there's any modifications that you would need to make so leave that down below but if you haven't done so already I hope you subscribe so we can spend more time together a thumbs up is the best compliment that you can give us and I'll definitely look forward to visiting it with you again soon

Channel: The Minimal Mom

Views: 918,035

Keywords: minimalism, family minimalism, minimalist, the minimal mom, the minimalist mom, minimalist home, decluttering, declutter, how to declutter, declutter with me, decluttering tips, simplify, closet declutter, storage declutter, declutter no mess, clutter free, simple living, declutter shoes

Id: 7yQqvQ99MVw

Length: 20min 14sec (1214 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 08 2020