The 10 Biggest Decluttering Mistakes to Avoid (how NOT to declutter!)

hey everyone welcome back so we went a little shorter with my hair how do we feel about it even shorter I don't know I feel like as soon as you start chopping your hair it can just like it just doesn't end from there so you guys know that I am a huge fan of decluttering because I truly believe that a cluttered space can equate to a cluttered mind there's always this like looming to do hanging over you you often can't find what you need when you need it and it can even make things like getting dressed or having people come over a huge pain in the eye so even though I don't think you need to be a minimalist to have a clutter-free and organized space but I believe it's about having an organizational system and really knowing what you truly need or want to keep and then it becomes a lot easier to get rid of what's in the way but since I used to subscribe to the idea of the whole less is more thing but really I just took it to the least being the most along the way I ended up making a whole lot of decluttering mistakes so if you're due for a declutter or you plan on doing one for a little bit of like a new year refresh I want to share with you eight decluttering mistakes to avoid because there's nothing worse than decluttering something and then really realizing that you have to or want to buy it back and now it's going to be even more expensive because of inflation and everything that's going on right now and I want to thank expressvpn for kindly sponsoring today's video but I'll talk about them more a little later on the first decluttering mistake to avoid is Extreme decluttering I find a lot of times when you do get the spark and inspiration to declutter that's when I think the blinders can go on and then all of a sudden anything that ends up in your field of vision is on the shopping block for a declutter so I think it's really great to have a spark of motivation and a spark of energy when you do decide you want to start decluttering but I really do believe in approaching decluttering from a slower and more mindful perspective and definitely focus more on what it is you want to keep and not necessarily on what needs to go there's really no pressure and there's no minimalist police that are going to go after you or audit you so take it slow take it at your own pace and do what feels right for you mistake number two is decluttering before the season begins so it'll take decluttering your closet it would be like decluttering your summer clothes in the middle of winter I used to declutter this way because it would be a whole lot easier to say goodbye to my summer stuff in the dead of winter until the summer came and it was 40 degrees outside and then I thought well I could really use those shorts right now so even though it might be easier to let go of things that are out of current season I think it's smarter to do those declutters at the end of the season because that's the opportunity that you can take to audit what you actually didn't wear so at the end of winter I'm gonna go through all of my sweaters for example and if there were a few that I forgot that I had or absolutely didn't reach for then maybe at that time then I can consider letting them go number three is not having a good reason as to why you want to declutter in the first place before any decluttering even begins I think it's important to understand the benefits that you wish to gain from it do you want to make it easier to find things do you want to make it so you can work more efficiently or even just make getting dressed easier so that you can see your whole wardrobe and you know exactly what you have and where it is or it could be that you're just tired of feeling overwhelmed by feeling buried and stuff all of those things are perfectly valid wise and great motivators to help you get started with your decluttering don't do it because everybody else is doing it or because it's trendy on social media and YouTube find your why and find out what it is you stand to gain from decluttering your space or decluttering a certain thing I find a lot of times decluttering can really come from a perspective of punishment or like I shouldn't own this thing or this thing was a waste of money and it can really have a lot of like negative associations attached to it sometimes when really I think decluttering can be a much more positive experience especially when you think about what it is you want to get out of it and speaking of decluttering I think it's important to make sure that we are decluttering all the you know like dark web hackers and malware and all that stuff in our online Space by making sure you're using a VPN vpns are super important to ensure your browsing your Banking and your personal info is protected online especially if you like to work at places like coffee shops that use public Wi-Fi expressvpn protects your privacy online in just a few clicks it's really fast and you can use it on all your devices like your computer tablet or 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else's problem my friend Ivanka from the tiny moose said it best please try to donate with dignity which means that if you do plan on donating ensure that item isn't good and usable condition and a lot of the times the things that we donate to charity shops don't even end up on the sales floor they get so bombarded with stuff all the time that according to the CBC article only 25 of your things that actually end up for sale in the charity shops a lot of them end up in landfills they get sold to developing nations and become their problem so instead of defaulting to donation try to keep those things in mind and just think about whether or not you can have things like garage sale you can sell things on places like Facebook Marketplace Poshmark or even do clothing swaps with friends because I really do believe when we decide to bring something in we should already kind of have a plan for the day that we decide we no longer want it or need it and I think this will keep us motivated to take good care of our things when we do have them and that way they have a little bit of more resale value by the time you're ready to let it go and it doesn't just have to default to the donation bin and become junk for somebody else mistake number five is forcing yourself to let it go this again sort of comes from the idea of decluttering as punishment for like previous bad behavior or bad spending but if you're just not ready to let it go don't push it store that thing away and revisit at another time I like to give myself six months to even a year mostly to see if I even remember that I have the thing and by the time I'm ready for my next declutter I'll decide then if I want to let it go or not I do believe that there can be a fine line between letting go and holding on but if you're not ready right now you're not ready it's not a big deal mistake number six is guilt driven decluttering this ties back really into the whole notion of extreme decluttering where I just find I can sometimes just get so overwhelmed by my stuff that I just want to get rid of everything and get it out of the way and really that is manifesting as decluttering as a response to overwhelm it can lead to really impulsive decision making and potentially decisions that you regret later but if you tend to declutter impulsively and then regret it or buy back later then I think instead of getting rid of stuff it might be a good idea to just spend a few minutes reorganizing instead and you might actually get a similar benefit because now this place is clean organized and you know exactly what you have mistake number seven is sunk cost you know the whole keeping it because it was expensive kind of thing then I'm just here to remind you that the money is long gone and you're not getting it back by it just hanging forgotten in the back of your closet if you can't seem to let go of the idea that you wasted money on it then maybe this is an opportunity for you to style it if it's a piece of clothing and challenge yourself to making outfits around it to using it or if it's a high ticket item then you can consider reselling it and recouping at least some of those lost costs but when it comes to a lot of our stuff a lot of them are not really assets they are liabilities and nobody cares how much you paid for it so don't focus on getting all your money back getting a good cost return for it I think we really overvalue our possessions once we have them and then can get really stubborn or insulted when we try to resell it so try not to let that hold you back if you're looking to create some space and get rid of the thing price it to sell and save the money or you can even use that money to buy something that you actually really want and that you plan on using in the future the money's long gone baby mistake number eight is focusing too much on what you want to get rid of instead of focusing on what you want to keep I used to approach all of my declutters from I gotta get rid of this I gotta create space I can't believe I bought all this crap shame on me time to get rid of it and again I really think it could be a better approach there's no pressure to let go if you don't want to I think it's really important to be honest with ourselves and push ourselves a little bit when we are decluttering there is something to be learned from that but I find that it's an easier process when you look at it from a perspective of what you want to keep instead of what you think you should get rid of when I'm decluttering I like to divide my stuff into three piles so my hell yes hell no and my maybe pile the Maybe pile is usually the most nuanced and the most difficult pile because it's the gray area it's somewhere in the middle I kind of want to keep it but I'm not quite sure because if I'm honest with myself I'm not really using it all that much and so with the maybe pile I like to split it up into two smaller piles one is the style it or I'm gonna use it pile and the second is the store it away pile storage is pretty self-explanatory it just means I'm not ready to use it to style it to actually incorporate it back into my everyday life I can think about it later and then the style it pile because a lot of my declutters are still related to my closet I like to challenge myself to create outfits around it or I'll incorporate it into a capsule wardrobe for the season things like that to see if I actually reach for it or not and then at the end of the season I can do the whole process all over again I find this way it just creates a whole lot less pressure of getting rid of the thing right there and then and takes away the perspective of focusing on what I should get rid of and instead allows me to be a little bit more flexible in what it is I want to keep but what about when you find yourself wanting to keep everything see this is where decluttering is not always so black and white because decluttering should be a little bit challenging I think it's a good opportunity to push ourselves a little bit and to even get a little bit honest and real with ourselves in the process you can ask yourself why am I holding on to this why am I so attached to it and that's where things like oh I really only want to keep this because it's a brand name or I really only want to keep this because I spent a lot of money on it and I'm not ready to sort of face that fact and revealing those sort of hard truths can be difficult where our default might just be okay well then fine I'll keep this but when you start noticing that you're wanting to keep everything and everything kind of has a reason or a good excuse to hold on to then I think there might be a signal to just see if you can push yourself a little bit and get a little bit honest again if you're finding this is happening through your declutter you can always store it away and revisit in your maybe pile later but sometimes when I do this I feel like I'm just delaying the inevitable like my anina Bing check Blazer that thing's been in my maybe pile for years now I still haven't worn it I still feel a little bit off when I do wear it it's not really hell yes for me and the maybe thing I'm just sort of delaying the fact that yeah I should probably sell this see if you are just sort of delaying the inevitable with some pieces again I think it's okay to give ourselves Grace and decide that hey I'm not ready to let this go yet that's really up to you to decide where and when but sometimes there's certain stories that we tell ourselves about items and we'll probably actually really be okay without it and mistake number 10 is too many just in case scenarios within your declutters if you find yourself defaulting to oh I need this just in case this just in case that if there's too many just in case scenarios to justify keeping the item then I think we have to take a step back and really think about what would actually happen just in case I find for me especially when it comes to my closet when just in case does come up I never reach for that thing the truth is that most of us are pretty adaptable and maybe there's even going to be something else in your closet that you prefer wearing when that just in case scenario actually comes up by Nature I think we are quite adaptable and resourceful people and sometimes a lot of creativity can come from the constraint of not having that thing anymore so if you're finding that throughout your declutters everything is coming up as a just in case think about what you would actually do if it ever happened so those were the 10 decluttering mistakes to avoid and ones that you can think about next time you do plan on doing a little bit of a clear out again I think there is a lot of value in clearing out our spaces but there is never any pressure to get rid of everything and always do it at your own pace if you like this video and got some value from it it would help me so much if you give it a thumbs up for the YouTube algorithm and if you like this video and want to see more Please Subscribe see you in the next one guys bye [Music]

Channel: Christina Mychas

Views: 159,421

Keywords: decluttering mistakes, decluttering mistakes to avoid, how to declutter, how not to declutter, decluttering tips, decluttering and organizing, simple living, 5 decluttering mistakes to avoid, minimalist living, declutter with me, decluttering minimalism, how to declutter your home, decluttering tips and tricks, before you declutter, minimalism decluttering tips, minimalist mistakes, how to be a minimalist for beginners, decluttering inspiration, tidy, 10 decluttering mistakes

Id: 9HP-MIlgesI

Length: 14min 25sec (865 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 28 2022