So, you have finished 10 weeks of decluttering!! How do you feel now? Have you noticed a difference? Do you feel lighter? Can you focus better? Has anyone in the house noticed a difference? How are the areas from the first few weeks doing now? How is the kitchen looking? How about the front hall? Do you even remember Week 1, or is your brain overloaded with decluttering decisions?
So, you have at least lightly touched every space in your home over the last 10 weeks! Every room, closet, even the big spaces like the garage! I know you’re probably needing a break from it all, and that is A-OK! BUT… You also want to keep that passion going strong! Now, that the big hard work is done, it’s all about solidifying the maintenance routine!
Since you have less clutter in the house, the goal is to never exceed this amount. If you started out with A LOT of clutter, doing another round of the 10-weeks of decluttering will get you even further ahead on your simple home and simple life goals. As you do each major declutter round the goal becomes maintaining that new level of clutter.
Progress over perfection!
Here is where the mantra ‘progress over perfection’ comes in handy! Repeat it to yourself often! Repeat it multiple times per day!
Progress over perfection! Say it with me, “Progress over perfection!”
If you miss a daily reset in the evening because you were out making memories – do it in the morning! It’s not perfect, but it leads to progress. If the desk didn’t get tidied after work because you had to run to baseball right away, do it when you get home. If you’re sick and can’t function, skip a day or two. Definitely not perfect – but again, progress for not leaving it for the week or longer! The key is that you keep coming back to a routine, to a daily reset. Just keep plugging away.
One in, One out!
One of the popular ways to maintain your clutter is to be hard and fast with the “one in, one out” rule. Any time you buy anything, get rid of something else. If you buy a new pair of shoes, get rid of an old pair. If you buy a new kitchen gadget, something else has to go. If you buy some new hobby supplies, make sure old supplies get tossed! Be hard on yourself about it and it will help you stay on top of the clutter. If you buy ten things but only get rid of one, you end up with nine extra things in your house. It may not seem like a lot today, but in another week, month, or many years, that could be a lot of extra things! Stay true! One in, one out!
The 10-minute reset!
The other great way to stay on top of your clutter is to have a daily reset to ensure your clutter gets put away in it’s place every day. You can get the whole family participating. Set a regular time that you are generally home, let’s say 9pm. At 9pm, have an alarm go off, and crank up some tunes and get everyone to gather their own stuff from all the surfaces and the floor! Grab stuff from the coffee table, the counter, the entryway, the bathroom, and their own bedroom floors! Set a timer and give yourselves 10 minutes. Whatever gets done in 10 minutes gets done, and hopefully, doing it every night means that you get caught up over time with all the clutter. The reset becomes easier as people realize that it’s easier to put things away, right away, rather than have to do it at 9pm!
As you shop around this week and see things you want to buy, think about what you will get rid of at home.
Use your evenings, or at least 10 minutes of each one, to start a daily reset.
See how the week goes.
Hopefully you feel less mental clutter because the physical clutter is way down after the 10-weeks of decluttering.
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