The tiny-step habit of decluttering
The studies all agree: a cluttered and messy environment is bad for your health.
When your home is cluttered, unfinished or simply not set up to be efficient, it can lead to stress - and it makes struggles with anxiety and depression even more profound. To the brain, clutter represents unfinished business and this lack of completeness can be highly stressful. This is especially true when people are already shouldering significant external concerns.
And that has serious consequences over time.
It can result in responses such as insomnia, reduced ability to focus, self-neglect, tensions with others in the household, irritability and more. It can even lead to poor physical health over time.
But here’s the good news: you have control over your home environment.
Even if you have a home that’s got enough clutter to fill five storage units, you can make significant, positive changes quite quickly when you make decluttering and cleaning a priority daily habit.
I believe that decluttering shouldn’t be done in one huge weekend of work - when that happens most people tag out before the job is finished because it’s too overwhelming and exhausting. Decluttering is also not a one-and-done job: it’s a lifestyle choice that requires a shift in your daily way of life at home.
If you want to live a decluttered and simpler and more efficient life, your environment has to change - and that means incorporating decluttering and cleaning into a short, 15-minute daily habit - one that you actually come to enjoy!!
The 15-minute declutter dash
Doing daily small bits of decluttering in 15-minute “dashes” is a fantastic way to make progress in decluttering your home - without the overwhelming task looming large in front of you. It doesn’t take up too much time and energy, so you won’t fizzle out. It really is the easy way to decluttering and simplify your home.
And this tiny-step method adds up to results much more quickly than you might think, and when it builds into a daily habit, it begins to energize you instead of deplete you! It helps you build a healthy habit that gives you momentum because you feel good about accomplishing something and you see tangible results. It’s really quite liberating!
To begin the 15-minute dash when you have a big decluttering job ahead of you:
pick one drawer or countertop or category of item (ex. purses) and do what you can for just 15 minutes.
set a timer and only do as much as you can for 15 mintues (or less). You might be tempted to do more, but unless its just a few more minutes to finish up an area, try to resist that urge. You’ll feel great today, but then you’ll become tired (physically or mentally) and won’t want to go back to decluttering again tomorrow or the next day.
set a time to do 15-minutes each and every day. Start with key areas of your home that will make a big difference to your daily lifestyle - for example, kitchen counters, bathroom drawers, the entryway and the bedroom.
then slowly move on to other areas of your home, one drawer or shelf or surface area at a time.
The daily 15-minute dash is about tackling essential key areas of the house where you’ll get a lot of payback, and then making it into a habit so that when your whole home is decluttered, you continue to “dash” every day as part of your routine at home.
Make it part of your nightime routine to dash around putting things back in their homes, or doing the dishes, or sweeping the floors. 15 minutes is all it will take to maintain a calm and organized and clean home - when you do it daily!
I hope this helps you see decluttering and tidying your home (and therefore your health and wellbeing) as a priority that pays off in many ways. If you’d like help to get started, join my free 5-Day Declutter Dash for complete instructions for your first five decutter dashes.
Good luck!
