Easiest New Year’s Declutter Trick

Years ago, when we first started PixiesDidit, I read every book there was on organizing. I stumbled upon a fantastic book called Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui. (Thank you, Karen Kingston!). She had lots of great device but the ONE piece of advice that sticks with me is a decluttering “game”. It’s hands down the easiest declutter trick that can work for all personality types too busy to de-clutter their home.

Figure out who you are

Before you declutter or even think about decluttering, figure out your organizing style by taking the PixieQuiz or reading about different organizing styles. The reason? It’ll help you know if this is tough or not and what decluttering tricks might be worth your time and what will never work. There are personality types that have a harder time letting go of things than others and as a result will always have more things. There isn’t a right and a wrong answer to how much stuff you own if you’re happy and organized, i.e., you can easily find things when you need them without frequently stressing out.

Everyone Needs a Declutter Trick

You might already have your own declutter trick when things get crazy. Maybe like my sister (an Organic Freedom), you stick things in your “Later Closet” which to me sounds like a junk drawer closet. But to her, her Later Closet is part of how she gets clutter out of her daily life and eventually, permanently out the front door. My declutter trick is noticing when something is full or getting unwieldy. In that moment, I usually pinpoint the dead weight and throw it out or donate it. I keep a donation bin on hand purely to make that “in the moment” decluttering easy.

This is my one universal declutter trick

Karen Kingston’s game is the one universal declutter trick that works for every personality. The trick? Find and discard/recycle/donate, one thing everyday. Often when I play this game for a month, I’ll forget to do it for a few days. This happens if I don’t put it on my To Do list. Then on a Friday, I’ll find 5 things to discard. Sometimes it’s 5 socks from the mismatched sock bin. But it’s 5 things that I had literally no use for in my life. What’s amazing is that it takes almost no time to do and after a month, I’ve gotten rid of 30 things without spending a great deal of energy or effort in doing so. I usually do it in January to kick things off on the right foot.