Schedule time for decluttering?

If you are having a hard time following through with your desire to declutter, one crucial step you might be missing is scheduling time for decluttering on your calendar. If it’s not on your calendar it will never happen.

People tend to have decluttering on their running to do list, the one in their head, ‘I’ll get to it when I have the time’. Or they see that their upcoming week is wide open so they expect that they should have no problem getting to it.

But when something is hard we tend to resist it and put it off. And decluttering is hard.

So what ends up happening is that clutter clearing will often slide down to the bottom of the list. It sits there and nags at you for a while. Then it falls off the list altogether and you ‘forget’ about it. Eventually you remember and it’s back to the top of the list-but still not on the calendar-so the cycle repeats itself.

The only way to overcome this pattern is to claim clearing your clutter as a priority and put it on your calendar. Seeing it on your calendar will remind you of your commitment to declutter and help you make the time. How much time do you want to dedicate and how frequently? Even 30 minutes a day can make a huge difference. 

There is a good chance you will need to first let go of some other commitments in order to make time for decluttering, or at least dedicate less time to those commitments.

Very often (but not always) people who have clutter are over committed and tend to over give. If this is you, it’s crucial to claim yourself and your needs as valuable and worthy. Decluttering your commitments and calendar and healing patterns of over giving may need to be the first step on your decluttering journey.

Questions to reflect on and steps to take:

1. Look at your calendar and schedule three 30 minute sessions.

   
   

2. Contemplate more deeply, how much time do you want to devote to decluttering and how frequently. For some people, they prefer a 3-4 hour block of time where they can get in a flow and rhythm and keep going. For others, it’s so emotionally charged that at 2 hours they are completely exhausted. And for others, 30 minute chunks is what feels doable. What feels doable to you? Journal your thoughts on this.

   
   

3. What is a good time of day for you to declutter? Some people find it works best in the morning and others prefer night. 

   
   

4. Make a list of all your commitments, then prioritize them.

   
   

5. What commitments are you going to let go of or put on hold so you have time to clear your clutter?

Whether you are approaching a big or small decluttering project, I hope you find this step helpful. As always, proceed with kind, compassionate and gentle steps.