Decluttering Your Home & Self Storage

By many accounts, Americans are in serious need of decluttering. The average American household contains about 300,000 individual items, and is about three times bigger than a typical house 50 years ago. And yet, we are running out of room to put things. About one in 10 Americans rents offsite storage of some form. There are almost 50,000 of these storage facilities in the country - nearly five times more locations than Starbucks. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates 25 percent of people who own a two-car garage can't fit even one car inside them because of clutter. So much of this stuff ends up unused or thrown away. The average American household throws away 65 pounds of clothing per year, but still spends about $1,700 annually on clothing. Around half of all Americans are unable to save any money, partially because they are simply buying too much stuff.

With these statistics in mind, it's no wonder the art and science of decluttering has become a big business. The home organization and storage industry has doubled in size since the early 2000s, as more people come to realize they have an excessive amount of stuff. Decluttering and organization gets complicated when it involves a large amount of stuff to sort through, but it can be simplified by following some easy rules and quick tips.

Can't find things? Tripping over your piles of stuff? Maybe it's about time you gave decluttering a shot.

What is Decluttering?

To help people clean up their homes and live less stressful lives, many have developed systems designed to make it easier to downsize. This is generally known as decluttering, since the excess of unneeded possessions is known as clutter. The nature of clutter is often subconscious - many people do not realize they have a clutter problem unless someone else brings it to their attention.

By adopting a conscious strategy to clean and organize one's living space, the entire process of decluttering becomes much easier and efficient. Decluttering often involves physical objects that litter the home, but it can also be applied to digital clutter, like an excess of photos or other information that has a negative impact on someone's day-to-day experience and stress levels.

Why You Need to Declutter

Being a little messy and unorganized is a common trait that is often an extension of one's personality. It's generally considered normal if someone occasionally forgets to pick up after themselves or misplaces items every so often. However, these actions become a problem when it begins impacting one's ability to lead a fully functioning, happy life. No matter what level of mess is in a home, someone may decide they are unhappy with it and wish to change. This is where decluttering comes into play.

Scientists have only recently begun to discover the benefits of decluttering, and the associated drawbacks of living a cluttered life. A study by researchers at Princeton University investigated how people could focus and get work done in a cluttered environment as compared to an organized one. The study found the more objects that were placed around people attempting to complete a task, the worse they were at focusing and effectively finishing that task. Another study out of UCLA observed 32 families over a period of time. The researchers found the mothers of these families experienced a sharp increase in the level of stress hormones when dealing with clutter.

Many people accumulate clutter simply because they don't know how to effectively get rid of miscellaneous items. For example, many people attach emotional meaning to items, usually through a memory associated with a particular object. Photos, books and other memorabilia are some of the biggest contributors to clutter. The positive memories associated with these items make it hard to justify throwing them out or even moving them elsewhere. Some of these items may have even been given to you by a friend or family member as a gift. You might not really like that ugly sweater your aunt gave you last Christmas, but would feel bad about giving it away or pitching it. Understanding these psychological hangups is the first step toward creating an effective decluttering plan.

The positive aspects of removing clutter are just as well documented. People who go from living a messy life to a much cleaner, more organized one usually report being happier, more relaxed and less tired. Since clutter can increase background stress levels, living with less clutter can lead to feeling more focused.

How to Declutter

Clearly, ridding your home or office of clutter is a great project to devote yourself to. But it can get confusing - or even frustrating - to find the best decluttering method. Even more important is sticking to a plan for decluttering. Solving a problem as complex as this one won't happen in a day. In fact, effective decluttering involves constant analysis of your wants, needs and behavior so that you can optimize your decluttering plan for your lifestyle.

Does it bring joy?: Perhaps the most simple of all decluttering methods is one proposed by Japanese author Marie Kondo. In her book, "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up," Kondo has a relatively simple suggestion for getting over the hurdle of getting rid of things you don't need: Ask yourself, "does this bring joy?" This simple rule could be complicated in practice - what does joy really mean? How can you know in one second whether a T-shirt, book or trinket brings enough joy to warrant keeping it? In reality, this method couldn't be any more simple. If an item doesn't provide some benefit to you now, it probably never will. This decision to keep or toss things gets easier when you consider when the last time was that you thought about it, used it or needed it. Many people are surprised what they find in their homes when they use this simple trick to tidy up because they have never considered the utility of most of their possessions. If you want to become dedicated to decluttering, this may be a good start.

To make this a little less confusing, you can break this simple rule down a little further. When sorting through items and deciding what to keep, first ask if the item does something for you that nothing else can. This is called the utility of the item. Think about what, if anything, makes it unique among all your other possessions. What does it actually do or help you accomplish? Can it be used for multiple things? Once you've nailed down the utility of the item, ask yourself if anything you own can do that task better. For example, are you overburdened with kitchen utensils and appliances? Work to find any duplicates and ask if there are any you could do without, with greater emphasis on the one that is better at performing its job. Finally, if you can't find any special usefulness in an item, ask if it carries sentimental value. Since photo albums and memorabilia don't really have much utility, you can justify keeping some of these things by evaluating this characteristic. Be careful with assigning too much sentimental value to things, since this may be why you've accumulated so much in the first place.

Making a Game Out of It

Maybe what you need to complete your campaign of ruthless decluttering is a few more concrete rules to adhere to. One blogger, Colleen Madsen, found another simple trick to teach herself to declutter. She started the blog "365 Less Things" with the goal of getting rid of one unneeded item every day for a year.

Another little organization game is called the 12-12-12 Challenge. When you set out to clean your house, make an effort to find 12 things to throw away, 12 things to donate and 12 things to reorganize or place in storage. Families could even challenge one another to take part, with a prize for whoever finishes first.

A decluttering method similar to the 12-12-12 Challenge is the Four Box Method. Using this strategy, you will sort your possessions into four groups. The first box is the "keep" box, which should be self explanatory - just make sure this box isn't bigger than the rest. The second box for items you want to sell or donate. The third box is for trash, and the final box is for items destined for storage. While this method can be effective for reducing clutter, you still need to use your best judgment, and not pick too many items for the keep pile. Try using smaller boxes and repeating this method once per week, trying as hard as you can to fill the first three boxes. Be careful with the storage box, since you probably have very limited space in which to store things.

Lifestyle guru Oprah Winfrey popularized one decluttering strategy called the "Hanger Experiment" specifically to help people clean their jam-packed closets. First, make sure every item hanging in your closet is facing the same direction - this may be a project in and of itself. Over the course of a few weeks or a month, for every item you take out of your closet, make sure to put it back with the hanger facing the opposite direction. After a while, it will be easy to see which items you wear frequently, and which may warrant a trip to the thrift store or storage facility.

A tip that follows a similar strategy involves limiting the number of clothes you wear. Blogger Courtney Carver created Project 333 with the goal of cutting down on excessive clothing. For three months, Carver challenged herself to only wear 33 articles of clothing. By doing so, she was able to prioritize which outfits worked best for her, what clothes she liked, and which ones were just taking up needed space.

Another way to make decluttering easy: Focus on the easy stuff first. Anything that obviously qualifies as garbage can be taken care of quickly by just throwing it away. Anything broken or damaged can also be thrown out. Many of us keep broken items laying around for months, planning to fix or replace them without ever getting around to it. These are some of the easiest items to remove from your home. If you find an item you haven't seen or used in more than a year, go ahead and toss it as well. This especially applies to decorative pieces like Christmas ornaments or other seasonal items. Maybe you have lots of clothes that don't fit or just aren't comfortable. Make sure to donate these so someone else may get more use out of them.

The goal of all these strategies is to make yourself happier and more organized, not worked up and stressed out. If you find one of these methods isn't working or is making you frustrated, try another approach, or just come back to it another time. Again, decluttering is not a project that can be accomplished in only a day. In many cases, it's all about creating healthy, effective habits.

What to Avoid

There is no limit to the number of strategies you can use to reduce clutter in your home. There are a few methods, however, that may make sense at first but really aren't very helpful.

• Organize, then buy: Many people are compelled to run out and buy a large number of storage bins and shelves with the goal of getting organized, but run into a problem as soon as they return from the store. In order to get organized, you need to downsize first. Your piles of junk probably aren't going to fit in a normal bin. Start your decluttering adventure by following one of the strategies above to reduce the amount of stuff actually in your home, and then look for ways to more effectively store it.
• A little at a time: Unless you're already a very clean person or live in a very small apartment, you probably won't be able to organize your entire house in a single day. Break your decluttering project up into two or three-hour chunks and tackle the messiest spots first. Once you've started on a task or area, don't stop until you finish. If you are bagging clothes up to take them to a donation center, you aren't done until they've reached their final destination. Don't dawdle any further if you want to see real progress.
• Make it a habit: Along the same lines as segmenting your decluttering work, don't expect to make your home completely clutter-free forever with a simple change of mindset. Clutter builds up slowly, and like any major project, takes time to master. It takes even longer to break old habits. Don't be surprised if your quest to fix your mess extends over a long period of time. This is not only perfectly fine, it's healthy. By making a point of decluttering, you are building sustainable habits that your future self will thank you for.

Preventing clutter

Perhaps the best tactic for decluttering is to prevent the accumulation of clutter in the first place. Like the previously discussed tips, this is also easier said than done. At the same time, there are a number of key strategies to keep in mind to help you maintain a clean house.

• Create an inventory: What if a catastrophic event like a fire or flood suddenly destroyed everything inside your home? What are the first things you would work to replace? This question is essential for those who have an active homeowners insurance policy, but it also works well if you're stuck on how to reduce clutter in your home. Work to create an inventory of the most valuable or important items you own. To qualify for a homeowners insurance policy, you may need to do this anyway. To maximize effectiveness, try making a list of everything you own. This could take some time, but once you've completed it, go through it item by item, marking down what you absolutely need to keep, and what you could do without. Once you've done this, you can either donate unneeded items, or send them to storage.
• Sending to storage: If you really have too many vital possessions that you can't get rid of, you can consider utilizing a storage facility. Self-storage facilities allow people to rent lockers in which almost anything can be kept for as long as monthly payments are met. Generally, the only things you can't store in self storage are perishable items like food, plants, animals, hazardous or flammable materials, illegal substances, explosives or firearms, although some storage facilities may allow you to store registered firearms with additional insurance. Since this is one of the most expensive decluttering methods, self storage should be one of your final options for organizing your home. The typical 10-foot by 10-foot storage unit will cost around $100 per month to rent in a mid-size city. Larger units can go as high as $300 per month. Make sure you've done all you can to downsize before resorting to storage.
• Work in chunks: Effective and efficient decluttering should be a sprint, not a marathon. Few people are able to successfully complete any large task by setting out to do it all in one go. Instead, work in 30 minute bursts each day. Whenever you have a spare moment, like before you watch TV, play video games or read a book, make a point of cleaning up around the house. Reorganize items that have been left out. Designate a bin for items that can be donated and make this happen as often as necessary. If you don't think you have time every day, setting aside just 90 minutes for cleaning on a Saturday or Sunday could be just as effective.

Mastering the art of decluttering is equal parts art and science. Once you've found the method that works for you, stick with it on a regular basis. You'll quickly come to realize the enormous benefits that come with not only getting more acquainted with your possessions, but learning to do without all but the most essential ones.