The Decluttering Mistakes You Shouldn't Make - Life's Little Pleasures and Struggles

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When it comes to decluttering, we all talk about what to do and how to do it, but it’s also important to discuss and know what not to do with regard to decluttering that can create problems and delay the whole process. In this post, I have identified some common decluttering mistakes that are obstacles to successful decluttering. These mistakes can sabotage even the most well-intended efforts, and keep you from reaching your goals.

Decluttering Mistakes You Need to Stop Making:

Being indecisive

“CLUTTER IS NOTHING MORE THAN POSTPONED DECISIONS” – clutter expert Barbara Hemphill

Yes, when we don’t make a timely decision about our stuff, clutter grows! Waiting for the right time that may never come will only make matters worse. It will only lead to more stuffocation and stress.

If you keep accumulating stuff instead of getting rid of the unnecessary, unwanted, and unloved ones when needed, it delays the decluttering process as more stuff means more work, more decisions to be made, more time needed, and hence further procrastination.

The whole concept behind decluttering is letting go – letting go of things we don’t love, need, or use; the things that weigh us down unnecessarily without adding any value to our lives. Indecision fuels clutter. Be decisive.

Taking on too much at a time

This is one of the most common decluttering mistakes people make! When you’re decluttering an area of our home, it’s easy to start tackling another area at the same time. Maybe you’ve just started to sort through your cupboards and you’ve found some books, and then find yourself decluttering books at the same time?

You didn’t clutter up your home overnight and you aren’t going to become clutter-free overnight either. This is a step by step, slow process. Change is hard, and the process is often slow. It takes time to clear out clutter, especially if you have a big family.

Don’t try to overachieve because you might lose your motivation and feel overwhelmed. Take one step at a time and focus only on one area at the same time. Sometimes you start decluttering – all excited and energized. And then, you end up being tired, burnt out, and frustrated trying to do too much in a short time.

Slow down. Take breaks. Your entire home doesn’t need to be decluttered in one day, one weekend, or even one month. Give yourself grace, and do one thing at a time with persistence. Your one thing at a time efforts will make a big difference in your decluttering journey.

If you can spare just ten minutes at a time, a couple of times a week, that’s enough to accomplish one big decluttering task. Those 10-minute sessions will soon add up, and you’ll be surprised to see the progress you have made during those 10-minutes session without feeling tired, overwhelmed, or frustrated.

Buying storage containers before decluttering

The first thing many people do once they have decided to declutter is to shop for tons of organization products. While its important to have good storage options for organizing stuff you’re going to keep and use, shopping first defeats the purpose of decluttering. The whole idea is to get rid of stuff you don’t want, need, or use, not to organize them neatly!

Sometimes storage containers delay the decluttering process rather than getting it done. When you declutter first you get a better sense of what you really need. People who buy a lot of organization products up front often end up stuffing things into boxes and bins without doing much, if any, decluttering.

You buy absolutely nothing to contain your stuff before you declutter your home.

Organizing before decluttering

Decluttering and organizing are not the same things! You can carefully organize your clutter but they are still clutter, and will continue to add more stress to your life.

You can move stuff around all day long and put them into cute bins and baskets, but in the end if you have too much stuff, your space will still look cluttered and it won’t stay organized for long.

Of course, organizing does make a difference in how your home looks. It feels like you have things under control and that everything has its own home. However, if the only thing you’re doing is organizing, chances are you may still have too many items cluttering up your space.

So, instead of organizing, focus on decluttering first. Then, only after you have thoroughly decluttered, find ways to neatly organize the stuff you’re keeping.

In reality, the only way to effectively declutter a space is to get rid of the excess, unnecessary stuff. And organizing doesn’t remove any clutter and excess from your home. Decluttering does!

Decluttering other people’s stuff

This is one of the most common decluttering mistakes people make while decluttering their home. When you’re decluttering, it can be tempting to get rid of the things that belong to other people in your family if you know they don’t use or need them.

But getting rid of somebody else’s stuff (without their permission) before they’re ready to let it go is not a good idea. Think about how you would react if your spouse or your child started decluttering your stuff without your knowledge or permission!

The challenge here is that what’s clutter to one person is not clutter to another. Everyone’s definitions are different. Each person has to deal with their own clutter in their own way. We hope that everyone will choose to do so, but forced decluttering never works. Rather, it creates tensions.

Instead, focus on decluttering your own stuff first. Lead by example and show your family the benefits of decluttering. You can gently encourage your family to declutter, or even offer to help, but don’t push too hard or just get rid of their stuff. It will create resentment.

Transferring clutter from one place to another

A lot of people think they are decluttering when what they are really doing is transferring their clutter. Decluttering means getting rid of unwanted and unnecessary stuff, not just moving it to a new location.

The kitchen counters may be clear, but if there is a new pile of paperwork and other random stuff on another surface or in a closet somewhere, you haven’t really decluttered. You have just moved the clutter. This is a form of indecision and procrastination, and it is counterproductive.

Not getting rid of clutter soon

Make sure you are dealing with your clutter and getting it out of your house as soon as possible! When your donation box gets full with unwanted or unloved stuff, drop those items off at your nearby donation center and start the process again. And if it’s something that can’t be donated, throw it away right then. Don’t put them in the trunk of your vehicle and then forget about them.

Don’t give yourself a chance to change your mind if you made the decision to get rid of something. Otherwise, you or your family members might start going through the donation bags again. You’ll be more likely to take those things back to your home.

Decluttering without a purpose

You should know why you’re doing something before you do anything, and decluttering is no different. When you know the reason(s) why you want to declutter your home, you’ll feel more inspired, focused, driven, and goal-oriented. At times, it is possible that you get rid of something, just to get rid of something. Because you felt you the need to. But acting like that, you might accidentally let go of something that you use or that you love. And you might need to repurchase it in the future.

Decluttering without a clear purpose will not make it stick. Find out: why do you want to declutter your home? Why do you want to live with less? Why do you need to make space in your home? And why do you want to simplify?

Whenever you feel overwhelmed, frustrated, unmotivated, or simply feel like giving up, remember your why. Remind yourself exactly why decluttering will be worth the efforts.

Your why will also help you answer essential decluttering questions when trying to decide what things to keep and what to let go. So when decluttering, try to think about the reason why you want to get rid of an item. If you have a good reason, that’s great, you’ll probably never regret this decision and you’ll feel good about letting it go.

Getting sidetracked

Any number of things can sidetrack people when they are decluttering. You might uncover something you forgot you had, or something you haven’t seen in a long time that brings you joy, or something that’s going to take a long time to sort through (like paperwork). In such cases, I recommend setting the item or group of items aside to sort through separately at another time (soon).

You might notice things that belong in other spaces and get sidetracked putting them away. It’s a good practice to have a container for out of place items. Stick anything that doesn’t belong where it’s at in the container and return those items to their rightful homes at the end of your decluttering session.

Being too sentimental

While decluttering your stuff, you can experience a variety of emotions: joy, sadness, guilt, anger, and buyer’s remorse. As you process through your thoughts and feelings, try to get hold of your emotions and don’t be too sentimental. Being sentimental over every item we own is one of the decluttering mistakes because to continue to make progress you need to focus on your end goal.

For example, you might feel guilty about getting rid of something you spent a good amount of money on. But just remind yourself that the money is already spent. Keeping the item (while you don’t use it) won’t bring your money back. Instead, you’ll just continue feeling guilty every time you see the item because you’re not making any use of it.

Some sentimental items can bring you a lot of joy and remind you of wonderful memories. These are things we need to hold close and cherish. But to minimize the excess that distracts us, we need to keep in mind that our memories are cherished in our hearts, not in these things. So when we own way too many things from the past, we need to be ruthless, otherwise we may never succeed to have a simplified home.

You may also like to read: How to Make Decluttering Sentimental Items Easy

Not purging on a regular basis

Many people think once you declutter many small and big items from your home, you are done with the process. Not taking time to purge regularly is one of the decluttering mistakes that you must not make if you want to maintain a clutter-free home.

Decluttering is not a one-time event. Once you have streamlined, your work is not done. In order to be effective, decluttering needs to be an ongoing process. Establish a regular routine of clearing out the unused, unwanted, and unnecessary stuff that has a habit of accumulating over time.

Your home is not a show-room or a model home. You and your family live there, use your stuff on a daily basis, make new purchases & bring new stuff home, no longer need or use some stuff, and make messes. So, train yourself to evaluate things as you encounter them. Set aside those items that don’t measure up in a donation box, and take it to a local charity once it’s full.

The less stuff you have in your home, the easier it is for you to keep your home tidy, organized, and clutter-free!

Parting words

Now that you’re aware of these common decluttering mistakes, I hope you’ll try your best to avoid making those while decluttering. I think that a lot of us fall into those decluttering mistakes when we are trying to simplify our home. The thing is, they may be preventing us from letting go of stuff efficiently. Having understanding of them will make your decluttering and simplifying task a lot easier for you.

Slowly but steadily clear the clutter so you can simplify your life and have more time, space, energy, clarity, and freedom to enjoy the things that matter most to you!