As a former shopaholic and lover of “stuff”, I spent years trying to declutter my home. Along the way, I tested many different methods but found that the most popular advice didn’t work for me.
This method was made famous by The Minimalists, and the concept is simple: pack up everything you own. Yep, you heard that right — your entire house!
Then, only unpack the items you genuinely need during a set period (one week or one month, etc.). Anything you don’t unpack at the end of that time, you don’t really need and can therefore be decluttered.
There are several variations of the box method, but here’s what most people recommend: – Gather four boxes – Label the boxes as follows: trash, give away/sell, storage, put away – Go through each room of your house and put things into the relevant boxes
There are many steps to her process, and I’ll be the first to admit I’m not an expert in KonMari. But most people know it involves decluttering by categories, completely emptying the area you’re working on, and—of course—asking, “Does this spark joy?”
This one comes from Joshua Becker of Becoming Minimalist, and here are the rules: “Locate 12 items to throw away, 12 to donate, and 12 to be returned to their proper home. That’s it. Repeat if desired.”