The Easiest Way to Declutter: Clear Out Five a Day – GWC Mag

Since moving back into my house in 2021, I’ve felt as though I have a part-time job decluttering the garage. Back then, an impregnable fortress of stacked boxes in the middle of the room made navigating the garage impossible.

At first, I easily found takers through friends, Buy Nothing or Nextdoor for high quality items like my kids’ too-small, too-cute wrought-iron beds with bunny finials, a spare blender, best selling books and so on. Within the first year, I had carved out a four-foot-wide path along the length of the back wall and workbench, making work possible there once again.

Now I’m down to less desirable, random items (ceramic tiles, dusty foam floor tiles, plastic table risers) or items that I refuse to part with (the pajamas I sewed my kids when they were little) or outright junk (so many boxes of papers!). Since late last fall, almost every time I’ve gone out there to declutter, I’ve looked at the stuff, thrown my hands in the air and returned inside. (The cold-for-Northern-California temperatures didn’t motivate me to stay out there long either.)

Five a Day

Then as 2023 drew to a close, I saw a post my friend Monique Labelle-Wheeler shared on Instagram about the successful decluttering of her “junk room” as she called it. Be sure to swipe to see the before pictures below.

“Here’s what decluttering 5 items a day since October 31st looks like.” Monique writes in her post. “We took a junk room in the basement and reorganized it as a gym. Decluttering 5 items a day was not difficult though there is work involved in doing it responsibly. Through my buy nothing group on facebook and Marketplace, I was able to find a new home for most of our things.”

The un-supply chain: A decluttering industry

Mounds of stuff clogging our homes can become a mental or physical hazard. The un-supply chain has emerged to alleviate us of this burden. This network consists of shops selling stuff to store our stuff, storage units to stash our excess stuff off-premises, how-to books on decluttering, professional organizers for big (and small) decluttering jobs, reality TV shows highlighting (and exploiting) hoarders and even blog posts. And while some of the links in the un-supply chain are helpful (like a professional to declutter quickly and responsibly), you may only need Monique’s simple five-a-day strategy.

As you declutter, you won’t want to reclutter by accumulating stuff to manage the existing stuff. In fact, sorting through your belongings, you’ll likely find the types of items you need to help you organize what you will keep. For example, a Webvan box out in the garage that I held onto after the dot-com implosion now contains fabric—but not including the fabric pictured below that I gave away!

Small steps add up

I started my five-a-day regimen on January 1st and have stuck with it every day. Usually, I only need 15 or 20 minutes to select my stuff and I do this when I need a break from working at my desk.

If I’ve stumbled upon yet another stack of papers, I’ll sort those. Some go in the recycling bin, confidential papers go through the shredder. After a few days of amassing useful items, I’ll post a bunch of them in my Buy Nothing group (unless my kids or friends want them).

On most days so far, I’ve decluttered over five items. But let’s be conservative and say I’ve done five. As of yesterday (January 17th), I’ve decluttered (over) 85 items!

Initially someone wanted the wooden wall register below but later realized it was the wrong size. I have new a plan for it though. A large dresser in excellent condition that we don’t need will (soon-ish) go to the Restore, Habitat for Humanity’s home improvement store, once I’ve decluttered the drawers.

The ReStore accepts donations of furniture, appliances, lighting, building supplies and so on (all in good, working condition), sells these items and builds affordable homes with the proceeds, all while diverting stuff from landfill. I’ll pass the shrink-wrapped wall register onto them along with the dresser. That seems like the perfect place for it. Last year, I donated a working gas stove to our ReStore. You can read about that and our electric-induction replacement here.

Perhaps I’ll eventually transform my garage into a home gym like Monique did. Without buying more equipment, we have enough for a simple workout space: two yoga mats, hand-held weights, resistance bands and probably a couple of other items I have yet to unearth. But for a week or two, once I’ve finished tidying up out there, I’ll simply admire the empty space. Now I’m off to declutter today’s five.

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