The Art of Decluttering

Have you ever bought another set of drawers, bookshelf or storage unit because you thought it would solve your clutter problem? You’re not alone! But what if the furniture you’re adding to your home is actually making things worse?

You might think you need more storage, but sometimes the real problem is that you have too much stuff. And when you have furniture to fill, you naturally find things to put in it.

You’ll discover how I fell into this trap myself, collecting free furniture from the nature strip and filling every available space with drawers, bookshelves and storage. My home was organised, but it was also full of furniture I didn’t really need.

When every corner, hallway and spare wall becomes an opportunity for more storage, your home can start to feel smaller, heavier and more cluttered. You lose that precious breathing room where light, space and your eyes can rest.

So, how do you break the cycle?
Start by looking at your home with fresh eyes. Count the freestanding furniture in one room and ask yourself whether each piece genuinely adds value. Could you remove a coffee table, relocate a bookshelf or rethink that bulky storage unit near your front door?

You might even find it easier to remove a piece of furniture before decluttering what’s inside it. Without somewhere to store everything, you may realise you don’t need to keep it all after all.

You don’t need to live in a minimalist home. You just need to be more intentional about the furniture you own and the space you want to reclaim.

Choose one piece of furniture to remove and see how much better your space feels. You might be surprised by the freedom you find!

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Tidy Dad
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https://youtu.be/eosJ4wUt2UQ

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When someone you love dies, sorting through their belongings can feel overwhelming. You’re navigating grief, family expectations, conflicting opinions and a lifetime of possessions, all while trying to work out what to keep and what to let go.

Give yourself and your family grace as you work through the process, recognising that everyone will approach it differently.

Start by identifying important documents, valuables and sentimental items that need to be set aside. Then use colour-coded stickers, sticky notes or a shared spreadsheet to help family members identify the things they’d like to keep. You don’t need to resolve disagreements immediately. Take the time to listen to the stories and memories behind each item, because those conversations can become an important part of healing.

Rather than deciding what to get rid of first, you’ve already protected the things people want to keep. What remains can be sorted into donations and rubbish, with help from a professional organiser if needed.

Most importantly, don’t let guilt, family traditions or the pressure to make every decision perfectly leave you overwhelmed or stuck.

You can honour someone’s memory without keeping everything they owned. And if the process feels too big, professional organising support can help you navigate the practical work while making space for grief, memories and healing.

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What if minimalism wasn’t about having less, but about having more of what actually matters to you?

When you choose minimalism in a way that aligns with your values, you can experience a surprising kind of wealth. You might have more financial freedom because you’re not constantly spending money on more stuff. You might have more freedom in your work because you don’t need to chase the highest-paying job simply to keep up with your lifestyle.

You can create more space for your health, whether that means having time to exercise, see health professionals or simply invest in yourself. You can have more time for relationships because you’re not constantly shopping, scrolling, tidying and managing your stuff.

Minimalism can also give you greater freedom to live according to your values and pursue the things you’re passionate about. That might mean saying no to something that doesn’t align with you, taking a trip, spending time with someone you love or simply sitting down to do a jigsaw puzzle.

And there can be a deeper wealth in minimalism too. When your home, finances and time aren’t completely consumed by stuff, you may find yourself with more space to think about purpose, faith, spirituality and the bigger questions of life.

You don’t have to become a “perfect minimalist”. You can simply start taking away the hold that stuff has on your life and notice what becomes possible when you do.

Minimalist and Faith Books
Uncluttered Faith by Joshua Becker
Christian Minimalism by Becca McCrary
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer

You may also like to listen to these episodes:
Minimalism Wellbeing and the Environment
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What if the real cost of clutter isn’t the money you spend on it, or even the space it takes up, but the time it steals from you?

After a scammer tried to use Amy’s debit card, she realised that although they didn’t manage to steal any money, they did steal two hours of her time dealing with the bank. That experience got her thinking about the many ways clutter does exactly the same thing.

Your stuff takes time to buy, bring home, find a place for, clean, store, organise and eventually get rid of. It can turn your evenings and weekends into a never-ending list of things you should be doing instead of relaxing, connecting with your family, being creative or simply enjoying your time.

Clutter can also steal the moments you actually want to remember. A toy bought at the aquarium gift shop can become what your child remembers instead of the incredible fish they saw. Christmas can become about presents rather than stories, connection and time together. Holidays can become about getting the perfect photo or buying souvenirs instead of being present for the experience.

You can earn money back, but you can’t earn yesterday back.

So what would change if you started seeing clutter as a thief of your time? Maybe you don’t need another thing to remember the occasion. Maybe you just need to experience it, tell the story and make the memory.

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Decluttering isn’t always about whether something is useful. Sometimes the hardest decisions are tied to your heart, your memories and your sense of identity.

As you work through your belongings, ask yourself whether you’re keeping something because you genuinely want it, or because you feel guilty about letting it go. You can love someone without keeping the gift they gave you, and you can honour a memory without keeping every physical reminder of it.

Consider whether a photo, a story or a single representative item could preserve the memory while allowing you to let go of the quantity. You can also ask what you’re actually afraid will happen if you get rid of something, and whether that fear is a good enough reason to keep it.

Then look at what your possessions say about who you are. Are you keeping things because they represent who you used to be, or because of who you hope to become? Old hobbies, clothes that no longer fit, teaching resources from a previous career and things bought for an imagined future can all take up space in your home.

You can also ask whether you would choose to own something if you were seeing it for the first time today, whether anyone would actually want it after you die, and perhaps the most exciting question of all: what are you making room for by getting rid of this?

Sometimes decluttering isn’t about losing something. It’s about creating space for the life you want now.

Dive into our 3 week mini series about 33 Decluttering Questions
Week one is about your home
Week two is about your mindset
Week three is about your heart

Use the questions when you're decluttering as a tool for decision making!
Download the 33 Questions

You may also like to listen to these episodes:
33 Questions: Priority and Usefulness
33 Questions: Future and Regret
Neat vs Tidy
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https://youtu.be/tt9C_JxWzvI

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