TL;DR
To get organized for good, skip the ten-items-a-week approach, change habits slowly instead of going cold turkey, let go of things that only live in the past, stop shuffling clutter from room to room, and work at it a little at a time. Give everything a home with a yard around it and upkeep takes under 10 minutes a day.
This article reveals the things you absolutely must avoid if you want to get your life and your home simplified and organized and achieve true freedom in your life.
What you might need right now is a splash of cold water, a splash of reality when it comes to your relationship with your stuff. The honest truth. Sound good?
What should you stop doing if you want to get organized?
1. Why doesn’t getting rid of 10 items a week work?
With an average of 300,000 items in your home, this method will take you hundreds of years (576 years to be exact) to get to the result that you are craving. With that pace, you will spend your best years simply trying to get to that zero space, where everything has a home with a yard around it.
While you have probably heard of the concept of a ‘home’ for everything, you might not be aware that if each home does not have a ‘yard’ around it, your system will explode in a matter of weeks, if not days. If you don’t have a solid plan about how and why you are getting rid of things along with a solid plan for where and how you will store the things you keep, you will face an uphill battle that you will never win.
2. Should you go cold turkey on clutter?
Research shows that if you add a dramatically new strategy into your life and try to take out bad habits ‘cold turkey’ style, you’re more apt to go back to that bad habit with even more vengeance. By slowly incorporating and learning new organization habits, you are much more likely to adopt those habits and stay organized moving forward.
Just like your past New Year’s resolutions that have fallen by the wayside before February, new tactics should be implemented slowly and with great deliberation. You need to know WHY you are changing your habits and HOW you are going to change your lifestyle to create more space in your life. Understanding how and why you got to this cluttered place and space, to begin with, will help you move forward and clear the unnecessary piece by piece.
3. How do you stop living in the past with your stuff?
If you find yourself thinking about the good old days and how this or that object played a major part in that memory, it is time to let it go. Think about whether that item still is a useful part of your life right now. If not, say adieu and move it forward to others who will find it useful to their life now.
Getting rid of something that holds fond memories does not erase the memories that it helped to make. Amazing memories will hold solid in your mind with or without that object. OK, I can hear your nay-saying comments, so if you are worried that your memories won’t last, take a picture of you with your beloved item and let it go. Your psyche will thank you and you will be able to live more fully and much easier within the present moment. Be here now. Now be here. Here now be.
Don’t get stuck in the past or worry about the future. The thing that counts the most is right here, right now. That is why it is called the present. It is a present to yourself that you are right here, right now. After all, the present moment is the only sure thing we have in life, so why not fully embrace it?
4. Why does clutter keep moving from room to room?
Do you find yourself moving clutter from one room to another, over and over again? This habit is known affectionately by professional organizers as the ‘two step shuffle’ and it never ends. Things move from one area to another and still never find a place to land or live because there is simply not enough room or a designated place for these objects to live. Clutter lives uncomfortably in one room only to be shuffled into the next.
I am certain that you have heard the definition of insanity, right? Insanity = doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Creating sustainable systems is the key to your organizing (and life) success.
5. How much time should getting organized take?
Organizing should not be a full-time job. In fact, if you constantly work at getting organized, you will burn out quickly and most assuredly stop mid-process before you are done. Getting your life in order is not a full-time endeavor, it is an ongoing process.
Completing one task or one room per week will provide you with a balance between getting organized and enjoying a life of joy and freedom. Once your life has a place for everything and everything is in its place, it is quick and easy (less than 10 minutes a day) for you to keep your life in order.
My clients always have more time for fun and family events when they don’t have uncompleted projects weighing them down and clogging up their brain. Before getting organized they complain that they feel guilty about doing anything spontaneous and fun because they feel they should be attending to all of the unfinished projects waiting for them at home. In fact, one of my clients moved into a gorgeous new home on a golf course and didn’t play golf for over 16 months because she didn’t want to take time away from getting her home in order. It was very sad . . . Now she plays golf 2-3 times a week and enjoys more free time with her kids! The same sense of freedom will happen for you, once your life and your home is organized.
Keep reading
- Want to get organized but don’t know where to start?Why it matters less where you begin than that you begin.
- What steps do I need to take to clear my clutter?Kathi’s step-by-step answer to clearing clutter for good.
- Letting Go of ClothesHow to decide which clothes to keep and which to pass on.
Frequently asked questions
Why doesn’t decluttering 10 items a week work?
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With an average of 300,000 items in a home, getting rid of 10 items a week would take about 576 years. Without a solid plan for why you are letting things go and where you will store what you keep, slow item counts become an uphill battle you never win.
What does a home with a yard around it mean in organizing?
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Everything you own needs a home, a set place where it lives, plus a yard, which is extra room around it. Without that extra room, an organizing system fills up and breaks down within weeks or even days, because there is nowhere for anything new to go.
Is it better to quit clutter habits cold turkey?
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No. Research shows that dropping bad habits cold turkey makes you more likely to fall back into them. Bring in new organizing habits slowly and with deliberation, know why you are changing them and how, and clear the unnecessary piece by piece, so the new habits stick.
How do I let go of sentimental items without losing the memories?
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Getting rid of something that holds fond memories does not erase the memories it helped to make. Ask whether the item is a useful part of your life right now. If you worry the memory will fade, take a picture of yourself with the item, then let it go.
What is the two step shuffle in organizing?
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The two step shuffle is the habit of moving clutter from one room to another, over and over, without it ever finding a place to live. It happens when there is not enough room or no designated spot for things. Building sustainable systems is what finally breaks the cycle.
How long does it take to stay organized each day?
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Once your life has a place for everything and everything is in its place, keeping it in order takes less than 10 minutes a day. Getting there works best as an ongoing process, completing one task or one room per week, so you avoid burnout and still enjoy life.
Originally published on Organized and Energized on September 17, 2020. Moved to addSpace and updated November 7, 2026.
