How to Declutter Your Home Without Guilt

Decluttering is hard especially when you feel too guilty to let stuff go. Learn how to declutter your home without guilt.

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The process of decluttering your home can bring on feelings of overwhelm and guilt. In fact, guilt is one of the biggest obstacles we face when we decide to declutter our homes.

Starting small can help deal with the overwhelm and the reluctance to start but once you move past that, it’s the guilt that can stop us from moving forward.

You may like: 5 Best Beginner Decluttering Tips

Maybe you’ve started to declutter your home, and as you begin to put aside items to get rid of, a feeling of dread comes over you as you second guess every decision you make.

You may start to ask yourself…..

“What happens if I need this someday?”

“But, I’ve had this for years…”

“My best friend gave me this.”

“It feels like I’m wasting my money.”

Decluttering can be freeing but it can also be very challenging. You want a clutter-free home and you know the only way to achieve that is by getting rid of stuff but the thought of letting it go is just too hard.

Honestly, you could spend your whole life making excuses about why you don’t want to declutter because it’s just…easier. However, clutter causes unnecessary stress in our lives. We spend so much time surrounded by stuff that we don’t need that it becomes hard to focus on the things that should matter the most.

Benefits of Decluttering Your Home

Our homes should be filled with things that are useful to us and that we love. Besides, providing us with peace of mind, here are a few other reasons why decluttering can make such a difference in our life.

You will save money– As you begin to declutter, you also start paying attention to what is being brought into your home, resulting in less money spent.
It makes organizing so much easier– By taking the time to declutter you begin to free up space in your home so you can start to organize and make sure that everything has a place to go.
You will save time- Let’s face it, no one likes to spend hours searching for things. Decluttering frees up time so you know where everything is.
Keeps your home cleaner- When your home is clutter-free, it’s so much easier to keep it clean. You can begin to form habits and establish daily routines to keep your home tidy and consistently clean.

Are you looking for ways to keep your home clean?

Focusing on the positives and changing our mindset about how we decide to approach things can help us deal with the overwhelming guilt we have about letting things go.

“We were never meant to live life accumulating stuff. We were meant to live simply enjoying the experiences of life, the people of life, and the journey of life- not the things of life. -Joshua Becker

Hopefully, these tips will help you work through your decluttering guilt so you can be on your way to less stress and more peace in your home.

How to Declutter Your Home Without Guilt

Letting go of gifts

It can be difficult to let go of items that were gifted to us, especially from people who are important to us. However, if you haven’t used or even looked at the gift in over a year it’s just taking up space. Wouldn’t it be better if it went to someone who could actually get some use out of it instead of it just collecting dust?

If you are worried about how the person would feel if they found out, rest assured it very unlikely that they will even remember gifting it.

Letting go of sentimental items

Sentimental items can be one of the very hardest things to let go of when decluttering. In fact, many people will just completely skip over them when decluttering their homes because they know how difficult it will be.

Of course, it’s perfectly fine if you want to hold on to your items. However, if the goal is to get rid of as much as you can because you are moving, downsizing, or just don’t have space anymore then it may be time to pull out those old boxes and go through them.

Remind yourself that the memories of your loved ones don’t exist within those items, the memories you hold dearly are inside you. Keep a few precious items and donate the rest or pass it on to someone you know would appreciate them.

Letting go of “maybe someday”

I will use it someday- this is the excuse that we give ourselves to avoid decluttering. Although that may work for a while, as things start to build up over time, clutter can quickly get out of hand.

Living in a small home, I’ve learned over the years that I simply don’t have the extra space to store things I won’t use. Although I have struggled with this at times, I always remind myself that “someday” is not today and I don’t have room for it and I need to let it go.

Find the best ways to control clutter: 9 Easy Ways to Keep Clutter Out of Your Home.

Letting go of feeling wasteful

Just because you have decided to get rid of something that you spent money on doesn’t make you wasteful especially if the item can be used and loved again by someone else. It’s more wasteful to let the item sit unused.

Although it can be extremely difficult to try and declutter your home if you have these feelings of guilt that doesn’t mean that it can’t be done. You just need to change your mindset and realize that it’s just stuff.

Instead of dwelling on everything you have to let go of, concentrate on what you are keeping instead. Remind yourself how much happier you will be when you are surrounded by things that are useful and loved.

“Decluttering is infinitely easier when you think of it as deciding what to keep, rather than deciding what to throw away.”-Francine Jay

Realize Decluttering is a Process

Decluttering can be a long process but small steps add up to big results, so keep going. When I first decided to declutter my home a few years ago, it was incredibly overwhelming. But, I knew it had to be done. Our house is small and honestly, it felt like we were running out of space.

It was causing me anxiety and I knew I had to be okay with letting things go that I had held onto for a very long time. Over the years, I had stuffed things in boxes and stacked them in storage always telling myself that I would get to them one day.

Years and years went by and soon our storage room was filled with years full of school papers, empty boxes of items that had long been forgotten about, broken toys, etc.

I made a commitment to spend the next few months completely decluttering our home. But, I knew I needed to start small. So, every day I pulled out one box to go through and each day it got easier and easier.

Are you having a hard time organizing your small space?

Here are 8 Ways to Organize a Small Home on a Budget

If you find that you are still struggling to let go, then try packing items you can’t part with into a box and put it away somewhere for a few weeks. Try again after those weeks are up. You may find you just needed a little more time to get used to the idea of letting go.

Overall, it’s important to remember that decluttering isn’t a race. You don’t have to complete it in one weekend or even a month if that doesn’t work for you. It may take time to work through the overwhelm of knowing where and how to start and even longer to work through the guilt you may feel about letting certain items go.

However, setting goals and making a plan can help you achieve a more simple and peaceful home. By simply committing to spending as little as 10 minutes a day is progress. And by using the tips above to work through the guilt, you will be on your way to a home you can be proud of.

Here are some more tips to help you declutter your home:

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