The 10 Biggest Decluttering Mistakes to Avoid (how NOT to declutter!)
Summary
TLDRIn this video, the speaker discusses the art of decluttering and shares eight common mistakes to avoid for a more mindful and effective process. Starting with extreme decluttering and ending with too many 'just in case' scenarios, the speaker emphasizes the importance of having a clear purpose for decluttering, taking it slow, and focusing on what to keep rather than what to discard. Additionally, the video touches on the environmental impact of donating unusable items and the psychological aspects of letting go of possessions, ultimately encouraging viewers to declutter at their own pace and in a way that brings them value.
Takeaways
- 💇 Decluttering can be a liberating process, but it can also be overwhelming. It's essential to approach it mindfully and at your own pace.
- 🌡 Avoid extreme decluttering where everything in sight is considered for disposal. Focus on what you want to keep rather than what to get rid of.
- 👗 Don't declutter out of season items prematurely. Wait until the end of the season to assess what you didn't use and consider letting go of those items.
- 🎯 Have a clear reason for decluttering. Whether it's to find things easier, work more efficiently, or reduce feelings of being overwhelmed, understanding your 'why' is crucial.
- 👚 Avoid donating unusable items. Practice 'donating with dignity' and ensure items are in good condition before passing them on.
- 🛍️ Don't let guilt drive your decluttering process. It's better to reorganize than to impulsively get rid of things you may later regret parting with.
- 💸 Remember the sunk cost fallacy. Don't hold onto items just because they were expensive. Consider repurposing or reselling them instead.
- 🏠 Focus on what you want to keep rather than what you want to get rid of. This approach can make the process less stressful and more satisfying.
- 👕 For items in the 'maybe' pile, consider whether you can style them into your wardrobe or if they should be stored away for future consideration.
- 🤔 If you find yourself wanting to keep everything, it might be time to challenge yourself and reassess why you're holding onto certain items.
- ❌ Avoid 'just in case' scenarios as a reason to keep items. Recognize that you're adaptable and can often manage without these items if needed.
Q & A
Why does the speaker believe in decluttering?
-The speaker believes in decluttering because they think a cluttered space can equate to a cluttered mind, making it difficult to find things and causing stress in everyday activities like getting dressed or having guests over.
What is the speaker's view on the 'less is more' philosophy?
-The speaker used to subscribe to the 'less is more' philosophy but admits to taking it to the extreme, where 'least becomes most', leading to making several decluttering mistakes.
What is the first decluttering mistake mentioned in the video?
-The first decluttering mistake mentioned is extreme decluttering, where one might declutter impulsively without a mindful approach, focusing too much on what needs to go rather than what to keep.
Why should one avoid decluttering before a season begins?
-Decluttering before a season begins is not advised because it can lead to letting go of items that might still be useful in the current season, causing the need to repurchase them later.
What is important to consider before starting to declutter?
-Before starting to declutter, it's important to understand the benefits you wish to gain from it, such as making it easier to find things, working more efficiently, or reducing feelings of being overwhelmed.
How does the speaker feel about donating items that are not in good condition?
-The speaker advises against donating items that are ripped, damaged, smelly, or unusable, as it can create problems for others and may lead to such items ending up in landfills or sold in developing nations.
What is the speaker's suggestion for items that are not ready to be donated?
-The speaker suggests considering alternatives like having a garage sale, selling items on platforms like Facebook Marketplace or Poshmark, or participating in clothing swaps with friends.
Why should one avoid forcing themselves to let go of items?
-Forcing oneself to let go of items can come from a place of punishment or guilt, which is not healthy. If one is not ready to let go, they should store the item and revisit it later, giving themselves time to decide.
What is the issue with guilt-driven decluttering?
-Guilt-driven decluttering can lead to impulsive decision-making and potential regret later. Instead of getting rid of items, spending time reorganizing might yield similar benefits without the regret.
Why is focusing on the 'sunk cost' a mistake when decluttering?
-Focusing on the 'sunk cost' can prevent one from letting go of items that no longer serve them. The money spent is gone, and keeping items out of a sense of wasted money does not recoup that cost.
How does the speaker recommend approaching the 'maybe' pile during decluttering?
-The speaker recommends splitting the 'maybe' pile into two smaller piles: one for items to style or use, and another for items to store away for future consideration, reducing the pressure of immediate decisions.
What should one do if they find themselves wanting to keep everything during decluttering?
-If one finds themselves wanting to keep everything, they should challenge themselves to be honest about their reasons for holding on to items and consider if they are simply delaying the inevitable.
Why is it a mistake to keep too many 'just in case' items?
-Keeping too many 'just in case' items can lead to unnecessary clutter. Most people are adaptable and resourceful, and creativity can come from having fewer options.
What is the role of ExpressVPN in the video?
-ExpressVPN is the sponsor of the video. They provide a VPN service that protects online privacy, allows for secure browsing and banking, and can be used to access geo-restricted content on platforms like Netflix.
Outlines
💇 Embracing Change and Decluttering
The speaker starts by discussing their new shorter hairstyle and then transitions into their passion for decluttering. They believe that a clean space can lead to a clear mind and help alleviate the stress of a disorganized environment. The speaker admits to making mistakes in the past while decluttering and aims to share eight common decluttering mistakes to avoid. They emphasize the importance of having an organizational system and understanding what items are truly necessary to keep. The video is sponsored by ExpressVPN, which is briefly mentioned but will be discussed later in the video.
🚫 Avoiding Common Decluttering Mistakes
The speaker outlines eight decluttering mistakes to avoid. The first is extreme decluttering, where one might get carried away and throw away too much. They suggest a slower, more mindful approach focused on what to keep. The second mistake is decluttering out of season, which can lead to regret when the season changes. The third mistake is not having a clear reason for decluttering, such as wanting to find things more easily or to feel less overwhelmed. The fourth mistake is defaulting to the donation bin without considering the condition of the items. The fifth and sixth mistakes relate to forcing oneself to let go and guilt-driven decluttering, respectively. The seventh mistake is the sunk cost fallacy, where one holds onto items because they were expensive. The eighth mistake is focusing too much on getting rid of items rather than what to keep. The speaker also discusses the importance of using a VPN, like ExpressVPN, to protect online privacy and access geo-restricted content.
🔄 Strategies for Effective Decluttering
The speaker continues with strategies for effective decluttering, such as dividing items into 'hell yes,' 'hell no,' and 'maybe' piles. The 'maybe' pile is further divided into 'style it or use it' and 'store it away' categories. This approach reduces the pressure of immediate decisions and allows for a more flexible and honest evaluation of possessions. The speaker also addresses the challenge of wanting to keep everything and suggests asking oneself why they are attached to certain items. They mention the 'just in case' scenarios as a common pitfall and encourage viewers to consider whether these items are truly necessary. The video concludes with a reminder that there is value in clearing out spaces but emphasizes doing so at one's own pace without pressure.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Decluttering
💡Clutter-free
💡Organizational system
💡Mindful perspective
💡Seasonal decluttering
💡Donation bin
💡Guilt-driven decluttering
💡Sunk cost
💡Just in case scenarios
💡Hell yes, hell no, maybe pile
Highlights
The speaker is a fan of decluttering and believes in a clutter-free and organized space.
Decluttering can lead to a cluttered mind and difficulty in finding necessary items.
An organizational system helps in knowing what to keep and what to discard.
The speaker admits to making decluttering mistakes and shares them to help others.
ExpressVPN is sponsoring the video, providing a secure VPN service.
Avoid extreme decluttering and take a slower, more mindful approach.
Declutter at the end of a season to assess what wasn't worn.
Have a clear reason for decluttering to gain benefits such as efficiency and ease.
Decluttering should not be a response to feeling overwhelmed but a positive experience.
Don't default to the donation bin; ensure items are in good and usable condition.
Consider alternative ways to dispose of items such as selling or swapping.
Avoid forcing yourself to let go of items; store and revisit when ready.
Guilt-driven decluttering can lead to impulsive decisions and regrets.
Don't focus on the sunk cost of items; let go of the idea of wasted money.
Focus on what you want to keep rather than what you want to get rid of.
Use the 'hell yes,' 'hell no,' and 'maybe' pile method for decluttering.
Challenge yourself to style or use items in the 'maybe' pile before letting go.
Avoid keeping items for 'just in case' scenarios unless absolutely necessary.
The video concludes with a reminder to declutter at your own pace and without pressure.
Transcripts
hey everyone welcome back so we went a
little shorter with my hair how do we
feel about it even shorter I don't know
I feel like as soon as you start
chopping your hair it can just like
it just doesn't end from there so you
guys know that I am a huge fan of
decluttering because I truly believe
that a cluttered space can equate to a
cluttered mind there's always this like
looming to do hanging over you you often
can't find what you need when you need
it and it can even make things like
getting dressed or having people come
over a huge pain in the eye so even
though I don't think you need to be a
minimalist to have a clutter-free and
organized space but I believe it's about
having an organizational system and
really knowing what you truly need or
want to keep and then it becomes a lot
easier to get rid of what's in the way
but since I used to subscribe to the
idea of the whole less is more thing but
really I just took it to the least being
the most along the way I ended up making
a whole lot of decluttering mistakes so
if you're due for a declutter or you
plan on doing one for a little bit of
like a new year refresh I want to share
with you eight decluttering mistakes to
avoid because there's nothing worse than
decluttering something and then really
realizing that you have to or want to
buy it back and now it's going to be
even more expensive because of inflation
and everything that's going on right now
and I want to thank expressvpn for
kindly sponsoring today's video but I'll
talk about them more a little later on
the first decluttering mistake to avoid
is Extreme decluttering I find a lot of
times when you do get the spark and
inspiration to declutter that's when I
think the blinders can go on and then
all of a sudden anything that ends up in
your field of vision is on the shopping
block for a declutter so I think it's
really great to have a spark of
motivation and a spark of energy when
you do decide you want to start
decluttering but I really do believe in
approaching decluttering from a slower
and more mindful perspective and
definitely focus more on what it is you
want to keep and not necessarily on what
needs to go there's really no pressure
and there's no minimalist police that
are going to go after you or audit you
so take it slow take it at your own pace
and do what feels right for you mistake
number two is decluttering before the
season begins
so it'll take decluttering your closet
it would be like decluttering your
summer clothes in the middle of winter I
used to declutter this way because it
would be a whole lot easier to say
goodbye to my summer stuff in the dead
of winter until the summer came and it
was 40 degrees outside and then I
thought well I could really use those
shorts right now so even though it might
be easier to let go of things that are
out of current season I think it's
smarter to do those declutters at the
end of the season because that's the
opportunity that you can take to audit
what you actually didn't wear so at the
end of winter I'm gonna go through all
of my sweaters for example and if there
were a few that I forgot that I had or
absolutely didn't reach for then maybe
at that time then I can consider letting
them go number three is not having a
good reason as to why you want to
declutter in the first place before any
decluttering even begins I think it's
important to understand the benefits
that you wish to gain from it do you
want to make it easier to find things do
you want to make it so you can work more
efficiently or even just make getting
dressed easier so that you can see your
whole wardrobe and you know exactly what
you have and where it is or it could be
that you're just tired of feeling
overwhelmed by feeling buried and stuff
all of those things are perfectly valid
wise and great motivators to help you
get started with your decluttering don't
do it because everybody else is doing it
or because it's trendy on social media
and YouTube find your why and find out
what it is you stand to gain from
decluttering your space or decluttering
a certain thing I find a lot of times
decluttering can really come from a
perspective of punishment or like I
shouldn't own this thing or this thing
was a waste of money and it can really
have a lot of like negative
associations attached to it sometimes
when really I think decluttering can be
a much more positive experience
especially when you think about what it
is you want to get out of it and
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Christina machas mistake number four is
defaulting to the donation bin so if the
item is ripped damaged smelly unusable
don't just throw into a donation bin and
make it somebody else's problem my
friend Ivanka from the tiny moose said
it best please try to donate with
dignity which means that if you do plan
on donating ensure that item isn't good
and usable condition and a lot of the
times the things that we donate to
charity shops don't even end up on the
sales floor they get so bombarded with
stuff all the time that according to the
CBC article only 25 of your things that
actually end up for sale in the charity
shops a lot of them end up in landfills
they get sold to developing nations and
become their problem so instead of
defaulting to donation try to keep those
things in mind and just think about
whether or not you can have things like
garage sale you can sell things on
places like Facebook Marketplace
Poshmark or even do clothing swaps with
friends because I really do believe when
we decide to bring something in we
should already kind of have a plan for
the day that we decide we no longer want
it or need it and I think this will keep
us motivated to take good care of our
things when we do have them and that way
they have a little bit of more resale
value by the time you're ready to let it
go and it doesn't just have to default
to the donation bin and become junk for
somebody else mistake number five is
forcing yourself to let it go this again
sort of comes from the idea of
decluttering as punishment for like
previous bad behavior or bad spending
but if you're just not ready to let it
go don't push it store that thing away
and revisit at another time I like to
give myself six months to even a year
mostly to see if I even remember that I
have the thing and by the time I'm ready
for my next declutter I'll decide then
if I want to let it go or not I do
believe that there can be a fine line
between letting go and holding on but if
you're not ready right now you're not
ready it's not a big deal mistake number
six is guilt driven decluttering this
ties back really into the whole notion
of extreme decluttering where I just
find I can sometimes just get so
overwhelmed by my stuff that I just want
to get rid of everything and get it out
of the way and really that is
manifesting as decluttering as a
response to overwhelm it can lead to
really impulsive decision making and
potentially decisions that you regret
later but if you tend to declutter
impulsively and then regret it or buy
back later then I think instead of
getting rid of stuff it might be a good
idea to just spend a few minutes
reorganizing instead and you might
actually get a similar benefit because
now this place is clean organized and
you know exactly what you have mistake
number seven is
sunk cost you know the whole keeping it
because it was expensive kind of thing
then I'm just here to remind you that
the money is long gone and you're not
getting it back by it just hanging
forgotten in the back of your closet if
you can't seem to let go of the idea
that you wasted money on it then maybe
this is an opportunity for you to style
it if it's a piece of clothing and
challenge yourself to making outfits
around it to using it or if it's a high
ticket item then you can consider
reselling it and recouping at least some
of those lost costs but when it comes to
a lot of our stuff a lot of them are not
really assets they are liabilities and
nobody cares how much you paid for it so
don't focus on getting all your money
back getting a good cost return for it I
think we really overvalue our
possessions once we have them and then
can get really stubborn or insulted when
we try to resell it so try not to let
that hold you back if you're looking to
create some space and get rid of the
thing price it to sell and save the
money or you can even use that money to
buy something that you actually really
want and that you plan on using in the
future the money's long gone baby
mistake number eight is focusing too
much on what you want to get rid of
instead of focusing on what you want to
keep I used to approach all of my
declutters from I gotta get rid of this
I gotta create space I can't believe I
bought all this crap shame on me time to
get rid of it and again I really think
it could be a better approach there's no
pressure to let go if you don't want to
I think it's really important to be
honest with ourselves and push ourselves
a little bit when we are decluttering
there is something to be learned from
that but I find that it's an easier
process when you look at it from a
perspective of what you want to keep
instead of what you think you should get
rid of when I'm decluttering I like to
divide my stuff into three piles so my
hell yes hell no and my maybe pile the
Maybe pile is usually the most nuanced
and the most difficult pile because it's
the gray area it's somewhere in the
middle I kind of want to keep it but I'm
not quite sure because if I'm honest
with myself I'm not really using it all
that much and so with the maybe pile I
like to split it up into two smaller
piles one is the style it or I'm gonna
use it pile and the second is the store
it away pile storage is pretty
self-explanatory it just means I'm not
ready to use it to style it to actually
incorporate it back into my everyday
life I can think about it later and then
the style it pile because a lot of my
declutters are still related to my
closet I like to challenge myself to
create outfits around it or I'll
incorporate it into a capsule wardrobe
for the season things like that to see
if I actually reach for it or not and
then at the end of the season I can do
the whole process all over again I find
this way it just creates a whole lot
less pressure of getting rid of the
thing right there and then and takes
away the perspective of focusing on what
I should get rid of and instead allows
me to be a little bit more flexible in
what it is I want to keep but what about
when you find yourself wanting to keep
everything see this is where
decluttering is not always so black and
white because decluttering should be a
little bit challenging I think it's a
good opportunity to push ourselves a
little bit and to even get a little bit
honest and real with ourselves in the
process you can ask yourself why am I
holding on to this why am I so attached
to it and that's where things like oh I
really only want to keep this because
it's a brand name or I really only want
to keep this because I spent a lot of
money on it and I'm not ready to sort of
face that fact and revealing those sort
of hard truths can be difficult where
our default might just be okay well then
fine I'll keep this but when you start
noticing that you're wanting to keep
everything and everything kind of has a
reason or a good excuse to hold on to
then I think there might be a signal to
just see if you can push yourself a
little bit and get a little bit honest
again if you're finding this is
happening through your declutter you can
always store it away and revisit in your
maybe pile later but sometimes when I do
this I feel like I'm just delaying the
inevitable like my anina Bing check
Blazer that thing's been in my maybe
pile for years now I still haven't worn
it I still feel a little bit off when I
do wear it it's not really hell yes for
me and the maybe thing I'm just sort of
delaying the fact that yeah I should
probably sell this see if you are just
sort of delaying the inevitable with
some pieces again I think it's okay to
give ourselves Grace and decide that hey
I'm not ready to let this go yet that's
really up to you to decide where and
when but sometimes there's certain
stories that we tell ourselves about
items and we'll probably actually really
be okay without it and mistake number 10
is too many just in case scenarios
within your declutters if you find
yourself defaulting to oh I need this
just in case this just in case that if
there's too many just in case scenarios
to justify keeping the item then I think
we have to take a step back and really
think about what would actually happen
just in case I find for me especially
when it comes to my closet when just in
case does come up I never reach for that
thing the truth is that most of us are
pretty adaptable and maybe there's even
going to be something else in your
closet that you prefer wearing when that
just in case scenario actually comes up
by Nature I think we are quite adaptable
and resourceful people and sometimes a
lot of creativity can come from the
constraint of not having that thing
anymore so if you're finding that
throughout your declutters everything is
coming up as a just in case think about
what you would actually do if it ever
happened so those were the 10
decluttering mistakes to avoid and ones
that you can think about next time you
do plan on doing a little bit of a clear
out again I think there is a lot of
value in clearing out our spaces but
there is never any pressure to get rid
of everything and always do it at your
own pace if you like this video and got
some value from it it would help me so
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guys bye
[Music]
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