Making a mess more manageable – Decluttering Hack

My latest project, tackling the task of decluttering my sons bedroom, what is something that I had a little bit more experience with, since I recently started minimalizing the over abundance of stuff in my house. Stuff that keeps me distracted, I’m thinking clearly, and sometimes is a danger to myself with a risk of falling.

I usually avoid entering my sons bedroom, because there is a mess of boxes and various clothes strewn across the floor, not to mention the stuff covering his dresser. Mind you I had this dresser outfitted with custom hot wheels classic car drawer knobs. It wasn’t so long ago that I used to love coming into this room and seeing the collection of things that my son holds deer, including cars, particularly classic cars and their history. Because I had a recent cleaning project, I had some more experience in knowing how to break down the job so that I could tackle it without becoming a mess myself.

This time, I broke the room in two sections. It was a total of six sections, or problem areas, like his bed, his dresser, his closet, etc.  then I made it like a game, and divided it by 10. This would make each task 10 minutes, no more, no less.

I didn’t know if that was achievable, because each task was not evenly messy, but it was a place to start. I started with the dresser with 10 minutes set on my iPhone timer.

I started taking out the stuff from each drawer one by one and piling it on the floor. I could not believe the amount of stuff in the drawers that was too small for him, too big for him and would fit next year, stuff that was out of season, stuff that was for memories like each birthday year shirt. It was only when I dug into those drawers that I saw the mess before me.

Here is my theory on drawers. They are neat little tools to keep your stuff hidden. If you don’t maintain it and throw out the stuff you don’t need you end up jamming stuff on top of the old stuff. I definitely have to get into his room and maintain the drawers from now on. But now they will not be in my way or a danger to me.

When the 10 minute Time or hit, I was in a groove and I knew what I needed to do to finish all six drawers. It was only because I knew what I had to do that I decided to stop the timer and set it for 10 minutes more. Even if I just finish this task, I knew what I was doing and was building my confidence to know how to approach any decluttering task. This one was particularly challenging because the clothes were usable, but he just either didn’t use them now, or he had too much. He even had doubles of shirts.

I had a pile to fold up and put back, a pile to donate, and a pile that I made of just trash.

When I saw the big bag of donations to drop in the donation bin, I felt at ease.  It was a half an hour later and I had tackle the job that I had put off for quite a while. But it was only when I started the idea in my head that I was going to game it and see if I could finish in 10 minutes that I found it approachable.

Because I had set an hour for my project, the remaining half hour I set to make his bed. At least it would look like something was finished. The other projects were under a bed, in his closet, and the room still wasn’t livable and was intimidating for myself to sell approach. Plus I wanted him to have nice new sheets so my mom and husband helped me.

Looking back, this new trick of gaming the system, and timing each section, really helped me. Sometimes I attempt too much, and then I get so worn out, that it’s very hard for me to move my legs and arms. I end up getting overheated and frustrated that I will never be able to finish any task that I set my mind to. Now I will take decluttering in bite-size chunks, and go back to finish what I started. Decluttering my sons room. And I will.