5 Decluttering Hacks to Beat Procrastination and Finally Get Started

Struggling to start decluttering because procrastination keeps getting in the way? You’re not alone—and you’re not lazy. In this episode of Let’s Talk About Clutter, Margo shares 5 practical, mindset-shifting decluttering hacks designed to help you break through the resistance and take action.

Whether you're overwhelmed by the mess or just can't seem to get motivated, these tips will help you stop overthinking and start clearing space—physically and mentally. Tune in, take a deep breath, and discover how to make decluttering feel doable, even on your busiest days.

Transcript

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Welcome to another episode of Let's Talk About Clutter. I'm your host, Margot Staten, a professional organizer specializing in chronic clutter. And today we're gonna talk about probably one of my favorite topics because it's super common, both in the clutter space as well as probably every day of our lives. And we're gonna be chatting about how to overcome the dreaded P-word. That's right, I call it the dreaded P word. And what does the P-word stand for? It is procrastination. We are all very, very familiar with it, and oftentimes we procrastinate decluttering. It's super common. You are not alone. It happens to the best of us. I will tell you, even for me, when it comes to paperwork clutter, because I do have a nine-year-old daughter that brings home a ton of paperwork, which I have to be on top of because otherwise it quickly gets out of hand. And if you've ever decluttered paperwork, you know how tedious, boring, and overwhelming it can be. So today I am sharing five super easy, actionable tips if you are battling procrastination in your home. If you are avoiding decluttering like the plague, right? You're finding a thousand and one other things that you can do to fill your time to not declutter. Okay. So we're gonna stop making excuses. We're gonna roll up our sleeves. You're gonna self-select one of these five strategies to get you started. And I promise you will overcome procrastination and you will start purging that incredible home of yours. Tip number one is super low stress on my declutter meter. This will essentially take you a couple of seconds, and guess what? You're not actually doing anything. I know how wild is that. So, tip number one, you're going to simply write down what you want to declutter. The truth is, if it's not written down, it won't get done. You're going to old school this, put pen to paper and pencil in decluttering. One of the most important things with any goal we want to accomplish is commitment. And statistically, writing things down will increase your chances of success by a whopping 42%. I mean, imagine, or rather, think about a time in your life where like you goal set, right? Or you wrote things down, or maybe you, you know, had a little mini to-do list of tasks around the house, or even a shopping list, right? When we write things down, we tend to naturally commit more than if it's in our heads. Because look, the reality is stuff that's in our minds and our heads is not 100% reliable, and we can easily get distracted and forget we had to do something, especially when it's something like decluttering, which a lot of folks don't necessarily get excited about unless you're me. I mean, I don't know. I absolutely love cleaning and decluttering again, with the exception of paperwork. I don't like that. Um, but I'm somebody that stress cleans and or declutters. I don't know. If you're somebody who stress cleans or declutters, hit me up on Instagram at BeGood to Yourself by Margo and let me know. We can like form a support group. So step one, um, or rather, tip one, you're just gonna simply write things down, right? You're gonna write down what you will be decluttering. And and how easy is that, right? The first tip is literally going to take you two seconds of your time. There is a little bit of an art form to writing down decluttering tasks, specifically if you are procrastinating, right? Because if you're procrastinating, chances are you find decluttering unpleasant, or maybe you don't know where to start, or there's something overwhelming about it, or you know, we experience scatter brain or anxiety or stress. So even when it comes to writing things down, the key to overcoming procrastination is to keep things incredibly simple and manageable. So when you write down your decluttering task, don't be like, I'm going to declutter my entire kitchen. I mean, how overwhelming is that, right? I mean, I don't know when was the last time you decluttered your kitchen, but if you just put kitchen on your to-do list, I'm just gonna like drop mic and walk away. Like that to me screams overwhelm. I'm just not going to do it. So instead, what you can write down, and by the way, your to-do list should fit on a post-it, right? Super simple and easy. So, so instead, you're gonna write down, I will declutter, for example, the top drawer of my dresser, or I will declutter one item a day, or I will declutter 10 beauty products, or I will declutter a drawer in my kitchen. And you can even, you know, simply list out a few drawers. Keep it short, keep it specific, keep it incredibly actionable and bite-sized, right? Nothing that's gonna take you longer than 15 to 30 minutes. If all you can do is 10, go for it. The most important thing when it comes to overcoming procrastination, you probably know, can you guess? Is to actually start. A lot of times the stories we make up in our head, right? And the reasons we procrastinate, they're not actually true, right? How many times did you do something? Maybe you procrastinated something, you know, maybe it was a project at work or a paper you had to write for school. And then once you actually started doing it, you're like, oh, snap, this isn't as bad as I thought. Well, decluttering is no different. Now we're gonna move on to tip number two. Tip number two is also incredibly important and also super simple. Tip number two, you're going to pencil it in to your very busy schedule. Week, it's not enough to just write down a decluttering task, right? You have to pencil it in. So decide on a time and day you want to tackle one of your small decluttering tasks. Let's say you are, I don't know, free on Friday mornings for 15 minutes. So you're gonna take out your smartphone and you're gonna set an alarm for Friday at 10 a.m. You're also, especially if you're somebody who has ADHD or tends to get distracted, you're also gonna set a second alarm for let's say 1015. And this becomes your start and your end time. And here's a little pro tip. It's a like a mind hack. When creating your alarm, right, in your phone, you shouldn't just create an alarm, you wanna title it, you wanna label it. So you're gonna label it decluttering. So it's going to trigger your brain to be like, ah, I knew I had to do something and I know exactly what I have to do, and it is to declutter. It is recommended by psychologists and time management experts that you tackle the harder tasks, in our case, those you're most likely to procrastinate first thing in the morning before the day goes bananas and your energy levels start to plummet. So if you can, if you do have time in the morning or typically before 1 p.m., whether it's the weekdays or the weekends, that is when we tend to have the most amount of energy. We are the most productive and we are the most clear headed. All right, let's move on to tip number three. Another super, I mean, I really I want to ensure that you are overcoming this dreaded P word, this procrastination bug, right? This is how I work with my clients. I find it super, super effective. So tip number three, set rewards. Whether it's a favorite treat, a relaxing bath, or a fun activity, rewards can motivate you to not only get started, but to actually complete the project. And the rewards can be anything you desire, big or small, it doesn't matter. It's completely subjective, but you have to want it. I had a huge project recently that I really wanted to do around the house, but I was like, I found myself procrastinating and dragging my feet. I actually had to repaint the walls in my living room. And I don't know, I like when things move like very quickly. I'm a very type A personality. Like I'm constantly go, go, go, get things done. And the one thing that I find with paint is that it takes forever, right? You got a prime, then you wait. Then you put a first coat, then you wait. And I'm not even talking about having, I mean, this is my living room, okay? I had to move furniture. I mean, it was just a pain in the tush. And it's like I really wanted to do it, it had to get done, but I was dragging my fate. So what I did is I followed my own philosophy and I was like, I set a reward for myself. Um, I have wanted a new living room rug for a very, very long time. Um, I got it when I got my rescue puppy. Um, and she obviously needed to be potty trained, and it was just a hot mess. I mean, she ate pieces of the rug, she peed on it, and like, of course, we cleaned it and stuff, but I mean, it was due for a swap out. You know, coffee, my dog is now three years old. So I was like, you know what? It's safe to replace it. So that is what I set a reward for myself, right? I'm like, okay, Margot, if you paint the living room walls, you can go out and you can get yourself a nice new living room rug. And that is exactly what I did. And it helped me to overcome procrastination and paint the living room. And I was super happy that I did it. It was actually a lot of fun to do it. I did it with my mom. So, anyways, set a reward for yourself if you find yourself dragging your feed. And another thing as part of setting rewards is you also want to celebrate your progress, right? When you celebrate your wins, like if you are somebody who's been procrastinating, if you've literally been like, I need to declutter my bathroom or I need to declutter my beauty products for like the last two to three years or whatnot, maybe even longer, celebrate. You know, when you went and you did it, right? Congratulations. Pat on the back, just celebrate, right? Acknowledge that you got this done. In my house, we literally try to celebrate everything. What a wonderful world it is, right? Where we can just celebrate a bunch of different things. We celebrate every time my daughter gets a good grade. Um, we celebrate anytime there's even like a small win. I celebrate every single new client I acquire, right? I mean, I practice gratitude every single day. And I think it's so important over oftentimes, you know, we tend to lean on and celebrate big things. We got married, we bought a house, we you know what I mean, we finished school. Like, but those huge things don't come around too often. So get into the habit of celebrating your small, beautiful, incredible accomplishments. Let's move on to tip number four. And for this one, I cannot stress it enough. Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please. Don't bite off more than you can chew. The most overwhelming aspect of decluttering is taking in the big picture. Like in the beginning, I brought up the example of I want to declutter my entire kitchen. You will get there. You will get there. And how will you get there? Through bite-sized decluttering. One drawer, one cabinet, fridge, countertop, you know, oven, stove, whatever at uh time. The most important thing when it comes to achieving a clutter-free, clean, and tidy home is commitment. It's not about tackling huge projects, it's not about dedicating 10 hours a week to decluttering, it's about commitment and it's also about consistency. And I think that we oftentimes seriously, and I do mean seriously, undervalue, right, bite-sized decluttering, right? We undervalue just how much we can accomplish in five to even 15 minutes. If you declutter even like three to four times a week, right, for 10 minutes, for 15 minutes of dedicated decluttering, you're gonna get it done. You're gonna nail it, right? In the beginning, you're gonna be like, this is so slow and I'm not seeing a lot of progress. Stick with it. One cabinet, one drawer at a time. Not only that, especially if you're somebody who finds yourself procrastinating, bite-sized decluttering is very low stress, right? And because it's so low stress, because look, most of us can commit to like a drawer or half a shelf or like a handful of products, right? We can commit to that. We don't find it to be incredibly stressful. So stick with bite-sized decluttering. Let's move on to tip number five. And then I also have a bonus tip for you. So trust me when I say everything will change for you when you do this next one. Okay. This literally changes lives. This has transformed. I've had clients who had clutter accrue for over 30 years, and by just doing this one thing, they overcame procrastination, overcame feelings of overwhelm, right? Decreased stress, anxiety, saw progress, and actually achieved results. Like it is mind-blowing. This next one is super simple, super easy, and incredibly mind-blowing. Invest in an accountability partner, especially if you are a chronic procrastinating, letting a friend or family member know about your decluttering goals will increase your chances of success by 91%. The more specific you could be, the better. An accountability partner will help you stay on track, keep you motivated on days where you're dragging your feet and want to ignore your decluttering alarm. And of course, my hope is that you find someone who can share in your happiness and success and celebrates alongside as you purge one coffee mug, one hairspray at a time. And of course, you can also hire me as your decluttering coach for support, advice, and guidance. And I'll leave more information in the show notes. And here's a little bonus tip for you. I find that decluttering gets a really bad reputation. And decluttering, contrary to popular belief, can actually be super fun if you choose to make it that way, right? When you're decluttering, you can choose to turn on some good music, right? I mean, some hype music, whatever you're into. I like salsa, I like 80s classic rock, whatever you're in the mood, right? Just like kind of give it that fun little energy. You can listen to a podcast or an audiobook. You can even FaceTime your bestie, right? What if you and your bestie are each other's accountability partners? You're on this decluttering journey together. Here you are, ready to declutter your wardrobe. Get on FaceTime, get on the phone, try on outfits, I don't know, pour yourself a glass of wine or a cup of coffee, water, whatever, whatever is your poison. Um, and just get excited about the process. Have fun with it. If you're decluttering, for example, paperwork or even like a box or a bin, plant your tush, you know, on your couch in front of the TV, binge watch some show on Netflix. You can pair decluttering with something enjoyable to make the whole entire process more fun and thereby overcoming procrastination because you stop associating decluttering with something dreadful, which is not, right? Always focus on the outcome, right? Even though it might seem like it's kind of right now. Imagine what your home and your life will look like if you just commit to the process of decluttering and are consistent with it, right? Just picture your home a year from now, two years from now. I mean, incredible. So remember, you don't have to declutter everything at once. Start small, stay consistent, and celebrate every little victory. Thank you so much for listening. As always, good luck on your decluttering journey and remember to be good to yourself.