Before you run out and buy another set of storage bins, read this. A professional organizer and declutter coach says the thing standing between you and a calm house is not a lack of containers. It is a lack of rules.
The organizer, who posts on TikTok as @thedeclutter.co, offered six simple rules anyone can start using today. She describes her style as blunt and a little tough-love, aimed at people who just need to be told that there is too much stuff in the house. Here is how each one works, plus how to put it to use.
@thedeclutter.co
Rule 1: If it is not a “heck yes,” it is a “heck no”
As you declutter a space, pick up each item and hold it up. If you do not immediately think, “I love this and I want to use it every day,” it is probably a no. Her example is a water bottle. If you look at it and feel nothing, let it go. She says her clients tell her they can hear her voice in their heads while they work, which she takes as a sign the rule is sticking.
Try it: Start with something low-stakes like mugs or tote bags. You will be surprised how fast your gut answers.
Rule 2: Stop organizing your clutter
This is the one most people get backwards. Do not start by sorting and arranging everything you own. First go through it all and decide what is staying and what is going. Only then should you buy the cute organizing bins. Organizing a pile of unneeded things just gives you a neater pile.
Try it: Hold off on any storage purchases until a room is fully decluttered. You may discover you need fewer containers than you planned.
Rule 3: The one-year rule
If you have not used it in more than a year, let it go. She says that if you have made it through every season of life without the item, you do not need it. Stop letting your brain come up with “what if” reasons, like “I could use this for that” or “my friend might like it.” The pile you set aside for a friend, she warns, usually never gets delivered.
Try it: Seasonal items such as holiday decorations and winter coats are the natural exceptions. Everything else goes through the one-year test.
Rule 4: Give every room boundaries
Each room should have its own purpose, and its own rules. The home office should hold home office things. It should not be a landing zone for the kids’ belongings. The mudroom should not turn into a catch-all for everyone’s stuff. Before something gets put down, there needs to be a system in place for where it goes. In short: do not put it down, put it away. Without those boundaries, she says, you get piles in every corner.
Try it: Make a “one job per room” list on a sticky note. If an item does not match the job, it gets moved.
Rule 5: Guilt is not a storage solution
If you tend to hold on to everything sentimental, this one is for you. Your brain is trying to keep you safe, she says, but guilt should not decide what stays. Ask yourself whether a relative will really ask to see that item next year. They will not.
She is not telling you to get rid of everything. Her trick is a memory box for each person in the home. Pick whatever size you like. Anything you want to keep for sentimental reasons that fits in the box, stays. If it does not fit, it goes.
Try it: Pick a box with a lid. Label it with a name. When it is full, the sorting is done, and you can revisit it once a year to swap things in and out.
Rule 6: One in, one out
When something new comes into the house, something old leaves. A new water bottle arrives, and one goes out. In reality, she jokes, most of us have around 50 water bottles, so for each new one you may need to let several go. The same goes for clothes. If you buy a few shirts for yourself, your kids or your husband, you need to go through the closet and remove things you have not worn in years.
Try it: Keep a donation bag at the bottom of the closet. When you bring a new item home, an old one goes straight in the bag.
Putting the rules to work this weekend
If you want to try all six, here is a simple plan.
- Saturday morning: Choose one room. Take everything off one surface, such as the kitchen counter or the dresser top.
- Apply rules 1 and 3: Hold up each item. Is it a “heck yes”? Have you used it in the past year?
- Set up your memory boxes: Give each family member one, and let them choose what goes in.
- Hold the bins: No organizing products until everything is sorted.
- Sunday: Put the donation bags in the car, set room boundaries, and agree as a family to the one-in, one-out rule.
These six rules cost nothing, need no special products, and can start working the very same afternoon.
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