How to Declutter Fast: 10 Tips For Getting Rid of Clutter Quickly

1. Get four boxes ready

This is the best strategy for containing stuff as you declutter it. You can immediately get rid of the stuff or put it where it needs to go. You will have one bag for trash, one for donations, one for items you’re going to keep, and one for items you’re going to sell.

Your donation items can immediately go in your car and be taken to charity. The trash bag can go outside into the trash straight away. Things you want to keep can go into a box so they are already sorted and it’s just a matter of putting them back.

The items you can sell will be contained in a box so it’s easy to keep track of how you are doing. This leads me to point number two…

2. Donate more

If you want to get rid of items quicker, you might want to donate more. If you are selling items, I suggest you price them to sell. Keep the price low to get rid of them quickly and efficiently. I would give yourself a timeline for each item, for example, try to sell it for a week or two. If, after that time, it hasn’t sold, then you donate it.

Donating things is going to mean that it's quicker to get rid of things. You will see a bigger impact because you don’t have things hanging around the house waiting to be sold.

3. Play the yes/no game

This means you need to decide immediately “yes or no” about whether or not you want to keep any item. If you’re hesitant about any item, that’s an immediate keep, and you can come back to it at another time.

Making quick decisions will be key to keeping it fast. Keep the pace. Keep it going.

4. Play the 30-day minimalism game

This means every day of the month you’re going to get rid of that number of items. On the first day of the month, you get rid of one item. On the second day of the month, you get rid of two items. On the 30th day of the month, you get rid of 30 items. You actually get rid of roughly 465 items from your home within one month.

You can get rid of quite a lot of clutter in a short space of time. It’s a great way to make it engaging and fun. You can team up with people in the house to help you find those items. You can look at high-traffic areas and bigger ticket items (like furniture or electronics) on the lower item days.

5. Get friends and family involved

Invite them over and ask them to really work with you so that you can get more done in your time scale. It means you can get double the amount done, without having to do everything.

There’ll be some things that friends and family can do, like getting rid of expired food or getting things clean. You can get straight to the decision making and they can do the other nitty gritty bits. That way you can complete the room or the area in a much quicker time frame.

6. Go room by room

Work on one whole room at a time. For example, do everything that you can in the kitchen first, before you move on to another room, so you can see that bigger impact. You can tick things off your list and get the job done. It will feel more complete.

7. Set a timer

Next up is to set yourself a timer and really force yourself to make decisions and get an area finished. You will be, kind of, forcing that motivation. It will give you the kickstart that you need to complete a certain amount within that time frame. It just might get you feeling more engaged and moving a little bit quicker.

8. Set deadlines

Decide how long you want to give yourself for each room or the whole house so that you have something to work towards. You’re more likely to keep working at it and allow yourself more chunks of time to complete it.

9. Fill up a box every single day

Get yourself a box and fill it up with any items that you can declutter from your home. Get rid of them as soon as you can, at the end of that day. That way you get rid of a good amount of items every day.

10. Hire a decluttering coach

It might help you to get more of a handle on your emotional connection to things and help you deal with that mindset. They can also motivate you to keep going and meet your deadlines.

A declutter coach who can come in and declutter with you can be helpful, as well as a virtual coach, who can talk you through areas that you’re likely to find difficult to maneuver through.

How to declutter fast

These are ten methods for how to declutter fast. These fast decluttering strategies can keep you motivated to declutter at a quicker pace. Do you prefer to declutter slowly and gradually or to get through your home quickly? Let me know in the comments.