#13 Creating Your Minimalist Home

Learn how to declutter your home and bring simplicity into every space you use. Let's create a home that will facilitate your new minimalist lifestyle. Since 2012 I have been helping hundreds of individuals, families, and small businesses to declutter and organize their spaces in our in-person sessions. In this lesson, I want to share with you everything that I have learned, so that you can avoid mistakes and get the shortcut to getting the results that you want quickly.

Transcript

Lesson 13 Applying minimalism to your home Learn how to declare your home and bring simplicity into every space you use.

Let's create a home that will facilitate your new minimalist lifestyle.

Since 2012,

We have been helping hundreds of individuals,

Families,

And small businesses to declare and organize their spaces in our in-person sessions.

In this lesson,

I want to share with you everything that we have learned so that you can avoid mistakes and get the shortcut to getting the results that you want quickly.

If you remember the three-step framework that I shared in a previous lesson,

Awareness,

Action,

And maintenance,

You will see that we follow these steps very,

Very closely.

Decluttering is a transformation that will change your life.

Let's do a fun exercise.

I want you to sit in a relaxed position.

Take a few deep breaths.

Close your eyes.

Visualize a space in your home or office that you want to change.

Visualize that space decluttered and organized.

Functional.

Inviting.

Imagine yourself in that space doing what you love.

No clutter,

No distractions.

How do you feel?

Let's make it happen.

During this stage,

It's very,

Very important to always remember why are you decluttering?

What is the final goal?

Why did you decide to do it?

This is the awareness stage.

Please write it down and put it where you can see it very well every single day.

It's going to be a journey full of emotions and challenges.

Remember to take a deep breath,

To take a break,

To do something fun every time that you get stuck and don't know how to move forward.

But how do I get started?

You may be asking yourself.

This is a really good question.

This is probably the most difficult step.

Every situation is different and every person functions differently.

Before deciding where and how to get started,

These are some steps that we follow.

Discovery session.

What is your desired outcome?

What do you want the space to look like?

What activities would you like to do?

What do you love and what do you hate the most from the space right now?

What are your current frustrations?

Starting a decluttering session without having a clear understanding of your final and desired outcome won't be very successful.

So this is step number one,

The most important one.

Picking a space.

It's very powerful to be able to start and finish one area for you to experience a functional and inviting space.

It will empower you to keep going with other areas of your home.

What is your first priority?

What space can you benefit the most from?

What space is going to bring you the most joy?

What space is currently causing you the most frustration?

There is no right or wrong answer here.

Follow your own judgment and just get started.

Get others involved.

If you are living with others,

Please,

Please make sure that you get them involved in the process.

Everybody has to be on the same boat.

Make sure to have conversations prior to and understand their needs.

No one will support you if they are not a part of the process.

Getting help.

Getting help makes the process so much faster and fun.

Having someone else will help you feel supported,

Have extra hands,

Help you keep the motivation going and keep you accountable.

Finding the right help is very important.

Share what you are doing with your friends and family members.

This will help you be accountable to yourself and to see who can be the right fit to help you.

Hiring an organizer is always an option too.

Be sure to meet them before to make sure that they are the right fit.

Schedule the right amount of time.

Be realistic.

This is a tough one.

It will depend on how fast you make decisions,

How much help you have,

And how many items there are in the space.

Emotions can arise while decluttering and going through your personal belongings or objects that belong to a loved one.

It is okay to take it easy if you notice that you are being triggered by memories or feelings.

Take a break,

Leave the space and get some fresh air.

Let the emotions out and cry if you need to.

This can be a healing experience for you where you have the opportunity to understand yourself better and be able to move forward with the life that you want to create.

Remember that items can trigger emotional memories,

But they do not define who you are.

Before and after photos.

Taking before and after photos will help you see your accomplishment and will motivate you to keep going.

It will also be a good reflection piece in the future.

It looks like you are on track now and ready to get started with hands-on work.

This is the process that we use.

Set up a station.

If possible,

We always set up a folding table in the space we are working on.

We only deal with the items on the table.

This will help you keep focused and don't feel overwhelmed.

Under the table we have a few bins.

Donation,

Recycling,

Garbage,

Shredding,

Belongs in other space,

To give to someone,

To sell.

Every situation will require some or all of these bins.

If you have clear space in the room or close by in another room,

You can make piles on the ground too and label them with masking tape.

If there is no space for this station,

You can make do without it.

From our personal experience doing over 350 in-person sessions,

We do notice that the process slows down when we don't use this station.

So I really strongly recommend using it.

The wave process.

Start on one side of the room and do a 360 degree wave touching everything in the space.

Ask yourself,

Do I need this item?

Does it belong in this space?

Put the item in the proper pile.

If you are unsure,

Make a pile of unsure items and go back to it later.

Taking a photo of an item can help you keep the memory of it without having to keep the physical item.

Keep working with the items you know for sure what to do with and then move into more challenging items.

The order of what to do first will depend on every person.

If I sense that a person has a hard time going through their clothes,

For example,

I will not start doing clothes.

If the person has a hard time deciding about books,

Then books won't be the first thing to go through.

Decision making is like a muscle.

The more you use it,

The better you get at it.

We have seen people struggling at the beginning of the session making decisions and after one hour dealing with the easy stuff for them,

They were able to go back to categories that they were having a hard time with and deal with them with confidence.

It normally gets messier before it gets better.

Don't panic.

Things will look messier during the process.

Allowing time to clean up and place things where they belong at the end of the session is very important.

When doing this process,

You may create temporary piles of alike items,

Like books with books,

Paper with paper,

Office supplies with office supplies,

Tools with tools,

Clothes with clothes.

You get the idea.

Doing this will also help you become aware of how much you have of each category and you will be able to make more confident decisions.

For example,

If you go through all your items in your room and you end up having a pile of office supplies with 7 pairs of scissors,

You may then decide that you only need 3 pairs and you will feel confident letting go of the other 4 pairs.

If you deal with every pair of scissors separately and you don't know how many you have,

You may not know if you should keep them or let them go.

Keep any organizing products until the end.

Keep aside any organizing products you may find during the decluttering until the end of the process.

You may be able to use it during the organizing process.

Find a permanent home for every item that stays in the space.

Once you have decided what stays,

It's time to find a place to store every item.

Ideally,

Every item you are keeping should have a permanent and accessible place.

Keep a to-do list.

Always keep a to-do list.

Don't try to remember everything you need to do.

Write down every task that you need to do with the items.

It will help you get things done and make smarter decisions.

At the end of the session,

Make sure to schedule all the tasks in your calendar.

Most people will decide then to let go of more stuff that they were unsure of before when they realize how much time it's going to take to deal with them.

Unwanted items.

If you know for sure there will be a lot of unwanted items to go for donation,

Auction,

Consignment,

Or recycling,

We always bring with us a trailer or a truck and move these items out of the space to free up space.

At the end of the session,

We will take them with us.

In your case,

Make sure that you have arrangements in place for any unwanted items you may have,

Especially the bigger items that may be taking a lot of space.

Items for private sale.

Make sure to have them listed and hopefully gone before the session.

If you can move them to another space,

Please do so.

Garage,

Basement,

Any other empty room that you are not using are good places.

Storing items for someone else.

Give them a deadline and make sure that they are gone before the session.

Move them to another space if that's an option.

They need to understand that you are dealing with clutter and working really hard to get your space back.

Their stuff is not helping you accomplish your goal.

Paper.

Dealing with paper can take a very long time and you won't see immediate results.

We strongly recommend putting all the paper aside and deal with it in a future session.

We will be diving deeper into how to tackle your paper in the next lesson,

So don't worry about it right now.

After the decluttering part is done,

You will know for sure what items can stay in the space.

It's time to decide what the best system will be to make your space inviting and functional.

One of the main mistakes we see people doing is skipping the decluttering process.

If you skip the decluttering part,

You will end up organizing and finding homes for items that don't belong there.

Most likely the result won't be as inviting and functional as you expected.

Most times you may be able to use products and storage solutions that you already have.

You may not be aware of everything you own until you finish touching every item.

That's why we encourage you not to buy anything yet and to keep aside any organizing products you may find.

Now that you have decluttered,

It's time to organize what stays.

These are the steps that we normally follow when organizing.

Make sure that all the items that belong in the space,

That is to be organized,

Are there so that you can account for the space that they will take.

Try to picture how you are going to use the space.

What activities you are planning on doing,

What items you will use more often.

Make sure to place items where everybody can access them.

For example,

If you want your kids to be able to put things away in the closet,

Make sure that you place those items between their reach.

Try to set up stations.

Every activity will require specific items.

Try to group them together.

Make it easy to put items away when you are done using them.

Think about kindergarten and how fast kids can put things away because they understand how to do it and it's simple and convenient.

Try to make work what you already own,

If possible,

Before buying new organizing solutions.

Do all the items fit in your space?

Sometimes the space is not big enough to fit everything.

Be realistic.

Reassess the situation.

Remember,

You are looking for functionality and joy.

If space is too crowded and items are difficult to access,

Most likely you won't enjoy using it and clutter will appear again fast.

If you require additional organizing or storage solutions,

Make sure to measure your space and measure what you need to store first.

Measuring is the only way to find the perfect fit for your needs.

Add personal touches to make your space inviting.

Display items that will bring you joy.

Beautify your spaces so that they showcase your style and your personality.

Test the end result and don't be shy to tweak it if anything doesn't work perfectly for you.

It may take a few tweaks to consider your project finished.

If you feel any frustration while using the space,

Make sure that you understand why you are feeling frustrated,

When,

And make the required changes.

Your life will evolve and the way you use your spaces may change over time.

It is normal to have to reassess how you use your spaces and do a decluttering and organizing session every now and then.

We personally find ourselves doing a decluttering and organizing session at least once a year for the most used spaces like the kitchen,

The shed,

The basement,

Our closet.

Anytime we feel frustration or anytime that we change how we use a space,

We do need to tweak how we store things and reassess what we need and use and the items that are no longer serving us.

Let's do another fun exercise.

Sit in a relaxed position.

Take a few deep breaths.

Close your eyes.

Visualize the space in your home that you finished decluttering and organizing.

Starting in one corner of the space,

Visualize yourself touching your items,

Opening your drawers,

Going through every shelf.

Are you able to visualize the items in their respective homes?

If the answer is yes,

Congratulations!

You brought functionality and joy to your life using the art of organizing.

I hope this lesson helps you bring functionality and joy into your life.

Happy Journey!

Reviews

Great.I am continuing with the course of your's de clutter.. Thank you.This was great .

This has so many tips for decluttering. It makes me excited to get started. Thank you!

Calm, focused, and energetic voice. Speaks from experience, giving suggestions, and using visualization.

Really good tips and advice for decluttering and organization.

Wow so helpful

Great action steps, definitely a talk I will return to! Thanks

Thank you. So helpful 🙏🏽

Beautifully concise overview of the process of eliminating excess in our environment. Key questions are presented for rationally identifying the things worth keeping and how we might deal with them.
Thank you, Emilio!🙏🏼❤️

Excellent. Very helpful. Thank you!

Thank you so much I am very inspired to start clearing out my wardrobes I have five wardrobes I only need to thank you for all the support I have taken notes and I truly appreciate your directions have a beautiful day !