I tried a technique called the No Mess Method by Dana K. White to declutter my whole house today!
Full disclosure—this process actually took 2 days. But that’s exactly why I was so excited to try it out—it allows you to declutter as you go, so even if you get interrupted, you don’t have to come back to a million little piles or massive messes that just cause more stress or anxiety.
To start, I made sure I had the essentials ready to go—a black garbage bag and a bin for donations. The idea for this method is that you immediately put items into the trash bag, the donation bin, or take them to where they belong in your house.
Join me on this journey as I record my thoughts while trying this new (to me) technique!
First Session
I started this process on a Wednesday during my son’s afternoon nap, knowing that it was likely that I would get interrupted soon.
I completed our entire master bedroom, which includes our dresser, a desk, 2 nightstands, and our closet. Here’s the breakdown of what I got rid of and decluttered:
Trash: Socks with holes, old receipts, and loose papers.
Donate: A purse and some old jewellery.
Rehome: Items from our nightstands, cups of water, loose change, and some pens.
When I was sorting through my jewellery, I found a couple of sentimental pieces that I don’t wear right now, so I tucked them away in my “memento box,” where I save special items. I also didn’t declutter our closet because I was planning to try a different technique for that in the next few days!
By the time I was finished, nap time was over. Using this technique helped me feel more at peace and energized, even though I hadn’t completed my decluttering!
Second Session
Later that evening, I decluttered our bathroom and living room. I cleaned out our bathroom vanity about a month ago, so this was just a maintenance declutter. Since we live in such a tiny space, we keep our living room very minimal—my main priority in this room was going through our large bookshelf (with open shelves and hidden drawers).
Trash: Old chapstick and miscellaneous bath products we had finished using.
Donate: I didn’t find anything in the bathroom, but when I went through our bookshelf in the living room, I found a couple of books, some cookbooks, baby toys, and miscellaneous cords to donate.
Rehome: Since we keep these two areas of our home very minimal already, the majority of the rehoming included various items we had carried in and out of these rooms throughout the day (i.e., laundry, dishes, etc.).
Third Session
The next morning, I tackled the largest amount of decluttering focusing on our entryway, kitchen, maintenance room, and nursery. Here’s the breakdown:
Trash: Some expired food in our fridge, old receipts in the drawers of our entryway table, lint and random packaging in the maintenance room
Donate: A frying pan, random glass jars, a casserole dish, a baking pan, and a box full of baby clothes I didn’t want to keep.
Rehome: I rehomed so many items during this session since this was the largest area of our house I was tackling!
What I Learned:
This method works exceptionally well if you are prone to distraction or have a lot of distractions around you while decluttering! Seeing my progress as I went along was not only freeing, it motivated me to keep going! I was very tempted to start making piles of items instead of immediately making decisions or returning things to where they belonged, but I stuck to the “rules” and realized that it didn’t actually add a lot of time to keep walking around and rehoming items—if anything, it actually helped me tackle our home more efficiently!
Little Minimalist on the Prairies 