This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I make a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Disclosure here.

My clutter started to annoy me: tripping over things, not being able to find items in piles, the never-ending laundry. This was me roughly two years ago. 

Then one day, I stumbled upon the idea of minimalism, and I decided I’ve had enough. So, I started to declutter—probably around 50% of our stuff and around 80% of my wardrobe. 

Afterwards, a few months down the line, I looked back and realised my home has completely changed. Of course, there are still daily messes with two small children, but it’s nowhere near as overwhelming as it used to be. 

In just 6 months, you can also completely transform your space and your mindset with these 6 simple, actionable steps.

Keep reading below or watch the video:

Step one: Mindset

This first step is arguably the most important one. I think we often want to skip to the go, go, go and just start doing things. And while is great to take action, our mindset plays a big role in this. 

So, doing a little bit of mindset work beforehand can be so helpful to stay motivated and actually accomplish all of those tasks that we set for ourselves.

There are three things I would do if I would start again to declutter my home and trying to simplify everything.

Your why

Number one is defining my why. “Why am I doing this? Why am I decluttering my home?”

For me, I found it really helpful to think about the more and the less—what do I want more of, and what do I want less of? Sometimes answering why you are doing this can be a bit hard to articulate. This can really help in defining your why.

In my case, I realised that by decluttering and simplifying my space, I was going to get more time and more energy back. I would be more present with my kids and my family, and more calm in my life.

I was also going to get less of some things—less stress, less overwhelm over all the things I needed to manage in my home, and less stuff to take care of. 

All of these things sounded really good to me and they really kept me motivated to get all my decluttering done.

Visualise your ideal home

Another simple exercise I liked to do in the beginning was to visualise my ideal home.

When I started, I had a rough idea of what I wanted my home to not only look like but also feel like. Because it’s not just about having a pretty home, it’s not just about the aesthetics. It’s a lot about how we feel in our home, and I like to call this “The Rightmove Test”.

Going back to when I first saw our house on Rightmove and envisioned ourselves moving into it and making it our own, what did I picture it to look like? In my head, it was definitely not filled with clutter.

So trying to keep that image in mind can be really helpful.

Decide on a routine

Also, in this step, it’s really helpful if you can decide on a routine. It doesn’t have to be a daily routine if it doesn’t fit your current lifestyle. But deciding on a routine, like 10 or 15 minutes a day just to tackle some small spaces around the home, can be very helpful.

In my case, I just tried to do my declutters here and there whenever I got a chance, and those bits added up.

We often underestimate how much we can get done in a short amount of time over a long period.

Step two: Start with the easy stuff

I remember being really nervous about starting decluttering because I knew I had some areas that I would find hard to deal with. Then I realised I don’t have to start with those—I can just start with the easy things.

Visible clutter

The one thing I started with as I began this journey was the visible clutter. 

Start with things like countertops, floors, or tables. All of these surfaces we have around our home that we see every single day. This visibility method, by Dana K. White, is really helpful in my opinion. 

Just have a look at the table and ask yourself, “Can I get rid of the things on the dining table, or can I find a space for them in my home?”

No sentimental items yet

One other person that inspired me on my decluttering journey is the ever so famous Marie Kondo. She also mentions doing the sentimental items last. I love that because that’s probably the hardest for us to tackle. 

So also starting with things like the junk drawer, expired foods, anything like that that we’re not going to be sentimentally attached to is going to be a really easy win in the beginning.

One in, one out for new purchases

I also tried to keep in mind at this point the one-in-one-out rule.

It can be really hard to make progress if we are decluttering, but we’re equally bringing the same or a bigger amount of items into our home each week. So when I buy something new, I’m also decluttering something I don’t need anymore. 

And when it comes to new purchases, I’ve been reflecting in the past year and trying to learn how to make more sustainable choices in the future. I don’t know about you, but when I think about being more sustainable, sometimes I find it overwhelming, not knowing where to even begin.

So, I turned to Skillshare. Skillshare is the sponsor of the video above (*AD). 

Skillshare is the biggest online learning community, and it has thousands of classes on a variety of topics. It’s so easy to find a class to help you learn a new skill, improve a certain one to advance in your career, or even build a whole new career based on what you learn in the classes—kind of like what I’m doing with my YouTube channel.

My personal favourite class this month has been “Sustainable Living” by Katherine Kellogg. The one thing that stuck with me from her class is how being sustainable is a journey. We don’t need to get it all perfectly all the time.

This is a great reminder, because I think sometimes that’s the one thing that holds us back. We feel like if we mention that we’re trying to be more sustainable, other people are going to point out all the things we’re not doing but we could or should be doing.

But it’s not about getting it all perfect. It’s about making those small changes that make things better for ourselves, our health, and the planet as well.

I’ve also loved exploring the classes on Skillshare for piano lessons, filmmaking to incorporate into my YouTube videos, and productivity to stay as organised as I can in my business.

I’d love to hear: What’s one thing you want to improve on in 2025? Who knows—there might be a class for you inside Skillshare to help you take action moving forward.

Step three: Declutter by category

This approach allows us to take similar items together. It can be especially helpful for those things that might be scattered around the home without a specific place where they belong.

An example of this can be clothes—not just in your wardrobe but all around the home. It can be books that are spread out. Or it can be paperwork, which often takes up a lot of surface area in our homes. 

Just pick one of these categories at a time and tackle as much as you can in those 10–15 minutes. Then take a break, and do a bit more whenever you get the chance again.

Step four: Declutter by room

You can pick, for example, the kitchen and start going drawer by drawer or cupboard by cupboard. Today, maybe you want to tackle your under-sink cupboard where you store cleaning products or cloths. Give yourself 10–15 minutes to work on that, then move on to the next area.

To help you with this step, I have a free decluttering checklist. It goes room by room and offers lots of ideas for areas to tackle in your home. Over 30,000 people have downloaded it, so I think you might find it helpful too!

Step five: Move on to the sentimental items

This might be the hardest step. I will say, though, that you don’t have to get rid of all your sentimental items or avoid keeping anything. 

What truly matters

The key is to focus on what truly matters to you—what brings joy when you look at it and what you’ll enjoy seeing 10, 20 years from now, or even longer.

I like using memory boxes for this. We have a few storage bins for some of the kids’ things and some of my own.

I’m also trying to be realistic about how many items I keep to pass on to my kids when they’ve grown. Realistically, I don’t think they’d appreciate mountains of stuff overwhelming their homes one day. 

My goal is to keep items they’ll cherish and enjoy looking back on, but not to the point where it feels overwhelming.

Digitise

Nowadays, you can digitise items you want to remember but don’t feel the need to keep physically. Just take a photo on your phone. This way, you save the memory instead of holding on to an item you no longer want or have space for.

Asses the space

One question I do like to ask myself when it comes to sentimental items is, “How much space do I have to store these? How many storage bins can I give myself for this?” 

Using a container can help you assess how much space you have in the loft, garage, or basement without piling things up and creating a mountain of clutter. It’s a great way to figure out how much you can realistically keep without feeling overwhelmed.

Step six: Simplify your life

For this one, we’re going to start setting up some systems. 

In-system and Out-system

Something I find really helpful is to have an in-system and an out-system.

For the in-system, I try to pay attention to the things that we bring into the house—artwork from the kids’ school, some toys they might bring, things that I buy in the shops—and make sure I have a space to put all these things as we come through the door.

And then also having a system to take things out in order to be constantly decluttering. I’m not saying spend your entire life from now on decluttering all day, every day. I just found that as I got in a better state with my home, decluttering became easy. It just feels more effortless to get a couple of items out each week because it’s just maintenance mode.

Give things a home

I do find it really helpful to give things a designated space in our home. For example, we know where all the umbrellas go, where the shoes go, and all the coats, gloves, and hats. 

When these items come in, they need a space to belong to. Otherwise, things get thrown around, and it becomes hard to find them. This one system has been really, really helpful in our household.

Shopping habits

Also, in this step of simplifying your life, it’s really helpful to take a closer look at your shopping habits. Yes, we declutter, but if we’re constantly bringing new items into your home, it will just become overrun with clutter again. 

For me, the most helpful tip here has been to use a wish list. 

Giving myself a cooling-off period—taking a step back and pausing—has made a big difference. If an item catches my attention, I put it on a wish list. If I still want it a few weeks later, then I’ll consider buying it. 

Often, just giving yourself that little bit of time can help you avoid so many impulse purchases that you might regret later on.

I hope this article on how to reset your life in 6 months inspired you, let me know in the comments below. And if you want to learn about the 9 decluttering methods that actually make a difference—like the 30-10 method—you might like to give this article a read.