If you feel like you need to throw out everything in your home, you are not alone. 

According to the LA Times, there are 300,000 items in the average American home. 

Plenty of people feel the need to actually remove excess things from their homes. But deciding where to start can be overwhelming. There is a term out there called “minimalism”. It focuses on only living with what you need.

When deciding if minimalism is right for you, try these steps to get clear on if you can reduce the items inside your home.

Write Down Your Why

People become minimalists for all kinds of reasons. Why are you interested in the idea of becoming a minimalist?

Is there a particular problem your trying to solve? Get clear on why you feel minimalism would benefit you and your household.

Maybe you are moving and want to reduce your things before you move. This is a great time to limit your items so you can sell your house quickly because it isn’t cluttered with excess things.

Decide What Minimalism Looks Like To You

Once you’ve figured out what your goals are, you can decide what you want your approach to look like. If you’ve run out of space in your closet and it’s an ongoing problem, maybe just focus on creating a capsule wardrobe. 

If you feel your children aren’t valuing their possessions, then you’d want to focus on their toys. Talk with them about why you think there’s too much stuff in the house, and why you want to work with them to get rid of things they don’t need or use anymore.

Start By Getting Rid Of Duplicates

This is an easy one: if you have any duplicate items, get rid of one! This is most often the case in the kitchen and with children’s books and clothes. Go through these items first, and see how much you can discard right away.

Declutter Areas That Matter Most

It’s important to decide what areas matter to you when it comes to decluttering. Maybe you want to keep your gathering spaces minimalist, but personal spaces aren’t as critical. Or perhaps you want to be able to entertain guests, but you want to keep only the essentials in your bedroom. 

Once you know which areas of the home are most important to you, focus your energy on those first. When you’ve made those areas look and feel the way you want them to, you’ll be ready to tackle the next one—or simply stay focused on maintaining those important spaces.

Set A Schedule

If you don’t have a system to maintain your minimalism, you can easily end up falling back into accumulation. To avoid this disheartening outcome, make sure you devise some kind of schedule for regular decluttering. Set a timer for a few minutes a day, set aside an afternoon a week, or divide daily tasks among family members to ensure all your hard work doesn’t fall by the wayside. 

Embracing minimalism isn’t an all-or-nothing endeavor. By starting small, you’ll be able to change the way you live gradually and sustainably.