I'm no stranger to a decluttering trend. From 'employing myself' to clean to trying out the expert-approved '15-minute Friday reset', you'd think by this point my home would be spotless. Unfortunately, it's not and that's because I've gotten really good at hiding the mess in drawers and cupboards. Out of sight, out of mind, right?
But, as my home (at first glance) has become much tidier, I can't help feeling a little bit ashamed about what's piling up behind closed doors. And then, I stumbled upon the 'chaos declutter' method. Simply put, you create chaos by pulling everything out of a messy area before sorting through it and tidying it away again.
I committed to giving it a try even if it meant agreeing to more mess before it got better. But, I'll be completely transparent, if you're easily overwhelmed by mess (like me), it's going to be a steep learning curve.
How 'chaos decluttering' works
The 'chaos method' for decluttering is often credited to professional organizer, Kim Jones from Lock and Key Home. For this, she wants you to create a temporary chaos in your home by completely emptying out a messy area before sorting through it, organizing it, and putting it away.
When explaining the method to The Kitchn, she says: "If that sounds like a mess, it absolutely is." You're literally creating chaos by laying out all the items you've accumulated, forcing yourself to deal with it before creating piles of what you want to keep, donate, sell or throw away. For this, Jones suggests using sticky notes to keep on top of the mess.
Then, get rid of any of the clutter and place everything you're keeping back in the space you pulled it from. Ultimately, it tests you to stare directly at all your mess in one big pile. It's impactful, but it's also not for the faint-hearted.
What happened when I tried it
I've been avoiding my wardrobes for years and it's only gotten worse. The bottom of my wardrobe is made up of a heap of towels, bags, and spare bedsheets to the point I risk an avalanche when I try to get something out. And while that's shameful to admit, trying out 'chaos decluttering' was about to make it a whole lot worse (spoiler: before it got much better).
I dragged out all the stuff from my cupboards and piled it all up onto the bed. At this point, I had a sense of immediate regret. Sure, dragging it out was easy, but now I had to deal with it – especially if I wanted to sleep that night.
Seeing the mess was a hard pill to swallow, but it made it immediately obvious to me that it was a problem that needed to be dealt with. So, I started to sift through it, using sticky notes to create zones in my room to split my stuff; Keep, Donate, Throw and Sell.
I'll admit, about halfway through I got really overwhelmed and thought about either shoving everything back into the cupboard where it came from, or just pulling it onto the floor with the hopes I'd feel like picking it up again the next day.
But, I persevered and I'm so glad I did. Through the chaos, I began to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I placed the sorted piles into black bags ready to deal with appropriately and I put everything I wanted to keep back where it came from. Then, I took a big sigh of relief and thought about what messy area I'd take on next. It was chaotic, but I kind of loved it.
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