50 Quotes About Decluttering to Inspire You
Is your home cluttered and crammed full of stuff? If so, I’ve put together this collection of my favorite quotes about decluttering to help motivate you in your decluttering journey!
If you’re running out of home storage space due to all the clutter, you’re not alone. In fact, nearly 50% of Americans say they have too much stuff, according to one survey.
Having seven people in my smaller home with less square feet than we ideally need, I know what it’s like having to constantly deal with too much clutter.
Particularly with my husband working from home, and homeschooling my five kids, trying to keep an organized home involves a lot of never-ending hard work!
A Decluttering Mindset: More Than Inspirational Quotes
One thing to keep in mind is that a cluttered mind often leads to physical clutter. Bad habits, old ideas, and disorganized thoughts are some of the best friends of clutter.
Learning to think more clearly about organization and simpler living has several benefits.
Coming up with practical ways to get rid of excess–and organize the rest–can promote a sense of inner calm and peace in our lives.
It’s so easy to accumulate items that stack up and contribute to a messy, cluttered house. Just seeing the clutter can be so discouraging, and trying to find ways to declutter can seem overwhelming.
But decluttering doesn’t have to be a daunting task. There are several proven ways to start decluttering and organizing your home. Lighter living really is possible!
Having lots of decluttering goals and to-do lists that never seem to get done is a sure sign that a new approach is needed.
And while reading lots of inspirational decluttering quotes can spark some great ideas, just thinking about the situation won’t fix the underlying problem.
If you’re wondering about the easiest way to declutter, starting small and taking actionable steps one at a time is much more likely to succeed than trying to make dramatic changes all at once.
To help get you started on the path of getting rid of extra stuff and general clutter, I’ve gathered up 50 of my favorite decluttering quotes and minimalist quotes from organization experts.
May these inspirational quotes give you hope and the resolve needed to successfully clear clutter and live with less stuff!
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50 Quotes About Decluttering
Many of the quotes below are from some of my favorite books on decluttering.
“The first step in crafting the life you want is to get rid of everything you don’t.” —Joshua Becker
“The best way to find out what we really need is to get rid of what we don’t.” —Marie Kondo
“When you are overwhelmed, tired and stressed, the solution is almost always less. Get rid of something. Lots of somethings.” —Courtney Carver
“You can’t organize clutter; you can only get rid of it.” —Marla Cilley, The FlyLady, Sink Reflections
“When you live surrounded in clutter, it is impossible to have clarity about what you are doing in life.” —Karen Kingston
“The definition of decluttering is getting rid of things I don’t need.” —Dana White, Decluttering at the Speed of Life
“When we throw out the physical clutter, we clear our minds. When we throw out the mental clutter, we clear our souls.” —Gail Blanke
“Just because a room is tidy or organized doesn’t necessarily mean there’s still not too much stuff inside it.” —Joshua Becker
“Don’t own so much clutter that you will be relieved to see your house catch fire.” —Wendell Berry
“The biggest payoff of decluttering is psychological; when we consume as an emotional crutch it is masking something broken in us. But there is also a big financial payoff: All that spending you aren’t going to do is found money! —Suze Orman, The Financial Upside of Decluttering
“Life truly begins after you have put your house in order.” —Marie Kondo
“You’re the boss of clutter, not the other way around.” —Monika Kristofferson
“Clutter is nothing more than postponed decisions.” —Barbara Hemphill
“Pick up after yourself. If you get it out, put it away.” —FlyLady
“The point of decluttering isn’t to get rid of things you want to keep; it’s to identify those things and then to make space to enjoy those things.” —Dana White
“Edit everything. Or, more specifically, always start the organizing process by paring down your items to the ones that are most used, most loved, and most important.” —Clea Shearer & Joanna Teplin, The Home Edit
“When I understood that the key to successful decluttering was to purge enough stuff that I had only what fit comfortably inside the existing containers in my home (shelves, closets, and so on), no emotional decisions were necessary.” —Dana White, Decluttering at the Speed of Life
“When we address the most personal of our clutter, the clutter that is in our heads, then we may be getting to the root of all the problems that we deal with.” —FlyLady
“Clutter is caused by a failure to return things to where they belong.” —Marie Kondo, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing
“If organizing your stuff worked, you’d be organized by now.” —Courtney Carver
“The more uncluttered I lived, the more joy I found.” —Zina Harrington
“Decluttering can be overwhelming, so start with that one small thing. Clean out your junk drawers. It can lead to so many more beautiful things. Start there, and you’ll find yourself cleaning the whole rest of the house.” —Bobby Berk
“Decluttering works best when you start with the easier spaces, and build up the skills and confidence to tackle harder spaces later.” —Joshua Becker
“Outer order contributes to inner calm.” —Gretchen Rubin
“Decluttering is infinitely easier when you think of it as deciding what to keep, rather than deciding what to throw away.” —Francine Jay, The Joy of Less
“What I know for sure is that when you declutter – whether it’s on your home, your head, or your heart – it is astounding what will flow into that space that will enrich you, your life, and your family.” —Peter Walsh
“Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.” —Benjamin Franklin
“Having a simplified, uncluttered home is a form of self-care.” —Emma Scheib
“It’s okay to get rid of things.” —Clea Shearer & Joanna Teplin, The Home Edit
“To get rid of what you no longer need is neither wasteful nor shameful.” —Marie Kondo
“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” —William Morris
“Clutter doesn’t just occupy the house in which you live, it occupies your mind.” —Avina Celeste
“Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” —Albert Einstein
“If buying stuff hasn’t made you happy, maybe getting rid of it will.” —Joshua Becker
“Minimalism is the constant art of editing your life.” —Danny Dover, The Minimalist Mindset
“Clutter is not just the stuff on your floor, it’s anything that stands between you and the life you want to be living.” —Peter Walsh
“Under the influence of clutter, we may underestimate how much time we’re giving to the less important stuff.” —Zoe Kim
“The question of what you want to own is actually the question of how you want to live your life.” —Marie Kondo
“Minimalism isn’t about removing things you love. It’s about removing the things that distract you from the things you love.” Joshua Becker, The Minimalist Home
“For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned.” —Benjamin Franklin
“Your home is living space, not storage space.” —Francine Jay
“I often ask myself, Will anyone I know be happier if I save this?” —Margareta Magnusson, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning
“We should be choosing what we want to keep, not what we want to get rid of.” —Marie Kondo
“Get rid of clutter and you may just find it was blocking the door you’ve been looking for.” —Katrina Mayer
“Picture your dream home. I bet it’s not filled with clutter.” —Joshua Becker
Clutter is the physical manifestation of unmade decisions fueled by procrastination.” —Christina Scalise
“Life is too complicated not to be orderly.” —Martha Stewart
“Clutter may rob us of the life we imagined or prevent us from creating a new vision for our future.” —Lisa J. Shultz, Lighter Living: Declutter. Organize. Simplify
“Anything that you possess that does not add to your life or your happiness eventually becomes a burden.” —John Robbins
“Bottom line is, if you do not use it or need it, it’s clutter, and it needs to go.” —Charisse Ward
Final Thoughts on Quotes About Decluttering
While it may seem obvious, just reading a good quote about decluttering won’t do anything to actually clear the clutter from our lives or help organize our physical space.
Motivational quotes can help to get us in the right frame of mind.
However, we need more than just a little inspiration to clear the mental clutter and take action to finally organize our physical stuff.
More and more people are finding greater peace by simplifying their lives.
It only makes sense to look for effective ways to spend less time having to deal with clutter, and gaining more time for the important things of life.
I’ve found that I’m less stressed, more organized, and more in control when I successfully declutter.
Having extra time for the things that really matter makes for a more simple life!
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the never-ending battle of trying to organize all your stuff, maybe it’s time to give the decluttering process a try.
If you have a lot of clutter, it will take time to get the entire house organized. But that’s okay!
Once you start to free up all the extra space that was once covered in clutter, you’ll feel better about yourself and the simpler life you’ve gained.
Having fewer things truly can be so freeing.
Trading clutter–and a lack of peace that goes along with a cluttered life–for good order and a happier life is an exchange well worth making!
I hope these quotes about decluttering will inspire you on your journey!
