Learn how to: decluttering through the lens of a camera
I was listening to Rose Lounsbury talk about decluttering the other day and something she said reminded me of a technique I use but have never heard anyone else mention. As an aside, if you are not familiar with Rose Lounsbury, check her out – I love the way she makes decluttering just feel so doable! Having listened to several interviews and talks she’s given, I always pick up something new.
As she was talking about the process she uses to declutter, Rose mentioned our brains are developed to notice novelty. In looking at something day after day, we actually begin to not see it anymore. I think of this as the visual equivalent of nose blindness to the unique aromas in your home.
And that’s what reminded me of the technique I discovered several years ago to help me with decluttering!
Through your camera lens
I’ve moved somewhat regularly. I think the longest I lived in any apartment or house as an adult was about four years. Often I’m only in a place for a year or two.
Which means I frequently not only search for a new place to live, but give notice that I’ll be leaving my current place. Once I give notice I’ll be moving, most of my landlords have asked for updated photos of the apartment to use in the listing. I’m always happy to take those photographs for them.
And it’s in taking those photographs that I discovered this technique. The clutter I’d become so accustomed to I no longer saw suddenly popped right out at me in photos. I’d review the pictures before sending them off and realize a surface was covered in papers, or I had something sitting on a dresser I thought I’d given away ages ago.
By shifting our world view from the physical to the digital, our brains see the room in a different way.
The first steps in the decluttering process
The first step I take when I’m starting to feel a little stressed out by my house is to pick up my phone and take a picture.
To keep things manageable, I suggest you photograph one section of a room at a time. It’s also easiest to start with an area you don’t have a lot of emotional attachment to – places like the bathroom or your entry (areas with few sentimental items). Then pull that picture up on a computer or tv so you can see it in detail.
I dislike them revisiting me in the future, so I delete my before photos as soon as I am done with them! This is a stock photo, but I’m guessing at least part of it looks familiar to you.
Ask yourself, if you were sending that photo off to a friend to show them your home would you be proud or embarrassed? Does it look the way your home looks in your head? Or are there piles and stacks of items you didn’t realize were there?
If you would be embarrassed to share that picture or you feel overwhelmed by the volume of stuff in the photo, it is time to declutter! Now here’s the second part to the trick, I declutter from the photo.
Time to start actually clearing out the clutter
Using another of Rose Lounsbury’s tips – only keep things you know to be useful or beautiful. Look at your photo – is there anything in it which does not fit that criteria? If so, are you ready to sell, donate or trash it? Maybe there are items which are either useful or beautiful (or both), but they need to be relocated to elsewhere in your home.
Begin moving between the photo and the space you’re decluttering, once you identify something in the photo to sell, donate, trash or relocate, pull it and put it in an appropriate box/bag. Keep going until you’ve removed everything from your photo you can see to declutter.
Now take another photo and repeat the process. Depending on how cluttered your space is when you start, you may love your second picture, or you may need to take a few photos to work through everything in that portion of a room.
This is just a first step (or a last one)
I want to note that this technique will not allow you to do a total decluttering process. It won’t let you see into drawers, closets and cupboards (although you can open doors and drawers and take photos, it probably isn’t the most effective option).
Also, the photo technique won’t help you discover you have hundreds of pencils spread around the house – it might seem like you have a reasonable amount if you’re decluttering one spot at a time when in reality you have way too many in total.
What this technique does allow you to do is to declutter with everything in place. I love that I can make my first pass at decluttering, pulling a few things off shelves, picking items off the floor, and clearing piles off tables without having to disassemble an entire room.
You will eventually need to empty a room and go through items one-by-one to do a thorough declutter. However, by removing as much as possible in your first pass to sell, donate, trash or relocate, when you do pull everything out, you’re dealing with a much smaller pile. And that makes everything feel more manageable!
This is also a great maintenance step. Have you done a deep declutter, working through every nook and cranny in your house? A few months down the road, this is a nice tool to use to make sure the clutter isn’t creeping back in. If you took pictures as soon as you finished your decluttering you can even use your current photo for side-by-side comparisons.
Why should you declutter
So now you know how to get started on your decluttering process, but you might be looking around you, feeling overwhelmed by what you see and wondering if decluttering is really worth the effort. Here is the thing, it is.
When your home is cluttered, your mind struggles to find a place to rest. If your world is chaotic, than so is your mind and emotions.
A study conducted by UCLA’s Center on Everyday Lives of Families found a link between women who described their homes as “messy” or “very chaotic” and elevated levels of cortisol (a stress hormone). One of the studies authors notes: “our excess becomes a visible sign of unaccomplished work that constantly challenges our notions of tidy homes and elicits substantial stress.”
Imagine feeling peace and ease instead of seeing countless to-do’s left undone when you walk in the door
When you walk into your home, it should be a relaxing space, not a place which causes you additional stress. By decluttering, you’re able to remove items from your home you don’t actually need or want. Even better – you can give them a new life by selling them to recoup a little cash or donating them to a thrift store which will use the funds raised to further nonprofit work in your community.
Imagine walking into your home, having a place to put your bag, coat and shoes. Being able to walk into your kitchen and easily prepare a meal without cleaning or clearing anything first. Then taking that meal to your dining room where you can eat at a clean table and then sit on a clean sofa and use your clear coffee table to put your evening cup of tea. Finally, you go to sleep, climbing into a made bed without a basket of laundry (clean or dirty) in sight. Does this sound like just a dream? Start decluttering and you can make this dream your reality!
Need more support or inspiration for decluttering
Ready to get deeper into the decluttering process or need a little more inspiration before getting started?
If you haven’t checked out Rose Lounsbury yet, I urge you to visit her website and listen to her TedX talk. I’m guessing you have probably heard of Marie Kondo. If you have a Netflix account and haven’t watched her Netflix special Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, I urge you to check it out. Watching her in action is both heartwarming and encouraging.
What I love about both of these women is they don’t set a maximum number of items you should have. They encourage you to keep what you find to be useful or beautiful (Rose Lounsbury) or items that spark joy (Marie Kondo). Both of these approaches allow you to have a home which is decluttered but still feels like your home, not a sterile personalityless space.
Once you get underway with the decluttering process, you might feel the urge to fill the empty space you’ve created back up again. Read my post on avoiding impulse buys as a place to get started on rethinking how you shop. And remember, the open physical space you’re creating is opening up mental and emotional space for you. Honor that space you have created and think carefully before bringing anything into your home to fill it.
Wishing you the clarity that comes with a decluttered home.
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