Declutter your home by focusing on your decor. 

In her book, The Joy of Less: A Minimalist Living Guide to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify, author Francine Jay suggests that you declutter your home by removing all household decorations and storing them out-of-sight for an entire week.

After 7 days, return only items that were missed to their original places.

I decided to try it.

Here’s what I learned.

First, THE WHY

I’m a Crate & Barrel junkie; I adore home decor. Our house has many built-ins – there are lots of places for trinkets to accumulate.

And they accumulate, indeed.

What I love more than a Crate & Barrel-esque home is a clutter-free living area. I prefer the aesthetic of less, and I believe that the best way to make my home look cleaner and feel more upscale than it actually is is to display less stuff.

I figured that – by reexamining my trinkets –  I didn’t have anything to lose. I wasn’t doing anything drastic; instead, I was being incremental. If, after 7 days, I wanted to put all my stuff back, I definitely could.

No harm, no foul.

If nothing else, I reasoned that this little experiment would force me to dust some of the nooks and crannies in my home that I had forgotten about it.

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How to declutter your home

I removed all the trinkets and decor from the first floor of my home. I put them in a box, then I stuck the box in the basement.

• I didn’t consider personal photos trinkets.
• I kept artwork on the walls.
• I left alone the few plants I’ve managed to keep alive.

The process of removing was enlightening. I found an old bell hiding atop the built-ins in the dining room that I couldn’t – and still can’t – figure out where it came from.

The removal of some items gave me all the feels, in a good way. I had purchased an oversized candelabra because I thought my dining room table needed a centerpiece. I bought it online without first checking the measurements and, when it arrived, I realized it was too tall for my table and would actually hit the bottom of the chandelier.

I should have returned it then, but I didn’t. The candelabra collected dust in the corner of my dining room for over a year. And every single time I passed by, I experienced something like slow-simmering anxiety and guilt for having purchased it in the first place.

Once I removed it, I immediately felt better.

What I learned on DAY 1:

Trinkets come into our lives without much conscious thought.

I have countless items lying around that I always looked at but never truly “saw”.

I have too many candles and lanterns.

Trinkets go out of style quicker than furniture.

The results

After 7 days, I brought the box back upstairs. I promised myself I’d give each and every item honest study before determining its fate. I found myself practicing KonMari advice by asking whether each item sparks joy; I was surprised that many items did not.

I was, however, unprepared for the sentimental items, particularly this broken teapot, at left.

Because back before kids, my husband and I booked a trip to Japan on a whim. We climbed Mount Fuji. We gorged ourself on sushi (the real stuff) and sake (the strong stuff). We slept on tatami mats and, for two weeks, truly lived.

We had such fun that we wanted to commemorate our trip with a souvenir. Together we zeroed in on this handmade teapot from a Kamakuran potter. We loved the little thing.

Until it broke.

Its unique side-handle – the very thing that made it distinctly Japanese – snapped off during our move to the suburbs. Its surface chipped, too, but I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of it. So it sat on a shelf, with its brokenness turned to the back for years and years.

There was pottery I made, too, back from my pot-throwing days. I had placed them atop some bare shelves when we moved in just so the shelf wouldn’t look bare; 3 years later, they’re still there.

The thing is, though, these handmade pots don’t enhance my home or bring me happiness. Because whenever I look at them, I see what’s not quite right: the vase isn’t symmetrical. They glaze is sloppy.

Some of my items were sentimental. Some weren’t. Some were gifts that I had displayed out of guilt but never brought true joy. In the end, out of the 20 items I removed, I only put 6 things back.

The takeaways

This experiment proved worth its weight in gold because:

– It forced me to address the emotions I had unknowingly tied to “stuff”.

– I learned that I never should have bought most of the items in the first place. 

– It reminded me that clutter always creeps in, despite our most diligent efforts.

Declutter your home by removing your trinkets for 7 days and let me know how it goes!

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