Throw a Packing Party to Declutter Your Home
Decluttering can be stressful and difficult. How do you decide what stays and what goes? How to part with things that have occupied your space for so long? One way is to make it funny. Try hosting a “packing party” with friends to help you get organized over time.
What is a packing party?
This idea comes from Joshua Fields Milburn and Ryan Nicodemus, a duo known to fans of their books and podcasts as “The Minimalists” about decluttering and living a more meaningful, downsized life. You may have evenseen their documentary on Netflix.
On his blog, Nicodemus shared the story of the origins of his minimalist lifestyle and how a night out with friends helped him launch it. Before we get into what a party pack looks like, it’s worth mentioning a few things: first, you don’t have to do this with the goal of becoming a complete minimalist and overhauling your entire life and philosophy; you might just want to declutter your home a little. Second, asking friends to help you clean and organize may be a smart (and more fun) move, but they aren’t that necessary. You can do this yourself if you don’t want to invite people to look at your mess or just want to tackle a personal project.
How to throw a get-together party
You will need boxes. You will need a lot of boxes . This is because at first you are going to pretend that you are moving out of the house. Step one: Pack everything you own into cardboard boxes as if you were going to a new place. Be sure to label each box with a clear description of the contents, such as “kitchen utensils” or “sportswear.”
While you’re at it, you can invite some friends (to add a “party” element to the “packaging party”), order some pizza, and have a fun evening. But don’t put things in order while you’re packing. They’re not here to pass judgment on your junk; they are here to help you pack them into boxes. The real decluttering will happen later.
Once everything is packed and labeled, don’t do anything else. Live your normal life for three weeks, taking out what you need from the box only when you need it. After three weeks, you’ll still have boxes full of stuff, as well as things you’ve actually used during that time, put back in their place in your home. For anything you haven’t used, seriously think about whether you need it in your life. Nicodemus says that after three weeks, he sold or donated everything left in his boxes, which he estimates amounted to as much as 80% of his possessions.
Obviously, there are exceptions: for example, during these three weeks you may not use the suit or nice dress you keep on hand at weddings, or the slow cooker you pull out for a holiday dinner. The idea of getting rid of everything you don’t use within 21 days is good, but not entirely practical, so judge for yourself. Consider sorting everything left in boxes using the 12-12-12 method , setting limits on the number of items you throw away, donate, and keep.
For three weeks, you’ll live as if you’ve just moved into a brand new home, but by the end of the experiment, the house will actually feel a little new.