Use the 80/20 Rule to Get Rid of Everything You Don’t Really Need
If I seem to talk a lot about the Pareto principle, it is because it is widely applicable. This principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, essentially states that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts, and is important to keep in mind when planning your to-do list or studying for a test . This means you can focus on the basics, cut out all the fluff, and still achieve great results by simply mastering the basic elements of what you need to do. The same thing happens when you declutter. That’s right: you can apply the 80/20 rule to cleaning and minimizing effort.
What does the Pareto principle have to do with decluttering?
Just as 80% of the test you take will likely be based on 20% of the fundamentals you’ve learned, 20% of your materials will likely be used 80% of the time. On a typical day, when you’re choosing what to wear, you’ll likely gravitate toward the same shirts and pants. When doing your makeup, you’ll most likely use the same combination of foundation, blush, and eyeliner. When you cook, you probably use the same tools to prepare the same dishes on a typical weeknight.
We are people of habits with our own signature appearance, food and hobbies. There’s nothing wrong with that, except that when you have tools scattered around you that only work for the things you rarely do the other 20% of the time, your space can get pretty cluttered.
How to use the 80/20 rule to get organized
First, prove the theory: spend a few weeks writing down what you achieve and use on an average day. You can write it down in a spreadsheet or a note, or just try to consciously focus. Over time, you will find that you gravitate toward the same things over and over again, while others remain largely untouched. Things you don’t use make up 80% of things that can be considered real clutter.
Set the intention to get rid of most of it. You can do this by using a method such as the 12-12-12 method , which asks you to keep, throw away and donate 12 items every day, or the KonMari method , which allows you to save some things that are sentimental or nice. even if they are not used often. Here’s the thing: although you probably never use most of the things in that 80% mass, some of them make sense and some are used sporadically. The pretty outfits you wear for special occasions, the dishes you use for Thanksgiving dinners, or the board games you pull out when it’s your turn to host a group of friends don’t have to be thrown away. If you’re struggling to decide whether something is a pure mess that can be cleaned up or whether you might have to keep it, there are two approaches you can try. The first is the 90/90 method , which involves determining whether you have used something in the last 90 days or could use it in the next 90. If you have already done a mini Pareto analysis, you probably already know that The item in question hasn’t been used in the previous 90 days, but this method still leaves room for the possibility that it will be used within the next three months, which may alleviate some concern about whether it’s wise to get rid of it. .
Second, try the 20/20 rule , which is especially useful when you’re clearing out a huge amount of unused items. Here you are asking yourself if the item in question can be replaced for less than $20 in case you need it in the future, and if it can be replaced in less than 20 minutes. If the answers are yes, get rid of it; the space you’ll save in your home will cost about the $20 you’ll spend to replace it in the unlikely event you actually need it.
By learning to recognize your own usage patterns and figuring out which things are truly useful in your daily life, you’ll develop a habit of not only getting organized, but keeping it that way, as you’ll have a better reference structure when making purchasing and organizing decisions.