Practical Steps To Declutter Your Life

Beauty

1. Pick one signature perfume. Get rid of the rest.
   
   
2. Keep not more than 5 of your favorite and most-used nail polishes.
   
   
3. Go through all the make-up products that you have accumulated but that are now hidden away in that sad drawer/pouch/box. Only keep the things that you have used at least once in the last 12 (!) months.
   

household

1. You only need one universal surface cleaner in your household (follow my DIY recipe here with (distilled or boiled) water, essential oil, white vinegar, and baking soda).
   
   
2. Donate all clothing items that are duplicates (another black T-shirt?) or that you have not worn at least once in the last 12 months.
   
   
3. Collect all loose papers (e.g. notes, magazines, bills, newspapers, business cards and flyers). Digitize/photograph or scan what’s important, recycle the rest.
   

Food

1. Chose one savory and one sweet snack. Don’t keep more than one bag of each at home and don’t buy other snacks at the store (my choices are Pistachios and Dark Chocolate).
   
   
2. Chose a nutritious and yummy breakfast (e.g. oats with berries and dark chocolate for the sweet-tooth or eggs, spinach and avocado for the savory lovers out there). Eat it (nearly) every day.
   
   
3. Cook only one meal per day (the rest is your breakfast and one dish that doesn’t need any preparation or chopping, e.g. as in frozen vegetables and microwavable grains). When you cook, try to cook “one-pot-recipes”, e.g. stews, soups, and casseroles. You save on time and dishes.
   

Technology

1. Reduce the number of apps on your phone. There is a website? Get rid of the app, unless you use it more than once a week.
   
   
2. Chose one news source/news app/news website that you get your news-fix from.
   
   
3. Limit your media consumption to max. one movie or 2 series episodes per day, especially movies, shows, and social media browsing.
   

free time

1. Chose your 3 favorite free-time activities (for example board games, movie theater visits, and bike rides with picnic brake) that you can fall back on when you are overwhelmed with too many options on a free day or for date night.
   
   
2. Bulk your everyday actions as much as you can to once or twice per week, e.g. your cleaning, laundry, snack-prep, bill-pay and cooking.
   
   
3. Reduce all social commitments that you are not 100% excited about and limit social meetups (e.g. go out only once on a single weekend).