zen habits: Zero Clutter

Posted: 10 Jan 2013 07:30 AM PST

By Leo Babauta

Now is as good a time as any to clear out your clutter — sweep it out in one go, or take bite-sized chunks each day over the course of a month. Either method works.

Today I’m going to introduce you to a method I call Zero Clutter. It’s about only having the essential things in your life, and clearing out the rest. It’s about developing the habits that keep your life clutter-free, and learning to put things where they belong every time, so that clutter doesn’t accumulate.

It’s not something you can implement overnight. It takes a little time to clear out the non-essential things from your life, and even more time to develop the clutter-free habits. But you can start today.

The Zero Clutter Method

Here’s how it works:

The Zero Clutter Zone. Zero Clutter starts with picking one area of your home or work space, and choosing that as your Zero Clutter space. That space will expand to your entire home or office. Let’s say you pick your kitchen counter, or your home entryway, or your desk, as your Zero Clutter Zone. Remember, you’re just starting here.
Clear out the zone. Look at everything in your Zero Clutter Zone. What here is absolutely essential? What do you love and use on a regular basis? These are your essential items — take everything else out of the zone, put it in an outbox or trash it. The outbox is for donations or giving away. Put the outbox near your door or somewhere you’ll remember to take to drop off at a charity or give to other people — out of your house.
Have homes for everything. The Zero Clutter Zone should now be clear of everything but the essential. These essential things need to have “homes” — spots that you designate for them. If they’re not things you need to look at, put the essential things out of sight — in a drawer, cabinet, closet. Don’t just throw them in there — have a space for them.
Develop the Zero Clutter habit. Now remember the homes you create for things, and always put them back in those spots. This is a habit that takes a little time to develop, but become aware when you’re about to toss something where it doesn’t belong — you’re procrastinating on putting it back where it belongs. Take the extra 10 seconds to put it back in its home. If it doesn’t have a home yet, create one. Work on this habit consciously — it can take a few weeks to develop.
Keep your zone clutter free. Now that you have a clear space, don’t allow any clutter to come into it. Zero. Be vigilant! This is your zone, and you won’t let any sneaky clutter mess up your hard work.
Expand the zone. If you chose your kitchen counter, expand to other countertops, or your dining table, or the floor of your kitchen. Get it clear! It only takes 5-10 minutes to clear a small space, so you can do this a little in the morning and again in the late afternoon/evening, and you’ll quickly expand the zone so it gets bigger and bigger. Clear it out, give things homes, put the non-essential in the trash/recycling or outbox, keep it clear. Be vigilant about keeping it clear! And expand some more, and more, until your entire house or office is a Zero Clutter Zone.

It’s a fairly simple method, but it takes a little time to implement. If you are busy, carve out 10-minute chunks twice a day and keep the ball rolling once you get it going. If you have more time, feel free to spend half a day or more clearing out a huge Zero Clutter Zone. It’s hugely satisfying.

Read more about decluttering from Courtney Carver: How to Get Rid of Clutter Hotspots.

4-Week Clutterfree Course

Courtney and I teamed up last year to create a course on how to live a clutter-free life. Today we’re making it available as a self-study course that you can do at your own pace.

In these four weeks, you’ll enjoy a self paced course to uncover your clutter and get rid of it for good including:

Weekly modules that include articles, instructive PDFs, video & audio presentations and interviews and homework assignments
Audio interviews with experts
Weekly recorded video webinars
Access to the Clutterfree Forum for questions and discussion

In the course, we’ll focus on four areas:

Clutter-free Emotion: Examining why we hold onto stuff, how to let go, how to figure out what’s important in your life, dealing with the emotions of shopping and gifts and keeping up with the Joneses.
Clutter-free Action: How to get started decluttering, how to tackle your closets, kitchen, workspace and more; how to deal with kids’ stuff; how to give your stuff away; and more.
Staying Clutter-Free: How to enjoy the space and not feel compelled to fill it up; Recognizing enough; Maintaining your clutter-free status; Gift giving and receiving; and an important question: If you had less and wanted less, could you work less and make less?
Clutter-Free Time: Obligations; To-Do Lists; Focus; UnProcrastination; and Morning Routines

As a course member, you’ll also receive the Clutterfree Digital Package. The Clutterfree Digital Package includes:

The Clutterfree book with 23 chapters in digital format including pdf, epub and mobi versions so you can read on your computer, iPad, iPhone or Kindle.
Audio interviews with clutter free experts Tammy Strobel & Joshua Becker
Video from Leo Babauta (me)

Learn more at The Clutterfree Course.