Schedule a pick-up

Give yourself a deadline to get things out the door

Most of us own more stuff than we need. Our homes would look better with a little less clutter, but the problem is that unless you’re moving, decluttering tends not to come with a deadline.

So why not give it one?

In my area, GreenDrop allows you to schedule a pick-up of household items that you would like to donate. I imagine the idea is that you declutter and then set a pick-up time, but you could schedule a pick-up time and then use that as motivation. If a big truck will be coming to get eight boxes from your front porch in 10 days, well, better start producing those boxes!

Unless you have a very specific place you like to donate things (in which case, please do), scheduling a pick-up might be more efficient anyway. I know people who have driven around with bags of stuff in their trunk for…a while. Somehow a stop at the donation center never makes it onto the to-do list.

But you can force decluttering onto yours. If you’ve been trying to nudge yourself to clean out part of your house, schedule a pick-up for a week or two from now. Most likely that will provide the nudge — and your house will feel cleaner and lighter.