I Tried Out the '1-3-5 Decluttering Method' — And It's Such a Clever Way to Break Down Big Organizing Jobs

Clutter can be overwhelming and just generally stressful, making it harder to find what you use and need and far too easy to trip over and land in a pile of discarded laundry. To ease my worries, I sought to find the best solution to help me through my clutter woes. And after much research I came across the 1-3-5 decluttering method.

With endless methods out there to help declutter your home, picking the perfect one for you may be tricky. But what if I told you there was a method specifically designed to cater to the overwhelmed that breaks everything down into bite-sized, smaller tasks? Enter the 1-3-5 decluttering method.

I decided to try it out in my new home to see how it made me feel and if it really worked, and at the same time, hear some expert thoughts on the method from professional organizers. This is how the trial run went and who knows, maybe it's exactly what your home needs.

What Is the 1-3-5 Decluttering Method?

In simplest terms, the 1-3-5 decluttering method is a method that seeks to break decluttering down into tasks of varying size and difficulty: 1 could be a large task, 3 is something more medium in nature, and 5 is five small steps towards your goal.

When applying this to an example, the 1-3-5 method could look like this. Let's say your goal is to declutter your entire home, but that goal in itself feels huge and incredibly overwhelming. Once broken down using the 1-3-5 method, you are now presented with something like the following to work through:

1: Pick one large task to tackle that will have a big impact, shifting you significantly closer to your goal decluttering a closet perhaps? For instance, this could be donating all the junk in your garage to the local thrift and any surplus waste to the dump. It's a time-consuming task you've been putting off, and having it done will be a big step towards decluttering your entire house.

3: Set three secondary tasks for yourself that will have a big impact, but not tasks that are quite as large as your primary task. A good example of what this could be is to pick three rooms in your home to casually declutter. Allocate a day per room, switch on some music and go around the space with a box, gathering up as much as you can to donate. It's effective but gradual — you will see a difference in your space!

5: And lastly, set yourself five small tasks to declutter in 10 minutes or less that feel relatively effortless but will contribute to clearing your space even further. These could include recycling any mail flyers that have piled up in the entryway, binning the flowers that died last week, or placing all of your entertainment remotes back by the TV, easy to find. This idea is similar to the 'five a day' super simple decluttering rule.

If tackling your whole home using this method still feels like too much, that's totally okay. Kiera Malowitz, certified professional organizer and owner of Decluttered, LLC, breaks down the following example of the 1-3-5 decluttering method being applied to a single room in someone's home.

"Another approach for the 1-3-5 decluttering method is to do this in one set room or area of your home. Let's say you set the '1' goal of having less on your bathroom counter and making your bathroom feel less cluttered, and then you break that into 3 tasks.

1. Go through and declutter the drawers

2. Clear out the cabinets

3. evaluate what absolutely has to be left out versus put away."

Kiera continue: "Then, your 5 smaller tasks can be just picking 5 items you immediately see within the 3 tasks that can be decluttered. The 5 items typically do not take any time and are easy to decide on, so for the bathroom, it could be a hair product you no longer use, a lotion that was gifted to you that you will never use, a broken eyeliner pencil, a cracked case or a make-up bag that has seen better days. Visually pick out 5 items that are easy to declutter."

Then, Kiera says "get back to the 3 tasks of clearing out your drawers, cabinets, and counter. The goal is that you have decluttered enough in the drawers and cabinets that you now have room within each for items that were previously left on the counter that you wanted put away. Thus, we can achieve a bathroom with less clutter on the counter." Knowing how to declutter a bathroom will certainly ease your worries and feelings of overwhelm, so give this method a go.

I Tried the Method and Here's What Happened

I wanted to try out the 1-3-5 method after I went back home to collect the rest of my belongings to bring into my new home. Bringing these items into my new place meant there were more items that hadn't been combed through, and none of them were yet placed in an official home.

I felt it made sense to declutter them prior to putting everything away, and decided on the following 1, 3, and 5 for myself to undertake.

1: Have everything existing in my space but still have my home feeling clutter-free and containing only what I truly want and love.

3: Sort all of my newly brought over items into categories, declutter these categories, compare my newly brought over 'keeps' against my already there 'keeps' to crosscheck whether I wish to part with anything else.

5: Bag up my items to let go, bring these items to my local thrift stores, sift through any 'maybes' I kept hold of to decide whether to keep or let go of those items, try to clear some of my surfaces as clear surfaces instantly make an area look and feel more spacious, and go through my junk drawers .

Once my items all sat in bags on the floor of my small apartment I felt immediately overwhelmed, and like I was trying to declutter and organize a room with too much stuff in. In turn, I soon felt grateful for the framework the 1-3-5 decluttering method provided. As much as I knew there was a lot to do, knowing how to break the task down and where to begin brought an enormous wave of relief.

I began by placing as many bags as I could out of the way in my hallway and unpacked them one by one on the floor, creating categories. After I had my categories I combed through the contents, as I felt waiting until everything was there would be a better approach than decluttering as I go. It allowed me to better see the volume of what I had, as well as if there were any duplicates.

Anything I wished to part with I piled onto my bed to bag up later, and all the while I was decluttering I had in mind my primary goal (my 1): to have a clutter-free space containing what I want and love. If I wanted and loved something truly, I wasn't going to part with it to feel good about myself in the moment and more "minimalist" - that would only lead to regrets after decluttering. If there's anything you feel unsure about, I'm a strong advocate for creating a 'maybe' pile to address at a later time when less is going on around you.

Once I had my keeps and donates sorted, I started putting my 'keep' items away where I felt they should belong: clothes in my wardrobe and chest of drawers, toiletries in the bathroom, books on my little bedside shelf. As I put the items away I took particular care to take note of what was already there and if I believed what I was now putting into the space was truly adding value. If I felt it was I continued and place it in and, if I didn't feel that way, I added it to the donate pile on my bed.

After everything was tidied, I bagged up my items to donate and had a rest. The following day I wheeled them down to my local thrift in a suitcase for ease of carrying and felt a weight lift off of me both literally and emotionally. Sometimes you don't realize the benefits of decluttering and the impact surplus stuff can have on your mental state until you mindfully tackle it.

From there I went about the rest of my plan, wiping down and decluttering my surfaces as well as sifting through my two junk drawers. I felt very accomplished once everything was completed and in a good head space to continue the week.

FAQs

Is the 1-3-5 Method of Decluttering Really Worth It?

What works for one person may not work for another, but I talked to Kimberly Corey, certified professional organizer®, certified virtual organizing professional, and owner of Finely Sorted Organizing, LLC, and Ben Soreff, professional organizer and partner at House to Home Organizing, to hear their expert opinion on whether the 1-3-5 decluttering method is a good choice to consider.

Kimberly says, "The 1-3-5 decluttering method is essentially another psychological trick you can play with your mind to keep an undesirable task manageable. Effectively this method makes the light at the end of the tunnel get brighter and brighter which fuels motivation by the feeling of empowerment. It also 'chunks' the work making it less intimidating because you know there is only one challenging task, 3 easier tasks and 5 no brainers. If this kind of thing works for your brain, it's definitely worth considering the method."

Ben says, "This method may be helpful for those who don’t know where to begin as it offers 'wins' on each stage so that you don’t have to see results only at the end of the project. However, this method is not without it’s drawbacks. Some people may find the lack of flexibility frustrating and for that I suggest using the basic core concepts of this method as jumping off point instead of adhering to the rigid structure."

He continues: "The whole point of any method is to get the best results so, for instance, if you are tackling an organizing or decluttering project and have set aside the right amount of time and are feeling the flow, then use this method as a simple guide focusing on the intent instead of treating it as a rule."

Despite the stress that often comes with decluttering, it's really beneficial to undertake and can give your home a new lease of life. However you go about it, whether you use the 1-3-5 decluttering method or something else, what matters is that the process aligns with you and your desired lifestyle.

I tried the SIMPLE method of decluttering out as well, and enjoyed the sense of structure it gave to decluttering my home. So if you like the idea of breaking the task of decluttering down into manageable steps but aren't the biggest fan of the number system used in this method, the SIMPLE method may work better for you.