Aristotle reputedly said, ‘The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know.’

This applies to clutter clearing too.

The more you declutter, the more you realize there are areas of clutter you’ve been completely blind to. There are always deeper levels to explore, physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually.

This is why I often say that clutter clearing is like peeling layers of an onion. You do one pass and think that’s it, and then a few days, weeks, or months later, you do another pass and discover there is more you’re ready to let go of.

Most people do clutter clearing in a series of passes

It used to worry me that so many people return to repeat my clutter clearing courses. I thought I must be doing something wrong because they didn’t get it the first time.

But then I realized most of them return to clear a deeper level of clutter when they feel ready to do so. Some people take the same course every year for several years to go deeper each time.

The first pass

The first time you do clutter clearing, you let go of obvious things, so it works best to start in areas such as your kitchen or bathroom, which tend to contain items you have little or no attachment to. It is easier to declutter when you can see you haven’t used things in a long time and really don’t need them.

These two articles will help you to get started with the first pass:

A beginner’s guide to clutter clearing
How to declutter your home 20 minutes at a time

You can also find a lot of help in 7 Steps to Declutter Your Home

More passes

You may need to do several clutter clearing passes to bring yourself fully up to date, and it’s important to do it at a speed that’s right for you. However, the good news is that it gets easier each time you do it, as you build your clutter clearing muscle.

Each pass allows you to get in touch with deeper levels of yourself, which allows you to fine-tune your home to represent who you are and who you wish to become, instead of it being a memorial to who you’ve been. It’s the process of restoring integrity to your life, one item at a time.

These photos show the progress made by a participant during a 21-day Fast-Track Clutter Clearing course.  The first photo shows the initial clutter. The second shows the result of the first pass she made, which looked and felt much better. The third photo shows the result of the second pass, which transformed the area into a clutter-free, usable workspace.

Clutter clearing is not something you only do once

With each layer of clutter you clear, you’ll see your home through different eyes. Things that previously blended into the background will suddenly be revealed for the clutter that they are. And things that are useful to you today will be your clutter of tomorrow, as you change and grow.

This is how clutter clearing changes from being a chore you may have avoided in the past to a self-empowering practice you look forward to doing at least once a year to keep yourself on track.

Copyright © Clear Space Living Ltd 2024, updated 2026

Related articles
Clutter clearing needs to be repeated regularly
The curious phenomenon of clutter blindness

Resource
Online clutter clearing courses