Hack your Habits for a Clutter-Free Home

Your home did not become cluttered overnight. Clutter has crept in as a result of years, or even a lifetime of habits. So to get rid of the clutter you need to change your habits. But it could be easier than you expect to shift your habits for a clutter-free home.

For decades my home was plagued by clutter. No matter how often I cleaned, sorted or donated, the clutter kept creeping back in.

Every time I moved (which was a lot!) I vowed that in this fresh, new space things would be different. But soon the clutter crept back in, and the pile of unopened boxes that travelled with me on every move continued to grow.

So clearly the problem was not the space I was living in. The problem had to be me. Or more specifically, the habits and behaviours I was subconsciously repeating that were leading to clutter.

It’s taken a long time to break this cycle, and I am still learning. 

But I’ve picked up a lot of useful strategies along the way.

So in this post I will share with you how habits are built, and how you can use your habits for a clutter-free home.

My favourite book on habit change, by a long shot, is Atomic Habits by James Clear. In it he describes the four stages of a habit:

Cue, Craving, Response, Reward

The cue is the trigger. The craving is what we want. The response is the action we take. And the reward is what we gain.

Habits can be good or bad, depending on whether the reward is a helpful one or not.

So the reward of a dopamine hit from drugs, alcohol or caffeine can reinforce a bad habit. And the reward of a dopamine hit from exercise or a lovely space can reinforce a good habit.

The trick is to be aware of the cues and rewards to steer them in the direction that you want.

For a deeper dive into the psychology behind the 4 stages of a habit you can read here.

What are habits, and how can they help us?

A habit is defined as:

“something that you do often and regularly, sometimes without knowing that you are doing it:”

Cambridge English Dictionary

If your house is very cluttered your first task will be to identify the negative habits that have led to it becoming this way. No amount of cleaning is going to help if the cause of the problem is not addressed.

Your next stages will be to declutter and then to organise. These are bigger, one-off projects and not habits. You need to get to a point where you can maintain the space for new habits to truly serve you.

So how can we use these habit stages for a clutter-free home?

Let’s look at each of these habit stages in turn.

Clutter-Free Habit Stage 1 – Cue

If all we need to start on a habit is a cue, surely our homes should be immaculate? Because if you have a messy house you have cues all around you. All the mess you can see should act as a cue to declutter or tidy up.

But it doesn’t.

Why is that?

Well those of us with messy homes, particularly if we have ADHD, struggle with filtering and prioritising these cues. 

And if we don’t know which of the cues to pay attention and respond to, we can end up ignoring them all.

These cues are also usually not urgent, so we put off the task for later. Which can translate to never.

So to actually cue a desirable action we need to be intentional in which cue we respond to and when we respond.

This is where starting small is key. 

How to successfully trigger clutter-free habits with cues:

First, you need a plan. Pick just one cue to trigger one action.

This cue should also be time-specific and linked to something you do already.

So for example, if you would like a cleaner, more organised kitchen start with the habit of washing and putting away all the dishes. And set a specific time to do this. 

How does this look in practice?

We have breakfast as a family in the morning. So the first habit to a clean kitchen is to have every family member clear their own plates and cups from the table and take them to the kitchen counter. The cue for this is finishing breakfast and getting up from the table.

Then my husband takes our daughter upstairs to help her get ready for school. That’s my cue to load the dishwasher and wash up anything that needs hand washing.

I do the school drop off, then come home to work. Before heading upstairs I step into the kitchen to fill my water bottle. That’s my cue to check that all the washing up is done and that counters are clean and clear.

By breaking this one task down to three stages I’m giving myself a much better chance of getting it completed. If my only cue was my daughter getting ready for school I would have to clear the table, load the dishwasher, hand wash and clean the counters in a very small time window. If I didn’t make it in this time the leftover mess would sit there till lunch. And then I’d be annoyed at failing at my goal.

So having staged cues gives you more opportunity to get the task finished.

When there is a lot of mess in the house doing the dishes may feel insignificant. You have plenty more to deal with.

But building a new, tidy habit is about training your brain, and like any new habit takes time to learn.

For more on this, check out this post How to Reach Your Goals Faster With Habit Stacking and get your habit stacking workbook here.

Clutter-Free Habit Stage 2 – Craving

If something truly doesn’t bother you, you will not be motivated to act on it. Our actions come as a result of wanting to satisfy desires (cravings).

So if you are not bothered by the state of your kitchen, you won’t crave the outcome of a tidy kitchen. But as you are reading this post I am assuming that you are bothered by things in your home.

So really connecting with your craving (your “Why”) will help motivate you to move towards a successful outcome.

Nobody wants to start the horrible jobs. In fact, your brain is wired to move you away from pain and towards pleasure. So it’s no surprise that you don’t feel motivated to start a task that feels like it will be unpleasant. That’s OK. And perfectly normal.

We don’t crave the action that leads to a positive outcome. We crave the outcome. There aren’t many people who crave the process of cleaning a kitchen. What many of us do crave though is the enjoyment of a beautiful, clean and uncluttered space.

This is why habits with quick outcomes are much more likely to stick than habits with rewards far off in the future. 

So although you may crave a clean and tidy home, don’t pick that as your habit goal. It’s going to take far too long to get to the reward for it to be motivating. Start small. With consistency, you’ll get to that clean and tidy home before you know it.

Now have you noticed that although you might normally put off cleaning, if someone is due to come over you suddenly find yourself very motivated to clean? That’s a cue and craving in action. You suddenly start craving a clean space to avoid embarrassment in front of your visitor.

How can we use cravings to motivate ourselves to declutter?

Keep connecting with your “Why”.

What is motivating is different for everyone, but here are a few ideas:

• A vision board of your ideal space
• A motivational quote in a prominent place
• A reminder in your diary
• A cleaning buddy coming over
• Booking a cleaner
• Inviting guests
• Putting on a decluttering video or podcast

Clutter-Free Habit Stage 3 – Response

So you are motivated and craving a tidy space. But motivation is useless without action. 

Now you need to make it as easy as possible to respond and take action on your cue.

If you want to get your dishes under control, but you don’t have enough storage space to put them away, you are going to struggle to respond. If the drainer or the sink is too full of other stuff then you are going to struggle to respond.

So a bit part of making your desired action a habit is making it as easy as possible. 

This is why I am a big believer in decluttering first, before you try to organise or maintain cleaning routines. You need to give yourself the space in which to organise and clean.

So before setting out to start a cleaning habit, make sure you have mastered your decluttering habit first. 

Decluttering is a bigger task that requires more thinking than routine tidying. But the principle remains the same. Start small, and give yourself specific cues to start it. This might be a weekly window when your family is out, or a nightly routine when you have time to yourself.

To make decluttering easy prepare your tools first. Grab a box and label it “donate”. And then a bag for trash and one for recycling. 

As you declutter, leave cues for the next response. So you might stack the trash bags by the door ready to take out to the rubbish. You might take the charity box straight to the car ready for taking to the charity shop.

And make sure you have an incentive to keep up the momentum. You might set yourself a timer to work against the clock. Or set a specific number of items to declutter. Whatever motivates you to keep up the momentum is good.

Clutter-Free Habit Stage 4 – Reward

This is a big one. So often we race on to the next task, forgetting to congratulate ourselves for what we have accomplished.

But for your new habit to stick you need to take a moment to enjoy the reward of your behaviour.

A clean, decluttered space can be a reward in and of itself. Even if that space is just a tiny part of your house.

So take a moment to enjoy the fruits of your labour. You might give yourself a high-five, do a happy dance or tick your win off in a habit tracker.

Before and after photos are a brilliant reward system. We even get a dopamine hit from looking at other people’s transformations (that’s why makeover shows are so popular). So take your own before and afters to remind yourself of what you’ve achieved. 

Take it a step further and share your wins on social media or by bringing a friend over. 

Using Habits for a Clutter-Free Home When You Have ADHD

The cue, craving, response reward sequence is even more important for ADHD brains. We have a hard time getting started and are easily distracted. So any break in the sequence can take us off task.

Firstly make the cues really obvious. Out of sight is out of mind, so at least when starting out with a new habit you may need to be utilising a lot of reminders of your cue. 

Reminders include:

• Post it notes
• Phone or app reminders
• Alarms
• A habit tracker
• An accountability buddy to check in with
• A support group
• A coach

My habit stacking workbook has some more ideas.

If you have a tendency to procrastinate by focussing on something other than your desired task give yourself a little menu of options. Now I don’t recommend taking on too many habits at once, but a few small and varied options might be just what you need to stay interested.

Remember too to focus on the reward. You might need to vary the rewards to keep things interesting and maintain the habit.

ADHD brains are great at starting something new but much less good at follow-through and consistency. Which makes the motivation part of habit formation even more key. 

So to make sure that your habits for a clutter-free home stick, make sure you are planning your cue, craving, response and reward.

An accountability partner is the fastest way of making your new habit stick.

For personal support and accountability check out my declutter coaching services.