The Trick That Helped Us Finally Declutter Our Basement

We’re two weeks into our $100 basement makeover and to be honest, it isn’t exactly looking pretty just yet.  Okay so it probably isn’t ever going to look ‘pretty’, but it is going to look like an actual space.  And that definitely isn’t happening yet.

So what have I been doing for the past two weeks?  Lots of sorting, decluttering, and purging.  There was a bunch of kids clothes and Christmas decorations that needed to be moved out of the home gym area.  And somehow finding new homes for  those things grew into clearing out the entire basement.

It’s funny, I’ve definitely tried a few times before to clear out and organize our basement, but I always ended up losing interest and quitting before I finished.  I even shared a huge basement cleanout plan here on the blog a couple of years ago.  And it started out amazing and then I started to slow down.  And then I just kind of forgot about it and started working on other stuff.  Whomp-whomp.

The same thing has happened in other areas of our house.  We have a big bonus closet off of our family room and I clean it out and reorganize it at least once a year. Every time I start out so excited to get it all cleaned out and functional again.  And then by the time I’ve dragged all of the stuff out to sort it, I already kind of want to just shove it all back in and forget about it!

So why is this time different?  There has to be a reason I’m actually motivated enough to truly get the basement cleaned out this time around when all of the other times  were flops.  I pondered this for awhile as I was painting the cinder block walls downstairs.  (Not a fun job by the way.)  And I think I figured out the secret – the secret to staying motivated and truly decluttering a basement or other huge space.

In the past I always just decided it would be good to clear stuff out and started sorting stuff.  This time around, I didn’t set out to clear things out at all; I set out to create a great home gym space.  And creating the home gym I envisioned meant some stuff had to go.  The other end of the basement is my workshop which I’ve also been slowly organizing and working on over the past few months.  I also have a vision for that space and I certainly didn’t want it to end up full of stuff that used to be in the home gym.  So I cleared stuff out.

My other truly successful decluttering experience was several years ago when I had to clean out my craft room (junk room) to make space for Griffin’s nursery. That room was crammed full of stuff but I had no problem getting rid of most of it because I knew what I wanted to room to become.

Knowing exactly how I wanted the space to function and look made it so easy to let go of all the extra stuff.  But when my only goal was to get rid of stuff just for the heck of it, it was really hard to see the point.

So that’s the secret to actually getting rid of the extra clutter – having a vision for how you want that room or space or shelf to function or look once it’s not covered in unnecessary stuff.

I’m thinking once I wrap up this home gym makeover, it might just be time to tackle that bonus closet again.  Only this time I’ll figure out how I want to actually use the closet before I begin.

Now I’ve got two weeks left to transform our freshly decluttered basement into a decent home gym.  Which means I have a lot of work to do!  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about finishing – but I still believe I can pull this off.  So back to work for me!

See everything related to my $100 home gym makeover right here:

Week 1: Basement Before Pictures

Week 2: Industrial Home Gym Plans

Week 3: Trick to Finally Decluttering the Basement (you’re here)

Week 4: Basement Home Gym Update: The Final Stretch

Week 5: Basement Home Gym Reveal  (the big one!)

And in case you missed them, you can see my other $100 room makeovers here:

$100 Modern Farmhouse Bathroom Reveal

$100 Family Room Reveal

Here’s an update on how everyone else’s spaces are coming along!