The One Decluttering Regret That Changed Everything for My Chicago Home

Between the hustle of the Loop and the cozy chaos of family life in Chicago, our homes can quickly fill up with more stuff than space. That clutter isn’t just on our shelves—it weighs on our minds and steals our precious time. What if the secret to a cleaner, calmer home wasn’t about organizing better, but about owning less?

I spent years trying to get my home in order. I bought all the bins, the baskets, the fancy organizers. I tried to “get organized” first. But the truth was, I was just rearranging piles of things I didn’t need, use, or love. I was drowning in stuff, and it cost me more than just square footage—it cost me time, peace, and joy. It wasn’t until I made one dramatic change that my entire perspective on my space, and my life, shifted.

The Cost of Clutter: What I Lost Before I Let Go

While I was busy organizing my clutter, I was missing out on what truly mattered. The clutter was a constant, quiet stressor that affected everything:

• Time: More hours spent cleaning around, moving, and managing possessions.
• Peace of Mind: A background feeling of chaos, even in a “tidy” room.
• Self-Esteem: I started to dislike my space and, by extension, myself for not having it “together.”
• Family Moments: Precious time that could have been spent with loved ones was spent managing things.

I realized that no amount of clever storage could fix a fundamental problem: I had too much. This is a feeling many of us share, and sometimes, the best first step toward a fresh start is to schedule a cleaning after a big declutter to truly reset your environment.

The Turning Point: Removing 80%

The breakthrough didn’t come from a new organizing hack. It came from radical reduction. I decided to remove—not organize—about 80% of the non-essential items from my home. This wasn’t a gentle tidying up; it was a purposeful purge.

The effect was immediate and profound. Suddenly, cleaning my apartment went from a multi-hour chore to a quick refresh. My mood lifted because my space felt light and open. I had more time and mental energy. My finances even improved because I stopped buying things to organize the things I didn’t need. The space itself became easier to maintain, making the idea of regular apartment cleaning feel manageable rather than overwhelming.

My One Big Regret

If I could go back to day one of wanting a cleaner, happier home, I would change one thing: I wouldn’t start with organizers. I would start with a dumpster. I would have been radically generous with what I let go of from the very beginning. I would have asked for help cleaning my place to tackle the areas that felt too big to start. All the time and emotional energy I spent wading through clutter was time I’ll never get back.

Your Chicago Decluttering Action Plan

Inspired to try it? Here’s a mindset shift to help you start, especially in our busy city lives:

• Flip the Script: Don’t ask, “What should I get rid of?” Ask, “What do I absolutely need and love?” Let everything else go.
• Think in Categories, Not Rooms: Tackle all your clothes, then all your books, then all your kitchen gadgets. It’s more effective.
• Celebrate the Empty Space: A clear surface or an empty shelf is a victory, not a problem to be filled.
• Enlist Support: After a major purge, treat yourself and your home to a reset. Hiring a Chicago cleaning company like Jikas to do a post-declutter deep clean is the perfect reward.

The goal isn’t a minimalist showroom. It’s a home that serves you, not the other way around. When you have less, every cleaning session—whether you do it yourself or use fast cleaning services—becomes faster and more effective.

When to Call in the Pros

Decluttering is deeply personal, but maintaining a clean home doesn’t have to be a solo struggle. Once you’ve created your serene, clutter-free space, keeping it that way is easier with support. Whether you need a regular touch-up or a one-time deep cleaning help to celebrate your achievement, professional cleaning services in Chicago can preserve the peace you’ve worked so hard to create. It’s the easiest way to get your space cleaned and keep it that way, giving you back your most valuable asset: time.

And I wish I would have done that day one. It took me so long to declutter my home. I tried to get organized first. I bought all those stupid things first. And I slowly decluttered, but in all those times, I was drowning in stuff for so long. I missed things that really matter, like more time with my family. I missed just liking myself because I hated myself for so long because of the clutter. And it wasn’t until I dramatically removed 80% of the things from my home that I saw a real difference in everything. My finances, my mood, my happiness, the way my home looked, the amount of time I had, like all of it changed when I finally got to an amount of stuff gone that made that difference. And I wish I would have done that day one. If I could go back, that’s the one thing I would change. I would run to dumpster and I would just fill it and I would start