Divide & Conquer Clutter – Mastering The Four Box Method

In this episode of The Simple Joy Show I dive into the Four Box Method of decluttering – a simple yet effective approach to organise and clear your space.

Whether you’re overwhelmed by clutter or just seeking a new strategy, this method’s straightforward nature might be exactly what you need.

This episode is perfect for anyone seeking a practical, no-nonsense approach to decluttering and those who crave immediate results in their journey towards a more organised and joyful living space. 

Stay tuned for more episodes of my podcast, The Simple Joy Show, where we share tips on living a simpler life every Friday.

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How to Get Started Decluttering When Overwhelmed PDF: https://hub.simplejoy.co.uk/overwhelmed

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Facebook Group: The Simple Living Society: www.facebook.com/groups/thesimplelivingsociety

Transcript

Hayley Forster [00:00:00]:

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the Simple Joy Show. Today, we’re going to be diving into a practical and straightforward decluttering method called the 4 box method. So whether you’re just starting out on your decluttering journey or you’re looking for a new strategy, this episode is gonna shed some light on how this method can help you streamline the process.

Hayley Forster [00:02:01]:

Let’s get on to today’s topic, which is the 4 box method of decluttering. So this method is a really flexible way for you to deal with all the items that you’re decluttering in your house. You break down the process into 4 clear categories. And those are keep, donate, throw away and the maybe box. So what you do is you take 4 boxes or bins and label them with those categories. And as you go through the items, you’re deciding which box they belong to. You then put it into one of those 4 boxes and then process each box according to the name.

Hayley Forster [00:02:39]:

So as always, there are pros and cons to this particular method, and I’m just gonna cover the pros first of all. This method is really simple. It doesn’t really require any complex rules or extensive planning. You just literally need 4 containers, and you can get started. So it’s really good for those of you who are starting out on your decluttering journey. It’s very straightforward, and there’s a category for everything. Because even if you get stuck on an item, you can pop them into the maybe box, and you can reconsider them at a future date. So it really allows you to be flexible and for you to declutter at your own pace without rushing you.

Hayley Forster [00:03:17]:

Another positive to this one is that it really forces you to make immediate decisions about each item, and that can really help speed up the decluttering process. What you can do as well is that you can remove one of the boxes, which is the maybe box. Some people are very much behind that. I’m kind of in between. Depending on the client, I may suggest a maybe box. And for some, I might suggest not to have a maybe box. I think it can be useful for those of you who are just starting out, but if you’re really trying to be ruthless, having a maybe box can be quite risky because you run the risk of just putting everything in a maybe box and not making any decisions at all. So if you remove the choice of a maybe box, it really forces you to make a decision whether it stays or whether it goes, and you then prevent the build up of maybe piles.

Hayley Forster [00:04:11]:

I would recommend if you’re starting out, maybe try a maybe box. See how you go. If you find that you’re really leaning on it and you’ve got a bigger maybe box than anything else, maybe it’s not the best option for you because you’re gonna use that as a crutch, and it’s gonna be helping you not to make a decision. Whereas if you’re quite good at making decisions, you don’t feel as though you need it, it’s probably a good idea to just perhaps go with 3 boxes, or you could even have a box that is called relocate. And those items are the items that still belong in your home, but need to go to different rooms. Usually, I just keep those in the keep box and distribute them after the decluttering process itself. But if you want to stay at 4 boxes, then you could have it as keep, donate, throw away, and relocate rather than having the maybe box. This method is really versatile as well, so you can apply it to any room, any space, any items, whether you’re sorting through your wardrobe, your garage, or an office drawer, it will work.

Hayley Forster [00:05:16]:

And the thing that I like most about this method is that each category has got a really clear next step. The keep items are the ones that you want to stay in your home, and they’re organised back in their space, so they either go back in the room that you’re located in at that moment, or they can be relocated to more appropriate locations around the house depending on how you’ve got it organized and how you have it set up. The donate items, go to a charity shop or to a local community center. The throw away items are disposed of. I usually like to have 2 sections to the throwaway box, and that is recycle and landfill. I try as much as possible to put the majority of it in the recycle section. With the maybe pile, what you can do is that you can then pop that box somewhere where it’s not gonna be interfering with your daily activities, perhaps, in a cupboard.

Hayley Forster [00:06:10]:

And then you can set a reminder on your phone in say in 1 month’s time, I’m gonna come and look back at this box, and I’m gonna then decide if it’s keep or whether it’s throw away. And you can pretty much say that if you’ve not touched it within a month/6 weeks, perhaps you’re not actually that bothered about it, and you can get rid of the item? Or perhaps you may have even forgot that the item was in the box, which again is another sign that you can get rid of that item. So that’s a way how you can get the maybe box to work for you. There’s no point in you having a maybe box, and it goes in the cupboard, and you don’t see it for another couple of years because you’re not processing your clutter at that point. You’re just delaying the decision. Then as for the cons, obviously, I think we kind of touched on it already, as that maybe box can be a problem if you’ve got too many things in there. As I say, it’s best to avoid using that box as much as possible and put things in there that you’re really, really unsure about.

Hayley Forster [00:07:07]:

And try not to use it as a crutch for just delaying those decisions that you don’t really want to make. Because decluttering can be quite emotional, making immediate decisions on things can be quite task. It can be emotionally challenging, especially for items that have got sentimental value. So if you’re early on in your decluttering journey, then a maybe box might be a good idea to help you process those emotions. But if you feel as though you can do without it, then that’s one of the cons eliminated already. This method can be quite overwhelming if you’ve got large volumes of clutter because if you’re seeing large amounts of items in each category, it can be quite daunting to then think that you’ve got to process all of those. So what I would suggest is that if you do have a lot of clutter, is just break the area down more. So don’t say, right, I’m gonna go and do the kitchen today. Say, right, I’m gonna do two shelves of my pantry today and focus on that and process it at a much smaller volume.

Hayley Forster [00:08:05]:

Another con to think about is that you might need to go through the process several times to make significant progress, again, depending on how much clutter you’ve got. So if you’ve got areas of accumulated clutter, you may have to do a number of rounds, which can be quite tiring. But, as I say, if you break those bigger areas down into smaller chunks, make it more manageable, build up that decluttering muscle, then that con can really work in a positive way for you. So in summary, this method is ideal for those of you who prefer really straightforward, no nonsense approaches to decluttering. If you need a really clear system to follow, it’s perfect for those of you who are short on time and you need to make quick decisions. I personally really like this method. This is one of the methods that I use the most with my clients because it is so specific. There’s clear categories, and there’s clear actions for you to take once you’ve done the decluttering.

Hayley Forster [00:09:07]:

You’ve done the decision making. There’s very specific actions to take. And I feel as though this is a really powerful tool in your decluttering arsenal. It’s about dividing, conquering, and really making that process less intimidating and more actionable. Because for me, all of the cons can be easily rectified. The emotional side of it is that you can pop them in the maybe box to help you build up to decluttering those that you’re really not sure about. So you’ve got that as a fallback. The other cons are really associated to volume.

Hayley Forster [00:09:39]:

If you’ve a lot of clutter. It can be quite overwhelming, and it can involve multiple rounds of of decluttering. But for me, that all comes down to breaking it down into smaller chunks, which I recommend to everyone anyway. So I think this is a really effective method to declutter, and it’s probably one of my favorites. So let me know if you’ve tried the 4 box method. How did it work for you? Did you come up with any problems with it? Is it a method that you would recommend? Please share your experiences and your tips, and you can come into my Facebook group, the Simple Living Society, to share your thoughts. I just wanna say thanks for tuning in, and remember, no matter the method, the journey of decluttering is all about creating more space for joy and simplicity in your life. Take care.