How I turned ruthlessly decluttering my small, crowded house into a family bonding activity – streamline, make cash, and have fun

Who knew that a task as arduous and time-consuming as decluttering can be a family bonding activity?

That’s certainly what I learned when my husband and I decided to clear our home of unused goods and decided to get our daughter involved.

She’s only eight, so she previously struggled to let go of items. However, with the fun promise of selling our wares at a nearby flea market over the weekend, she was all aboard to declutter our whole house.

How to turn decluttering into a fun family bonding activity

1. Do it together

One thing I’ve learned about being a mom is that kids don’t much care what you’re doing, as long as you’re doing it together. They just want to spend time with you.

We turned on the music and had our family playlist running the whole time as we tackled decluttering our child’s room and our family's shared living spaces with all their various drawers and storage ideas together.

2. Pay kids a commission

We gave our daughter, Amelia, a 10% cut of our profits, which, in the end, totalled $250. She banked most of it, but spent a few dollars at the flea market picking up two new dolls, a mermaid tail for the pool (yes, it's as amazing as it sounds), and some new books.

With the cash incentive in mind, as our streamlining session got underway, our daughter became surprisingly ruthless at decluttering and cleared out all manner of puzzles, games, and books without batting an eye or feeling overwhelmed during the process.

Things she had previously wanted to keep, despite never using them, were now potential dollar signs in her eyes, making it not only easier to let things go, but exciting in and of itself.

3. Treat yourselves along the way

It was truly a decluttering blitz, but doing it when chronically ill added another layer of difficulty altogether.

That’s why the three of us streamlined room by room, sometimes just a drawer at a time, over the course of a week to make it manageable (something known as adaptive pacing) and followed it up with a treat.

Sometimes that was an actual treat, such as an ice cream, or simply watching a film together to unwind.

You can also try the 20/10 rule: 20 minutes of activity followed by a 10-minute break. This makes it easier on the children, but is also a welcome break for adults to avoid burnout, or decluttering successfully with health challenges.

4. Make it a game

We used empty bins and for anything that wasn’t going to break, such as cuddly toys, clothes, and soft furnishings, we used it as a fun opportunity to test our aim in a throwing game.

My daughter and I enjoyed ribbing her dad about how many ‘hoops’ he missed. Even when we were loading the car up to head over to the flea market, my daughter was acting as the go-between for me and her dad, who was stuffing everything into the car.

Fair to say that Amelia got lots of tickles when she reached either of us, so giggles abounded during what was, honestly, the most mundane element of the process.

What to shop

I’ve really taken to streamlining my home, so being able to combine it with quality time spent bonding as a family was a real bonus.

Learn what I ruthlessly decluttered at 40, and what a professional organizer decluttered at 50, or delve into our 50+ tested methods for clearing clutter from your home, organized by time, what's blocking success, or specific to a room to help you kickstart your summer streamlining.