I am looking for ideas on where to begin. I know I need to have less stuff, but when I look around I think "oh that can stay". I'd love to hear some thoughts on what we are "blind" to realizing we don't need?
What are some of the most common things we don't realize we need to declutter?
Advice RequestInstruction manuals. They are all pretty much online now
Tools…I have so many screwdrivers from IKEA, etc. Working on cleaning out the toolbox and only keeping what’s necessary.
Underwear/sock drawer
I started with that random drawer full of obscure cooking utensils everyone seems to have. xD After deciding I didn’t need 3 ice creams scoops, a corn butterer, and 5 garlic presses (and much, much more), I moved on to cups.
As I filled up smaller boxes over the course of a few days, I began to look at other areas of my house… Hmmm… I have a lot of cloth in sewing my stash I’ll never use. And look at all those clothes in the back of the closet that I don’t wear any more… here’s a box of random cables and electronics, let me go through that real quick — oh man, only 5 cables are actually useful for me out of the 30+ in there!! (Why did I have so many charging bricks/cables for old laptops still??)
It just sort of spiralled from starting somewhere small. 😅😂 I had boxes separated for different places I wanted to donate items, such as one for gently used pet toys to go to the local shelter, or another for gently used books to go to the library. I also decided to wrangle up all “bad” clothing — ones with holes, stains, etc — and other broken items to recycle with companies that turn them in to rags (for clothing) and other items or repurposes in order to keep as much out of landfills as possible.
Wherever you start, best of luck, and have fun!! 💖
Hobby stuff: glue, fabric, glitter, wood objects, paint, yarn, unused tools, anything waiting to be fixed or polished that you don't really care about.
But those are my favorite stash items to keep forever
Adding makeup and makeup brushes, in case someone else didn't.
Herbs. My spouse stockpiles sauces in our fridge. I’m forever getting rid of old cutlery, dishes, mismatched socks, toys nobody uses etc.
DISHES AND COOKWARE. We just did away with all but 4 plates, 4 bowls, 4 cups, 4 mugs, and 4 cooking pans. (For me, my husband, and toddler). It's revolutionary. Way more cupboard space and way more counter space due to dirty dishes not stacking up. 10/10 would recommend.
My mom has an entire pantry full of potluck dishes. Shallow ones, oven-safe ones, metal, plastic, porcelain trays, FONDUE SETS, devilled eggs trays -- she's killin' me.
(Otherwise she is great about death cleaning)
I like to do one room at a time. I take everything out of the room. Makes it easier for me to see what should be gone.
Woof. You’re a braver man than I, I do one drawer or box at a time.
But see then I have a reason to redecorate.
always a worthy goal
For me a big one I recently am admitting is outerwear. I have so many coats, jackets and hoodies because they rarely are actually worn out, or even really out of style, just found another one I started to wear more.
Rinse and repeat this for 20 years in a 4 season climate and I have dozens and dozens. All quite nice and wearable but I have but one torso.
I honestly am kinda stuck on this one at the moment... And i just got a couple sun blocker hoodies (while i was travelling! But now they seem nice to have ...)
This was a recent for me too! I realized some jackets I hadn't worn at all for a year or more, and many I had at least one very similar one. Some of my friends happened to be donating things and that was helpful for me--it's nice to think that these coats will be keeping someone else warm who might not have been able to afford it new instead of taking up space in my closet. And now I can see all the jackets I have and rotate through them more often!
I had my most sentimental items stolen (grandma's pearl studs-the only earrings I liked and my mok is in her 80's so these were old,-my kids school photos, my kids baby clothes I was saving to make a quilt) and once you lose those it's really easy to declutter everything else.
Kids toys and for us, the endless pit of stuffed animals!
Kitchen gadgets. I purged a few years ago and found I had a ton of useless gizmos. I only use 3 different knives.
Cleaning supplies. I stayed at my in-laws place and they had a huge closet with cleaning supplies and then they also had more cleaning supplies in the laundry room and under the bathroom sinks and also under the kitchen sink. There were more cleaning supplies in the garage. They had so much stuff that they did not know what supplies they had on hand. Multiple bottles of Old English Wood Polish and duplicates of nearly everything. So many old clothes they had turned into rags and cleaning cloths. They had multiple Swiffer style mops but they did not have the Swiffer pads to match the mops they had and they had tons of pads for mop devices they did not own. The ironic thing was that the house was filthy.
I JUST pulled all my cleaning products from under my kitchen and bathroom sinks, and the full bottles went back under, and I had a bunch of half empty or almost finished product that I decided to leave out and liend them up along the wall so to force myself to use those up first then I can go start the new bottles...I find I buy when I'm getting low instead of allowing myself to run out of a product first. It's a work in progress!
Most cleaning products seem like snake oil to me. It's really hard to compete with the classics like vinegar, Dawn and bleach.
Or if they're not snake oil, they're useful for very specific situations that I haven't run into.
I feel the same way generally but recently I was forced to acknowledge liquid barkeeper’s friend for removing tarnish inside my teakettle and having a specific glass stovetop cleaner. I was humbled lol, both worked leagues better for their specific niche than my trusty Dawn and vinegar.
Food that gets shoved in the back of your pantry or sits there open for months
This is major for me too, I try to do a once a month check, to pull some of the stuff to the front of the cabinet.
I had a ton of that stuff over this past winter, so I went through and inventoried all of it and based my meal plans around what I had kicking around. I spent like, $30 total on groceries for the next month just using everything up.
It's a great opportunity to get creative in the kitchen if you have the free time.
Im doing the same. Working thru my freezer and pantry.
Sokka-Haiku by reptomcraddick:
Food that gets shoved in
The back of your pantry or
Sits there open for months
Remember that one time Sokka accidentally used an extra syllable in that Haiku Battle in Ba Sing Se? That was a Sokka Haiku and you just made one.
I’m printing this out and sticking it on my pantry, this is high art
Drawers!!
And those 3 tier carts
Clutterbug likes to rant about those ugly white 3 drawer organizers. Shoving your crap into a drawer is not a fix. You need less crap.
I usually declutter and organize my bathroom once a year. I pull out all of my skincare/haircare/makeup.
I'll throw it all into a pile and then go through it one by one.
Then I'll go through the pile of stuff I want to keep and decide what products I want to focus on using up. Those products will go on my counter or in my shower (places where I will see and use items).
Then the stuff that I'm not sure about keeping I'll throw in a bin and use a few times until I decide if I want to keep it or not.
I feel like beauty products are a hard item to let go because if it's not used up it feels wasteful to toss it. At the same time I don't want to hold onto things that don't work for me and it's better to get rid of it than force myself to use it.
Closets. Then drawers, Then cabinets. Pick one a weekend.
Apps on my phone. I try to go through and delete what doesn’t get used. Reorganize what I actually use. And consolidate into boxes that make sense. Cleans up my screen and makes it easier to access what I need.
Every single app on my phone is on a single page somewhere. Which is great, except for the "Tools" folder with 27 apps, maybe 3 of which I've used in the last month.
Could be time to re-categorize your tools box into separate folders. And get rid of the ones you don’t use.
the pantry....or wherever you store your food! Every time I declutter mine I find cans/jars that have been expired for a year or 2....or you can find all the stuff you'll need to eat before it expires.
I also like to use decluttering my pantry as a way of meal-planning by using up what I have.
I found that playing “The minimalism game” was very good for finding items to declutter. Because you’re looking for a certain number of items, you really look at everything and SEE with a different eye, and end up finding things that you ignored before.
You can pick any category and go crazy so pick one! I went through all of my spices - I think this ended up taking me 2 weeks in total (not working on it every day though). It was great to see everything organized and I knew what I had. Threw out plenty of spices I’d had for 20+ years!
I started going through my physical photos about 10 years ago. This was so satisfying. I started out by sorting according to approximate time frames. In some cases I didn’t know the exact year so I had a group of “Me Growing Up” - this was during g the 70s and 80s so every photo had to be printed. I threw away duplicates and blurry photos. I also made of pile of “who the heck is this?” so I could ask another family member before throwing away.
This process took several months but was easy to do while watching tv. Once they were organized, I started to scan them but quickly realized this would take me forever so I found an online service to digitize them for me. It has been fun having g them available! I do my best to have all photos backed up on Google photos, Snapfish and Shutterfly as well as an exterior drive.
I recently had our home videos digitized as well. I have just gotten the video download and am looking forward to watching them!
Which online service did you use?
I used ScanCafe. Get on their email list then wait until they offer a sale. I paid $8/video to transfer to digital. It was a bargain. Never pay full price.
iMemories
Flickr is one bur no linger free
I want to pack up my whole house. Just take out the basic things I need and then anything I need out of the boxes in a specific amount of time.. the rest should be memorabilia or crap you don’t really need. 😊
This is how I purged my entire home by like half our possessions. We moved when I was 7.5 months pregnant and I never got around unpacking a lot of it before I gave birth so I just packed it away in a closet. After 6+ months of not needing any of those items I finally sat down and worked my way through all of the boxes and donated/recycled/trashed everything. I think I saved one box of sentimental items and stuck it up in the attic.
I totally agree. I'd love to have it all packed up and to just start over!
All of these suggestions are amazing. I have started a list of things to go through and declutter, as well as a list of quotes from you all as tips and reminders when I feel stuck. It is honestly so helpful!
The list feels like permission to go ahead and get rid of so much. There are so many things I was not thinking of but I know it all adds up so this is exactly what I needed. This is the best advice I have ever gotten and I really felt lost. Truly, thank you all so much <3
I will continue building my lists as we go and have already began tackling things. I am feeling motivated thanks to you all!
The notes app on your phone. Pictures on your phone. Nightstand drawer.
photos on your phone too....lord knows I have like 500 screen shots on there that I no longer need lol
the pictures on my phone would literally take me full days to declutter. not sure if it’s worth it, what do you think
I used an app where you swipe right or left to keep the photos and it breaks it up into month so you can go through a month at a time! It was really helpful for me, I think it was called Swipe Wipe. I just used the 3 day free trial
A tip I heard for this is to put an alert on your calendar that repeats monthly and when it goes off you're supposed to go thru that month's photos, purge what you don't want and move the rest to a folder. Then you're supposed to go back one year and do the same for that month in the past.
that’s a great tip that feels doable, thanks!
As someone who also had an insane amount of pictures and just decluttered years worth of pics off my devices and all it took was handling it in 5 minute chunks when I had a few minutes once or twice a day for like a month. You literally could do it during bathroom breaks lol - I personally think it's been worth it because I know that I actually like what I have on my phone and laptop
how many did you have? I have 67,xxx photos and 7,xxx videos
Woo that's quite a few, so it's fair to find it a large undertaking! I don't know the exact number tbh since it's gone now. I kind of wish I knew how much though, but so many I literally had to buy a subscription for 100gb of cloud storage because it was taking a massive amount of my phone space - once backed up pre declutter it was about nearly all of the 100gb + still some space on my phone. Did the same with my laptop that had 2x the files.
If you do decide to undertake that definitely start with the photos first because you'll likely be surprised how many are blurry, duplicates or if your like me pictures of prices, music event posters, etc. they'll be easier to work through and you'll probably find some good memories to remember along the way!
It's one of the more rewarding categories to go through- you quickly go down memory lane and the stuff you don't want is easy to remove.
I'm finding things that kind of sit there unneeded. Things I easily can toss but let lay.
It’s really hard but I had to get out of the mindset of “that can stay,” because I would find reasons to justify keeping stuff and talk myself into it.
Do I use it? No. Can I replace it in under 20 minutes for under $20? Yes. Then out it goes. I have never, in the past two years I’ve used this method, replaced any of the stuff I’ve tossed.
Common things I forget to declutter include old sports equipment, garage stuff like tools/old varnish/that random screw that fell out of something that I saved just in case.
As a single parent with limited income the replace in 20 min for 20 was tough for me.. but turns out I didn’t need any of that
hardware and all related paraphernalia, nails, boxes of screws, anchors, those random loose hex keys you get when you order online furniture etc. is the toughest category for me to declutter.
I'm always like, what if I need 100 wall screws in the future!?? I don't know why I'd need them but 🤷🏻♀️
I donate stuff to habitat for humanity they take those old screws, wall board, extra flooring, tiles and sell them or use them to build houses for people
Anything you haven't touched in multiple years. The exception is stuff you keep for their value or memories,
I have a huge number of boxes, at this point, which I have not used in 7-12 years. I am finally, finally getting strict about this. It helps when I come across something that I put aside for a specific 'later' and due to the clutter it got forgotten about and not used during the appropriate time period. I don't want that to keep happening!
Yeah, when I started doing this I initially decided to keep some things that are absolutely necessary in really random situations that almost never show up, the kind of tool that when you need it nothing else could possibly suffice. Approaching it like that helped to free me from decision paralysis.
Helped a lot, since some things I could easily declutter without regret, and the large volume of stuff that I kind of care about or kind of use sometimes stays with me for now.
Better than nothing, and it's a good first step I think.
Weird places to start decluttering that are often overlooked:
Cleaning supplies - Sure, most of them don't expire like food, but do you really need a quarter of a container of stainless steel polish when you can't remember the last time you used it? If that powder is clumpy, its trash! If that spray bottle leaks? Its garbage! Is that rag on the laundry room floor stiff and crusty? Throw it out! Maintain cleaning supplies in places where they're used, and make sure things like wipes haven't dried out and containers are able to be sealed.
Pet-related items - Obviously not their favorite toy or their food bowls, but I bet you have some treats they never liked that much or a couple spare collars or leashes that got chucked in a basket with the intent of swapping them out seasonally or something. Make sure you're not holding onto pet toys or collars or outfits just because you thought they were cute and Sir Fluffington III might change their might about not liking them! Animal treats do expire, so check those expiration dates as well. Also, any medications they were prescribed! If you never finished using them, or they were an "as needed" kind of thing and you haven't "needed" them, ask your vet the best way to dispose of them. If any of the items are in good condition (or not expired but not Princess Stinky Bottom's favorite flavor), consider donating them to a shelter or your vet's office - they can absolutely make use of them.
Medicine cabinet - Most retail pharmacies now have locations where you can dump expired and unused medications, both prescription and OTC varieties. This takes a lot of the guesswork out of "this pack of ibuprofen expired six years ago but IDK what to do with the pills" or "I stopped taking this medication because it made me sick, but I still have three weeks worth of it". Those vitamins you bought at the start of COVID because you were convinced you were going to be "healthier"? Probably time to clear that space for things you'll actually use. Those fourteen half-used bottles of antacids? Maybe consolidate them, one bottle per room instead of eight tucked into a bin you never open.
Spices - Have you ever actually used juniper berries or sumac? That lovely gift set your mother gave you probably isn't going to be used if you haven't opened it since you got it in 2012. Clear out expired items and look at what you have that you actually use. Trying to cut down on sodium? Here's your chance to clear out a bunch of things that have added salt! Never liked the taste of vinegar? Chuck those sample bottles from that one holiday party.
4a. Dry and non-perishable goods - Sure you cycle through mac and cheese regularly, but what about that can of soup at the back of the pantry that you thought you'd try and now its three years later and you've never gotten a taste for it. Check your expiration dates and ask yourself, "am I really going to commit to the spelt flour lifestyle"? That homemade jam your friend gave you for the holidays, is the seal still good? How many bags of microwave popcorn is too many when you eat it maybe twice a year?
- Electronic miscellany - This is an interesting one, because first I'm going to challenge you to do something a lot of people don't do. Test the cables before you choose what to throw out. If you don't have something that plugs into that bad boy? Its trash. If you do, if you have an abundance of lighting cables or micro-USB or something, check to see if they all work. Then, once you've gotten rid of the ones that don't, decide how many you actually need to hold onto. How many spares do you need in case the one you're using breaks, frays, or stops working? Then, look at all your USB flash drives and SD cards. Plug them in! Figure out what's on them! Do you still use them? Are those files from twenty years ago? Clean them out! Delete files you don't need or want, consolidate files you do want with the rest of your files so you can actually find and use them. Then wipe the drives so that they're clean. If you don't use flash drives anymore, donate them! You may find that they're simply too small, with too little available storage, to do much with these days, and that's okay. Someone else may still need just a little room for their resume, or other documents, if they rely on library computers for internet access.
Sumac is amazing and I will fight you on this.
I agree! I also believe that people buy "aspirational" spices because they think they're going to start using them spontaneously and then they sit and go stale for years in the back of a cabinet. If you're going to try a new recipe, throw out the stuff that expired in 2019 and buy it fresh when you actually have concrete plans to use it.
Spices should never sit in the back of a cabinet. Keep them in a rack or a drawer where they can be easily accessed, or toss them.
This is so thorough and has many good points and reflections I had not thought of, thank you!
Spices also grow mold too. Throw them out!!!
I’m curious where you live. I live in an area (northeastern U.S.) with above-average humidity, I’m extremely allergic to mold on foods (I’ve had several anaphylactic reactions to moldy fruit), and I’ve never once encountered mold on a dried herb or spice. Are you talking about fresh herbs molding in the fridge?
It’s harder to spot in spice jars. If you are sprinkling over hot food that is steaming and water vapor gets into the jar and you close the lid immediately, there will be mold if it happens enough times. The overall climate doesn’t matter as much as how you use your spices.
Using your body as a barometer for mold is very unique. Are you aware that there are many strains of mold?
Yes, I'm quite aware of how many strains of mold there are, thanks -- I've tested as allergic to many of the common ones that appear on foods or inside homes. But I can generally detect foodborne molds by smell beforehand as long as I'm the person preparing the food.
Sounds like you cook differently than I do -- I don't typically sprinkle things from a jar directly into a steaming pot, because I don't want to get my dried herbs and chiles soggy or make powdered spices clump up. I'm glad to know there's another reason to avoid it.
Sumac is amazing.
What do you use it for?
I had to laugh at the spices. Juniper berries are the only one I use regularly! I don’t cook much, but I do like to make gin and tonics (sometimes I skip the gin, but I never skip the juniper berries!).
I like it with lemon and a bit of garlic on roast potatoes, on chicken breast, in tomatoe sauce for pasta as an alternative to like Italian herbs. Its really nice.
It also adds acidity to a dish without adding any liquid. I've been meaning to try it for blackened chicken.
I was going to say this too! Sumac can be used in so many dishes haha
It is, honestly. But if you don't use it regularly and it's been going stale in your spice cabinet, I recommend buying fresh instead of trying out this suspicious powder from that one time you thought you'd be adventurous six years ago.
This is so helpful!
This is so good - thank you!
If your anything like me, your bathroom cabinet
Reddit feed. Muting now. 😂
Travel size toiletries
When I travel I bring home unused ones to donate to the local food pantry; occasional bottles that I like go into my “hospital bag” (I’ve been hospitalized multiple times on short notice, and the backpack doubles as a weekend travel bag). If I have any travel items that are partially used but I don’t care for, they go with my kids to their dorm rooms or into the box of toiletries we take to our family’s lake house. No reason to store them when they can get used :)
The key is using them!!
I use mine in my gym bag regularly. Use em up!!
This! I have a container under my bed that has all of my travel sized toiletries and extra soaps, lotions, toothbrushes, etc. Told myself that I need to use up most of it before I buy anything else. Same with cosmetics and personal care items.
Use them now! I’ve started using them immediately, just to get rid of them. I used to wait for the “right” occasion to use high-end freebies, but the occasion would never come. So, I ended up either donating the sealed ones or otherwise using them, even if I was putting a fancy face cream on my legs, or whatever.
this is so helpful. I always save mine for travel but never end up using them all. i’m going to do this instead
YES, and all those free samples or gift with purchase ones that you have never used or will never use again.
Personal care products. I have so many lotions and serums and moisturizers
It's not that I'm collecting them. I'll buy a new one as I'm dwindling down and be anxious to try it and wind up more or less never going back to the old one
I just had to test a ton of products and throw out several old tubes that didn’t even come out correctly anymore. I just let them pile up for a couple years
I told friends that I would prefer doing something fun together instead of gift exchanges. I expressed similar to family. I have a variety of skin care products all from receiving gifts. I have too much.
Friendships and relationships
Paper clutter is hard. A few months ago I began a box of all paper bits, envelopes, mail, receipts, scratch paper, magazine clippings etc. For 3x a week, I set my phone timer for 1 hour. I sort the main box into paper recycling (I'm in nyc), shred(medical bills, banking , personal info like your SS# or account #s) and a Temporary keep box(if it is the current year & I need proof I paid a bill/ bank statement). Once the timer goes off, I finish what's in my hand & get on with my life. Those couple hours a week are making a huge difference in that main box!
That is a great idea to just do a set amount of time a week. My paper piles are overwhelming
This is a great tip! A couple months ago I ended up covering my dining table in piles of papers and sorting it by type. I still need to go back to it and filter out stuff we don’t need though.
The hair and body products with a small amount left in the bottom. We move on to the fresh bottle and think we will “use up” the old one so it hangs around in my bathroom for years. Finally I decided. They just need to go. If I haven’t not used it in months - it just goes. If you really were gonna use it. You would have used it up already. Grab a bag. Fill it up. Be ruthless. Imagine a very important guest is coming and will use the bathroom and judge you. That motivates me to declutter.
Ahh yes this is so me. This gives me permission to trash those bits that have just been sitting around (same with some fridge items now that I think about it!)
Lately, I've realized that my jewelry needs to be decluttered. I don't wear a lot of jewelry. Why do I have so much jewelry clutter?
I find it so funny but I've done a 180 on clutter. I just don't care. Get rid of it all.
In the long run, everything ends up in the city dump. So why not now?
Kitchen stuff (all kinds), I go through my kitchen a couple times a year and get rid of things I don't use. Clothing/Shoes. Same. I do the "turn the hanger around" and if it's not worn in 6 months it goes. Paperwork. Keep your paperwork up to date and only what is vital, keep it organized in a file. Go through annually. If you have a computer/work area, keep it organized and clean. Makes life so much better!
First , you have to be in the right state of mind. If not wait until you are. Then start with one room and a few empty boxes and trash bags. Donating makes declutterring a little easier for me. Good luck 🍀
What if I never get to the right state of mind?
You will one day…
Our minds.
Unless you are an influencer you probably don’t need more than just one shampoo, conditioner, and body wash/soap bar in your shower. I also keep lotion and sometimes a sugar scrub, but that’s about it for products usually.
EDIT: I will admit that I also do keep a clarifying shampoo in my shower too lol. And things will varying ofc for different people- I just have to declutter my shower sometimes. I actually have 3 shampoos- technically 4 in my shower rn since I share a shower. I was testing out a Dove Shampoo versus the Garnier one I have. I like the Dove one better, so I should probably store the Garnier one under the sink. I also don’t have a huge shower, but we recently added hanging shelves so
And when you buy them, they don’t have to come as a set! You can get just the shampoo or just the conditioner.
2 shampoos. Any good shampoo will wash out everything except itself. Always using the same one leads to build up and it's a good idea to switch up your shampoo every once in a while.
(Says the woman who's been using Dr. Bronner's soap as shampoo and body wash for decades... Hmm, I should use my husband's shampoo once in a while.)
i’m a curly haired gal and it’s sooo hard for me to overcome the impulse to have 5938372 products to experiment with at all times. I feel called out by this lol, working on it though I swear! 🥲
Feel you. I'm in the store often, looking at this conditioner and that treatment, telling myself: I will only buy this and the rest I will try after I am done with this.
It helps knowing the items will (most likely) still be there in a month or two. Okay, when it comes to conditioner, in 2 weeks max
So much the same
Mehhhhh I beg to differ. I use a clarifying shampoo every other wash as well as a tinted conditioner every other to refresh my color. I also use an AHA body wash but not every time because it can be drying.
For me the keywords of the comment were "in your shower". In the shower I only keep one shampoo, one conditioner and one body wash. The peelings and other special stuff are in a drawer and I get them out when needed occasionally, I think that counts
My ass would forget and then have to walk across the bathroom dripping wet. It’s not a solution if it causes another problem!
same here, but I'd be too lazy to go get them, and then they'd just sit unused until I got tired of it and stored them back in the shower
true. for me it works fine but to each their own.
If you want a big payoff, get rid of appliances you don’t use. Makes a lot of spaces fast and a big sense of achievement.
Yes this. I have a food processor I thought we needed when we got married. I have used it once in 10 years... same with a slower cooker. I think my blender does most of the same things as the food processor and so I should probably get rid of it.. right? ha. And the slowcooker, everyone loves them but we use our pressure cooker instead.
On top of that I was just given my grandmas breadmaker (she recently passed)... I think I will give it a year and if I don't use it it must go.
The kitchen is actually a great place to start. So many gadgets. If you haven't used it in a year or two, why are you holding onto it?
I just got rid of a food processor, haven’t used it in several years. It had a box of accessories, and because it was tall, I had to store it in two pieces. It wouldn’t even do well on top of the cabinets where I have some other things I use rarely.
I have a small kitchen and this thing was taking up like the size of 4 shoeboxes.
Forgotten open pantry items (especially things that can sprout bugs over time, like anything made with flour or things that can go rancid like old oils or nuts).
Old boxes
Old cosmetics/beauty supplies you forgot about, especially anything applied to your eyes.
We keep our open pantry items like nuts, flour and everything that attracts bugs in sealed containers (we go through them anyway from time to time). I had bugs once and never want this again. My bf didn't really believe me it sucks until he found an infestation in a gingerbread heart in his desk drawer that I had gifted him years ago. Luckily the other stuff was put away and couldn't be accessed by the insects.
Spices, flours, utensils
Relationships
Look into Dana K. White. Her methods take all the emotion and guesswork out of decluttering. It’s so practical and logical that it makes it easy. She also eliminates the whole ‘making bins of sorted things that then need to be put away’ step that most decluttering recommends, so you’re never left with an unfinished decluttering project, only incremental improvement that builds on itself.
Her advice would be to start decluttering in the most visible place in your home (usually the entrance where guests would arrive) and work towards the least visible seasonal storage and/or master closet).
She’s amazing and has seriously changed my life. I feel l like she’s finally cracked the code for how to keep my house functional and easy to maintain.
What are her key steps that have helped you?
She is really big on realistic decluttering and taking things in manageable steps. Some of her key points that resonate with me are:
1- If it isn't a certain no, then it is ok to move on for now and find things you are certain you want gone. Go back later for all the maybes. This was the key tip for me that really works for my brain.
2 - Don't make a huge mess, just take one item at a time and get rid of it/make a decision. She doesn't tell you to pull everything out or make a big pile. So if you get interrupted in the middle of decluttering, you can just immediately stop and deal with your real life without having to put stuff away first. VERY HELPFUL.
There are other steps etc, but those two are the ones I truly get the most use out of.
Don't make a bigger mess.
But the main thing is that although she describes her own shame about being a "slob" she doesn't shame her readers.
Definitely “take it there now” and her “container concept”
Can confirm, container principle was eye opening. And also 'space is guilty if it can't hold more of that item, so, remove least wanted if you have new favourite to put in that area'.
I just looked her up and she looks amazing! Would you recommend any of her books in particular?
I started with “how to manage your home without losing your mind” and went from there. I highly recommended the audiobook, so you can listen as you get started. Her podcast and YouTube channel are also great, but her books lay out her system in the most organized way.
Yes holy shit that book helped me so much!
Yes! "How to manage your home..." I like to read before bed and then muse about the next space to address.
Kitchen utensils
Totally agree. Our friends know we like to cook and grill and buy us gadgets and tools all the time. Last kitchen clean out, we paired down a lot of duplicate items and can actually open and close the drawers again.
That's where I started! I was surprised how easy it was to get a small box full of things I never used or had more than I needed.
Hobby supplies - times change and so does your skill lvl. If you keep buying and never purge you end up with so much you will just never use taking up room that could be used by supplies you love
Absolutely this. I always end up with a tub of “felting supplies” or “fimo supplies” but I’ve moved on to crochet or paint by numbers. I started bundling them up and putting them on Facebook marketplace for free. Other people love grabbing these “kits” for their kids/grandkids.
I don't craft, so much as I am a collector of craft supplies. A slow migration of Michael's inventory from the store to storage bins in my basement.
Someone I follow on YouTube (wish I could remember who) said that she recently realized that "shopping for craft supplies" and "crafting" are two entirely separate hobbies.
Add another one - organising it to please your eyes (and buying organising solutions 😂)
I’m so guilty
Omg this… 😳
For me it’s clothes. A couple years ago I took out ALL of my clothes and piled them in categories in another room. Every day I had to retrieve what I needed. Whatever I used went back into my closet.
After a couple of weeks, it was startling to see I wore only about a third of my clothes.
I had to make some decisions for seasonal and work attire, but this helped me get rid of over a 100 pieces of clothing (some I hadn’t worn in 10+ years).
Such a great idea
My struggle is I have several pieces I loooovvveeee but just don’t have frequent occasions to wear them. More formal office wear (I work mostly from home), going out outfits (I have two small children and am just not in a frequent going out phase of life like I once was). When I get to wear these things I am so happy, but I know realistically I no longer need this level of inventory for occasions that are now truly occasional.
To be fair, I still have an oversized shirt I loved in the 1980s. Haven’t worn it in decades but I figure it’s not taking up too much space.
I feel you. What I did is keep this sort of stuff away from your regular wardrobe, in my case, in one of those clothes packing boxes in the attic is where I keep all my formal wear.
Now when I have the occasional wedding/baptism/etc, I just go "shopping" in my box. It doesn't clutter up my regular wardrobe and I don't spend money on stuff I already have
Same, for these I strictly go with "it sparks joy and stays", but I only have max 5 items like this. As soon as I feel a slight "meh" over an item, I know I am ready to discard it.
Ohhhhhhh, I so need to do this. I have finally actually run out of room for my things, and they’re all so crammed in together that their quality is suffering. What a great project that would be. Pile EVERYTHING in one area, wear or discard each piece, and keep only what actuality works. Holy shit. I don’t think I’ve ever done anything so radical. Dammit, I’m going to do this!
Glad this might help! We did this with books, too. Emptied three crammed bookcases into boxes. The now empty shelves were inspiring. We found to much easier to pick out titles we wanted to keep instead of choosing what to discard. Whatever didn’t make it back on the shelves were donated.
💕Brilliant 💕
This is not good for a starting point, but now that I have been decluttering for some years, I could finally see and accept that some of my furniture is not neccessary anymore and needs to go.
Look amongst the stuff you use all the time, as lots of clutter hides in plain view.
Examples are you have a saucepan you use all the time, but you have to have a special holder for the handle, and use a different lid as its own lid no longer fits. If you replaced the pan with a better one, you'd be able to get rid of the broken lid and the handle holder.
Also, stuff you use but have too much of - so say you have 8 matching dinner plates, but you live alone and wash up every day, and your table only seats four guests. You probably kept all 8 because they are a set and appear to be something you use all the time, but do you really need 8 of those plates, or are you just using the top four in rotation?
Are the dinner plates really “clutter,” though? Mine just sit in a stack in my cupboard. Getting rid of half of them would not make any difference in terms of clutter. 4 plates take up the same space in the cupboard as 8.
This raises the issue that there are no universals. The number of plates you need is the number of plates you need. Same with knives, pans, socks, and everything else. Each person has to figure out their own life and deal with their stuff in the amount of space available.
Unless you’re a household where everyone washes their dishes immediately after using them (absolutely NOT what happens in my house), the more plates in rotation, the longer you can go without washing them. Less dishes available to use=less dishes piled in the sink.
Edited for sentence structure
This was the exact reason I got rid of half of my plates and other items when living alone. In that time I discovered what other things you can use and eat from when you run out of plates :)
That sounds like a behavior problem, not a clutter problem. If the most effective way to mitigate that problem is by getting rid of half your plates, then by all means do so. But that’s not decluttering because the additional plates on the stack were not clutter to begin with.
If the amount of stuff you have causes problems with you keeping up with cleaning, then you have too much stuff. Therefore the extra plates in this example are clutter.
Maybe, but it's just an example - the point is that we often assume because we use one of something, that the other 10 aren't clutter and don't give it any further thought. whereas if someone has decluttered and still feels cluttered, it could be that they have too many multiples of something they regularly use, so it slips through the usual net of 'have I used this recently?'.
“Have I used this recently” is not the only question to ask when decluttering. Decluttering isn’t getting rid of everything you don’t specifically need. Head over to r/minimalism for that.
Have I used my paint rollers, brushes, and tray recently? No. Not in years. Are they clutter? Well, they are stored in a labeled box in my garage, so they’re not bothering anybody. I do intend to paint my bathroom when I get around to it. Should I have thrown them out and bought new ones for the bathroom? I guess I could have but what’s the environmental cost of that, not to mention the financial cost?
I agree that one needs to apply more stringent standards if one “has decluttered but still feels cluttered,” but dishes were a poor example. Putting out such examples as that puts peope off decluttering in general!
Kitchen knife blocks, really you can make do with just a chefs nice but a smaller paring/utility knife and a serrated bread knife are nice to have
Interesting. Both my spouse and I are enthusiastic cooks and we use every one of the fifteen knives in our knife block regularly enough that they never get dusty. (I would hate using a magnetic strip even if we had the wall space, which we don’t.) Different strokes!
on the other hand, a nice wooden knife block doubles as decoration (im making one 😅 it's a fun project!)
Yeah, counter space is much more useful than a knife block. If you have more knives that you want to keep and not store in a drawer, magnetic strip storage is inexpensive and out of the way.
Agree. I bought a wood knife block that is for inside a drawer - love it. No dusting or cleaning off a counter top block.
If you are just starting out to declutter, you will probably have a lot of things that are useless to you. What is useless for me, might differ from what is useless for you, but I will give you some suggestions for starters:
1.Expired - makeup, nail polish, paint, lotions, medication, spices, food in the pantry/fridge etc.
2.Broken - electronics, chipped cups/dishes, kitchen utilities, broken/missing sets (missing cards in a deck of cards, missing puzzle pieces, missing stuff from board games… just throw them away, they are unusable and probably won’t sell - my opinion), broken chargers, cables, ripped clothes with holes, clothes with stains etc. If you want to fix some of these I suggest finding a medium size box and put the projects for fixing there. Limit your projects! Not everything is worth saving, worth your time or resources to fix. The box will help you visualise your projects and their importance and what to throw away.
3.Don’t fit - clothes, shoes, belts, underwear, something that doesn’t fit in your drawers or that doesn’t fit on your countertops, something that doesn’t fit with your personal style anymore, your new decor, your lifestyle. Makeup/skincare/shampoos/lotions/soaps/perfume that don’t work for your skin type, hair type, give you rashes, burn, stink or whatever- you will never use them, so throw away. For example, someone might have multiple cables, gear for a Dell PC, but they switched to a mac laptop - the old stuff doesn’t fit with their lifestyle anymore so throw away/sell/donate.
Unused in years - stuff you haven’t thought about in years - like old hobbies you tried and didn’t like - old skates, fishing gear, camping equipment? Clothes you never wear for some reason (ugly, fit weird, have a stain, uncomfortable etc.) Old electronics like - a DVD player? DVDs? Gardening equipment that you never use?
Paper - junk mail, flyers, old notes, post it notes, old tags, empty boxes, birthday gift bags, weird pieces of leftover wrapping paper, shoe boxes, amazon delivery packages, etc. This is good for recycling, put it in the paper trash bin ♻️
Give yourself some time, be compassionate to yourself. It might be overwhelming, so start slow, I also suggest to divide by rooms. For example start in the kitchen, then move to the bedroom, leave the garage/basement for last. Maybe think about some other categories that will work better for you.
Have a „donate box“ - have space and time limits - for example, you can’t keep a room full of stuff for donations - like couches, furniture, books, tons of clothes, it will take you a lot of time and trips and heavy lifting to move out, so it might be tempting to keep it, if it stays for longer. „Fix box“ - I mentioned above, „Sell box“ - for the expensive non broken stuff. Give a time limit to this box - for example, a few months. If it doesn’t sell - is it worth it to keep in your basement for years? Probably no, throw it away/donate and clear some space.
These are some of my categories, they are merely suggestions, your categories might be different, what you value might be different, keepsakes might differ. So find whatever works for you, you got this! Good luck.
This is awesome, and so thorough, thank you! Having a general guideline and examples is so helpful. And thanks for the encouragement and reminder to be compassionate to myself also <3
I'd like to add something to your "fix" box, based on my experience. Set a time limit! If you still haven't gotten around to fixing the thing after X months, just let it go, you're never going to get around to it.
Now that I think about it, I have a dress in my "fix" box that I've been meaning to alter for like 5 years.
I found some bright green painters tape that I use to label everything (the bright green makes it easy to find the label quickly!), and with stuff that needs to be fixed I write on it “fix by…” & then a date.
Giving myself a “fix by” deadline makes it easier to decide to toss it. Otherwise I spend too much time going through the whole “keep or toss” debate in my head all over again.
To add to this, that stuff that “doesn’t sell” don’t be afraid to lower the price to $10 or even $5. Having someone come to your door and take something away that you don’t want anymore AND give you $10, still feels great. I sell stuff for $10 all the time. It’s my spending money. Theres $30 bucks in my wallet right now from the weekend.
This is a really thorough comment. Thank you for taking the time to write it. I did and do all of the above. We have to understand it's an ongoing process. Not a one-time thing.
This made me realise I have no clutter,except in my phone
Clothes.
Kitchen stuff.
Pictures/ photo albums.
Paper.
Books.
These are all things people tend to have a lot of that is easy replaceable or have similar/ duplicate items. Do you need 10 pans when you only use 3? Are you ever going to reread that book?libraries are still an option. Pictures can be scanned and saved to a hard drive. Same thing with paperwork.
Clothes is simultaneously the hardest and easiest. Keep a " maybe" container, anything that needs more thought/ tried on etc can go there for now and sorted later.
If you have a hard time starting, pick something small. Bathroom ( expired/ old meds toiletries, products you don't use etc) is usually a good place to start as it won't take as long as some things. Or pick a drawer and go through everything in that drawer.
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12d
This doesn’t work if you live in places with 4seasons.Ppl plz don’t do this
Or places with occasional heat waves, or if you travel. Weather in the UK had been crazy lately, highs of 14c a few days ago and rain to clear skies and 28c today.
Exactly.Or if you go on skiing holidays or anything similar. Heck even some evening gowns I will be wearing like once in 3 years when the occasion is right
I'll admit that it's nice to be able to just grab something from my closet when I want to dress up instead of going shopping for a new dress. But that's not really in the spirit of decluttering.
That said, if I'm never going to wear a dress again, then I should let it go. I should probably go pull a couple dresses to donate.
So you get rid of perfectly viable dresses and then just buy new ones when you need a dress? That’s not decluttering. That’s foolishness. Wardrobe staples are not clutter unless you have too many items in the same category.
Nope. I do the opposite. I have a set of nice dresses that I keep so that I don't need to go out and buy for every occasion.
Ah, I misunderstood what you said.
I kind of got away from it due to life and a medical procedure, but I decided to go through my condo and start with sorting through all the piles of paper. I have a bad habit of opening mail and if it's not important I sit it down somewhere, intending to get back to it later,but it seems that I never do. I think just by going through all that paper it will make my place look a lot better.
Whatever you do start, go back once the 'let go' has kicked in and take another look at what you wanted to keep in the beginning. Because chances are more can go once you're in the groove. I especially have to do this when I purge my closet.
Honestly, the apps on our phones. I went through all mine today, deleted the ones I didn’t want anymore, and organized the rest. Feels a lot better.
Another one is - your contacts in your phone, I have over 770+, I was shocked 🫢
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Books, I started with books. Almost 1000 and now under 100. Someone else mentioned tools. Over the years I had accumulated five hammers and more than enough screwdrivers, vice grips and assorted tools. I gave them to a local charity that was having a garage sale. Vacation brochures, Knick knacks, clothes too big or too small or that I would never wear again. That’s my starting point.