/r/declutter
Reducing clutter: discussion, advice, weekly and monthly challenges. No selling, surveys, or self-promo.
Community Rules and Getting Started
[Donation Guide]
/r/declutter
What's your take on decluttering online/social media contacts that you've met in real life that you haven't spoken to in years?
Yes, you guys aren't in each other's lives anymore. But if you take them off, it's goodbye forever.
Is it a form of mental clutter or a fond memory of the past for you?
Just wanted to have a place for everyone to share their wins, big and small, as of late.
I'll go first: I finally finished this round of decluttering my clothes. I tend to believe that clothes decluttering is never done, but I rather foolishly took everything out of my closet about a month ago. Finally had the energy to take care of the rest of it today, and now everything is bagged for donation, hung in my closet, or in the garbage.
Had a bad day but one silver lining is i somehow found the exact screw I needed by total accident to fix my light. Found the light and in a different room but total accident found a tiny Tupperware container that I was tossing out that had the missing piece for the light
I’m excited to announce the latest feature in my app, Link Vault: the RSS Feed Aggregator! 🚀
What makes it different?
If you're tired of being tracked by every news app and want a more private experience, give Link Vault a try!
Link Vault Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Link_Vault/
Happy to answer any questions. 😊
Title
Hello, so after my divorce I had to move back with my parents about 5 months ago. I will be 30 next month! Woohoo!
Anyway, my parents and sister accumulated junk over the past couple decades to the point where the antic, storage areas, and basement were just filled with worthless stuff. My sister moved out, my dad finally stopped buying worthess crap, and my mom is excited to get rid of all of it. When I moved in I spent an entire week on an Aderall binge and cleared out half the antic for me to live in. I filled up 12 giant plastic garbage bags and stuffed the rest on the other half. When the Aderall wore off, I drove it too the dump.
What I have been doing with my parent's blessing is, each week I filled up 2-3 garbage bags with stuff and put on the curve with the other garbage. I have been making good progress on the basement because now it's easier to get to the washer and dryer. Once that's finished I am gonna clear out the front entrance way, then the antic, finally all the crawl spaces.
So I need help now. The basement is mostly filled with old storage bins. I cleared out their contents, but I don't know what to do with the bins themselves. I was thinking of getting a bonesaw and cutting them up in tiny pieces and putting them in with the rest of the trash. But I don't know. Any advice how to get rid of it?
I am a minimalist. I am constantly decluttering. My Niece is 23 and lives with me. I want her to feel like this is her home but she has so much stuff she never uses. She always says she has to keep all her stuff in her room. Her room is a master bedroom with a full bath. For context she doesn’t pay rent or any other household bills. She is in school. Our latest, conversation was me telling her I don’t have room for her five huge water bottles she left downstairs. I asked her if she used all of them. She likes having “stuff”. I donate anything I don’t use. I get tired of constantly moving all of her stuff she never uses! I don’t want her to feel unwelcome but constantly trying to find room for unused items is exhausting and anxiety inducing.
Title
I have 7 total closets, 6 are regular small sized and one is tiny
I have nice clothes in two of them with pienty of empty space
2 others I keep lower grade clothes but stuff I wear, plenty of space though
Pajamas in another drawer
Closet 5 Is my work clothes closet
For closet 6 should I just stuff it with all of the “maybes” and other “junk” and never open it for a few months unless I need something in it?
Just tired of decluttering.. otherwise my apartment is pretty clutter free sort of. Clothes are my biggest hurdle but I’ve gotten rid of so much so far..
Really eager to shift my energy toward organizing the space, deep cleaning everything and just enjoying my space without worrying about what to keep.
Ready to stuff all the maybes into bins and hide it into that one “spare closet”
Thoughts?
Have gotten rid of 5 heavy duty garbage bags so far.. apartment is pretty empty looking aside from closets and the mess from decluttering the past month or two which can all be cleaned pretty quickly
I’ve always struggled with clutter. I don’t really have access to the whole house to store items because of my mom so I’ve always left everything In my room. Over the years of impulse spending I’ve accumulated so many items. My clothes are not stored into a drawer but instead I put them in these cubicles which makes them visible and more stressful to look at when they’re not folded. My shelf has books, medicine, binders, notebooks, and so much other crap. I have a clear storage container with 6 sections. Each section is filled with junk. Both my work desk and my eating desk usually has junk on them as well.
I try to clean often but the clutter never goes away. I do notice that after I put away most of the mess, sweep, and mop my anxiety levels are completely better. For years I’ve struggled with being productive in my room and getting things done. I may be wrong but I feel like the amount of clutter in my room has been overwhelming me this whole time and triggering a freeze response.
My goal is to do a deep clean/declutter and maintain it to prevent this. I just wanted more insight on how clutter can affect mental health and maybe some confirmation on my experiences with clutter affecting my productivity and mental health. Please share any advice!
Thank you!
Does anyone have small collections or have you decided to get rid of them altogether? My book collection has downsized to smaller and smaller shelves and is now down to just a few on my bedside table…. Reluctant to get rid of all of them although I’m aware I’d be just fine without them and not sure it’d bring me any extra happiness getting rid of it. I also have one little merch figure that I love lol. It can stay for the now but does bother me a bit (it goes with exactly none of my furniture). These last steps of decluttering are hard!
The days are getting shorter and colder and I will be staying in a lot more starting soon and that will be about the same until spring. I have decided to challenge myself with a list of decluttering projects and am including everyone in the house too. They have been "voluntold".
We started with the front closet this past weekend. It was disorganized and way too full. A full garbage bag of shoes, coats and other garments is on its way to a local donation bin! Now the closet is clean and functional and everyone feels good about it.
Next up is kitchen cupboards. Similar to the closet, they are disorganized and have too much stuff. Some of it is likely expired, and some of it needs to be used up or donated.
I made a list of 14 similar projects. There's more than 14 weeks until spring and I figured this accounts for busy weeks and weeks where excuses creep in. Ideally we will complete 6-7 projects by mid December and the rest by mid March.
Before you ask: My house doesnt have 14 rooms. I have broken down some bigger areas into multiple smaller projects. Our house is fairly small, but we seem to have a lot of stuff.
I am going to try and build in a reward whenever we finish an item on the list.
Is anyone else doing somthing similar? Or have you in the past?
Any suggestions?
I've made substantial changes in the last 4 years, specifically this year in the last 3 months. As I'm nearing the end I'm having a hard time getting rid of more recent items that have potential from hobbies that I don't super engage in anymore. Among other things. I'd like to either pare down or reevaluate my need for them before investing in storage, such as bins with lids and a shelf that would double as storage for a few other things as well.
I'm having trouble specifically with:
The energy needed to go into this feels like a lot.
I'm victorious though as I've wittled down an entire room into 1/5 of what used to be here. I didn't know nearing the end would be so hard.
I'm feeling that when I've pared down to what I absolutely need and will enjoy keeping and have it on a shelf, I'll feel more finished. For now.
Any advice is appreciated!
I've been decluttering for a week now. Thrown away:
The above items are the broken furnitures that are dangerous to keep. I have a couple of more tables to throw away.
Other stuff I've donated:
Have cleaned and rolled up 5 area rugs to donate as well. I already have more boxes of trinkets, books and other stuff ready to go. A box full of college papers and notebooks are ready for recycling and shredding. The days I haven't driven to the donation centres, I've done stuff at home.
Honestly, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed so I think I will take a break today. I don't want to get burned out as there's lots more to do still.
To address mental health concerns, I am seeing my therapist tomorrow.
<exhale> I won't slack I promise!
How would y'all approach cleaning an entire house? It is so overwhelming! I'll describe the house:
Two stories, four bedrooms, each room cluttered (but not overflowing) with unnecessary items, certain rooms have bookshelves and walls of boxes and items that don't have a home, all closets are full and completely unorganized, backyard that looks horrible (but does not have towers of boxes), an empty attic on the second floor, an entire garage FILLED to the brim with god knows what.
The garage is the main focus. The plan is to order a 10x16 shed where we can displace certain large objects. There are large isles (?) of fabric from an old business my mother will move into the shed. Next, order a dumpster and begin throwing out what's unnecessary. Next, or simultaneously, perform yard sales. I don't know how lucrative that'll be. Move whats needed to storage. Move what has a home, to its home. Organize the garage; get boxes and begin placing things where they need to be.
Then we move onto the actual house..... any suggestions would be appreciated
EDIT: I DID IT!! Thank you for all your lovely comments. They made me feel better but also think more rationally, and I've been able to get rid of what I don't want. I feel a lot lighter knowing I won't be dragging it to my new house with me.
I've never been big on makeup, but my mum was, so she was constantly buying me eyeshadow palettes, makeup brushes, etc., as gifts. She's a heavy consumerist, so I acquired a lot of products over the years.
I used to do a full face for special occassions or going on dates, but the reality is in the last 2 years, I just don't wear any. At most, I use mascara, an eyebrow pencil, and a lip balm (ironically all items I buy myself, only purchasing a new one when the last is used up).
Over the years, I've managed to donate all the unused and in-date stuff, and to chuck away stuff that is very old or used. My mum and I are on very bad terms, so I don't get makeup gifts anymore thankfully. But I'm still left with this box of slightly used palettes - some old, some newer - and I feel guilty about just throwing it all away because it feels wasteful, especially when a lot of it was expensive. I've asked friends who have already taken what they want, but I don't seem to be able to donate any more of it.
I'm buying a house, and I don't want to take it all with me when I move. I want to just take a little makeup bag of the stuff I do use, with maybe a brush or two and a small palette just in case.
I know it sounds silly to feel so much guilt, but it's really difficult to envision a trash bag filled with stuff that is technically usable. I figured others here might have experienced similar.
I have a closet full of textbooks from when my brother was in college 15+ years ago. What, if any, are some good ways to haul these off without trashing/recycling them? I’d imagine that used book stores don’t want them given their age specifically because of the category of book they belong to, same with donating to a library or something. A lot of these textbooks are also computer science related which makes them extra outdated in a sense. What do people here like to do with old textbooks like this that aren’t as easy to get rid of as something like a novel?
I get sort of stuck because there's things I'm getting rid of like a robovaccum that are still functional and I feel BAD getting rid of because I spent money on it. Is it wasteful to not try and resell? When I have things I think I can resell I just hang on to them and never sell them... I'd rather just be able to donate because there's a truck that comes by and picks up the stuff!
I’ve been wanting to segregate and clean up my digital footprint.
I want to start with my email accounts since they are connected to almost everything in the digital realm
I’ve been watching a ton of videos about digital privacy and email hygiene. It got me wondering how to clean up the mess I have created over the last 3-4 years, creating 3-4 gmail accounts on my name and signing up for random stuff
How to manage my email overload in a practical way?
I’ve been using Gmail. My main use cases are:
I’ve purchased tons of audio software, courses, subscriptions, from official company websites. I have their receipts, download links, documents. I need to be in touch with these accounts for lifetime. Might purchase more stuff from them . Payment via PayPal, Debit card etc.
Social media - YouTube premium, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest etc
Newsletter paid subscriptions, Streaming services subscriptions, Amazon delivery , Food delivery
Personal basic communication
Apple ID - iCloud
I really don’t know what combination of emails or aliases to use and how to segregate these ?
Can someone help?
My parents used to have a spice cupboard that was 6 inches wide, 2 feet deep and overflowing with spices. You couldn't find anything without a flashlight and a week's provisions.
I had to take out almost every spice to find something buried in the back more than once. As a bonus the top shelf was out of reach to us short people.
It was a mess, so one day I organized a spice purge.
Step one: Get rid of the duplicates, expired spices and that one inexplicably sticky jar of chipotle pepper.
Step two: Put every spice on the counter next to an empty cardboard box.
Step three: Tell everyone to put any spice they actually use in the box. At the end of the day, toss whatever's left.
I tossed about half of the spice collection that day. We actually cooked with more spices now that we could actually find them.
Organizing photos, music, personal files, work documents, and configuring and tidying up online platforms are also things I dedicate my efforts to. Besides tidying up your home, do you also do digital decluttering?
I find it really hard to let go of clothes because I can always think of a situation I could use that one shirt in or patch these jeans with those, etc. This weekend I tried doing a different ranking system instead of keep/give away: "love," "really like," "like," and "tolerate." Anything in tolerate ranking I gave away, no matter how useful it seemed, and if I just liked it, THEN I ranked them by use and gave away the least used. It helped me reframe my wardrobe Marie Kondo style instead of just being stocked full of every possible scenario under the sun.
Obviously if you need a Specific thing for a specific occasion that actually happens regularly, that item is exempt - like a uniform or an interview outfit, etc.
Yesterday my boyfriend and I worked on our closets. He has a lot of clothes from previous jobs and hobbies , as well as some from recent part time jobs he is not currently working, but will when his health improves. He didn’t want to get rid of two fairly innocuous shirts. I asked why and each one was the shirt he was wearing the last time he saw some friends before they passed. I gently reminded him that the memories are not tied to those items and he would have them for the rest of his life. A few hours later we had a large box ready for st Vincent de Paul. He still has 4 times the amount of clothing I have but, hey, progress not perfection.
This is mainly a rant, but I am asking for recommendations at the end.:-)
For some time now, I‘ve grown really tired of decluttering content. It used to inspire me, but it seems that the creators go around in circles. It’s one MASSIVE WHOLE HOUSE DECLUTTER (etc.) after another and it irks me that almost no one actually seems to want to be getting somewhere. It’s not interesting or inspiring to me anymore.
And if every video ends up being sponsored on top of that, it seems icky to me. Like they are only trying to find an angle for an ad. I am ok with sponsored content, I don’t expect anyone to work for free. So normally, even if every video ends up being sponsored, I am telling myself that it is unreasonable to expect anyone to just create something for me to consume for free. So I am paying for inspiration by watching sponsored content.
There’s a balance here. Let me be blunt: I don’t want to hear about mattress companies or food delivery services ever again, or about online therapy tools. But if the content is generally good and even better if it’s not every dang short video, I‘m fine with it. There are creators that do sponsored posts and still I feel like that’s not the entire point of them even trying to come up with the motivation to make the video I‘m watching.
Idk, it’s both things: I am really tired of the endless decluttering content of people who never seem to actually change their accumulation habits. AND I‘m opting out of the content that seems like it’s only there to conceal an ad.
I‘d love to see more content of people actually showing their simplified and decluttered life and how they decide what to get rid of. Do you have any recommendations? Also on podcasts with a tolerable sound quality?
I know Dawn, Dana (and Cassie, even though for some reason I am not drawn by her content much) and Exploravore and the usual suspects, like the Minimalists (semi-hard pass).
Thankful for anyone joining my silly litte rant or who has recommendations.😀😊
edit: I realized that her name is Cas, not Cassie.
The question in the title is especially geared towards older people on this sub.
My mother keeps telling me that if I throw something away that's related to my past, I'll regret it when I'm old because I ''will want to look at those items when I'm old.'' But I doubt it. Hearing this again and again really annoys and frustrates me and despite of my negative feelings, it puts a small block on my decluttering journey.
(Note: I'm also more in the extreme side of minimalism because items really stress me out and I want to have a really neat and empty living area, I know that's not everyone's cup of tea.)
So, I want to ask your experiences on this. If you have decluttered e.g., some memorabilia, childhood things, old art, decorations and so on, and you're now noticeably older, do you have any regrets? Do you wish you had kept more things?
(I don't want to specify the age group too much because I am curious about various people's experiences, but the older the better.)
Edit: Thank you all so much for great and insightful answers so far. I've also enjoyed reading your stories about specific items that you miss from your past. There're too many comments to reply to but just know that I appreciate them all, I've read every single one and left an upvote for each. :)
Hello everybody! I’m in the process of a very painful separation and along with that I have to move to a different state. I have a lot of stuff from trips, clothes from high school (almost 20 years ago,) books, purses, souvenirs, etc. All of this stuff was in boxes and bins in my outside storage undisturbed for 2 years. That stuff had moved along with me through out the years. Out of everything that I had in there, I only truly wanted 3 things: my yearbooks, pictures and my cheerleading outfit from high school. I was so proud of myself that I let it all go and just kept those 3 things. Everything else went to the trash. There was a lot of things that I could have donated or sold but I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of sorting it, driving it to a donation site or posting it online. I just wanted it out and gone from my life. Now, I’m sure that something meaningful may have been thrown away, but if I can’t think of what it is, then it wasn’t as meaningful.
If I was able to let go of all of this stuff that I’ve been carrying around for years, so can you!
I've spent the last year doing a full-life declutter when I realized that I had fallen into a bad pattern of simplifying one area only to shift the 'collecting' behavior somewhere else... and I finally feel like I'm nearing the 'end'!
I cleared my cosmetics, skincare, haircare, etc. out completely and only allowed myself to repurchase the same exact item when I ran out (no trying new brands, adding new products, chasing the 'new thing' dragon). I got honest about my actual use-cases: I only like 1 blush formula and 3 colors, so I don't need to try anything else.. And now I have a curated little makeup collection that all fits in an IKEA Saxborga, and I love every piece I use daily!
I listed the furniture, decor, clothes, perfumes and other things for sale that I like but don't use. I came to terms with the fact that my home style is no longer '20-something boho maximalist'. I recognized that I thrive with a more minimalist aesthetic, just by finding "homes" for all the items I do need & love. THEN, I was diagnosed with ADHD and Ehler-Danlos, and feel so SO grateful to have already started simplifying my life in ways that make it easier to function.
My second-to-last (and biggest) step was the wardrobe... clothes (and body image) are hugely triggering for me. I finally got inspired to get real about my clothes by recognizing my values (less time doing laundry & putting outfits together), getting inspired at r/capsulewardrobe, and following the techniques here in r/declutter. And I'm happy to say I cut down 2/3 of my clothes, sold the old, and gained a lot of peace. I can put away all my laundry in about 15min instead of 1hr+. And, everything fits and goes together effortlessly!
My last phase of the declutter is to do a final once-over, sell/donate/rehome the final items, and make sure nothing has snuck through my process. I'm so so SO excited to transition from Decluttering into Maintaining... and I'm grateful for this sub helping me stay motivated and resourced along the way!
I've been doing some cleaning and have found things that I take one look at, think "Why did I buy that?" and put it in one of two "places" to donate. One place is for someone I know who is on SUCH a tight budget that she has to pinch pennies until they scream and still comes up short at times. Yes, we've talked this over and she is MORE than happy to take whatever I've found and will tell me if there's something she doesn't want which then goes in the other "place" which gets donated to one of the local thrift shops.
Anyways, I pulled some sheets out of my hall closet and tossed them in the washer (I'm trying to take advantage of the nice weather outside to line dry them). When I hung them up to dry, I realized that the elastic on the fitted sheet had completely given up on being stretchy. I then realized that they were almost 20 years old. The other set that matches it was the same way when I pulled it off the bed and washed that set. I know someone who will cut them up into rags (there are a couple parts I'm going to see if they'll save for me). The matching duvet and sham will get washed tomorrow, hung out on the line and then donated. Anything I donate gets washed or cleaned before I donate because it's not fair to the next person who might want it. If it isn't in good enough condition to donate, I either find another use for it or toss it.
That means several more things will be leaving my house as soon as I can get them there on top of what I'd already saved for the person.
Long story short, I've gained around 30 lbs over the past couple of years, and I don't know how to get rid of all my (awesome) clothes that don't fit me anymore, or whether I even should. I've changed my diet and started exercising again, but progress is slow, and I honestly don't know whether any of my old clothes will ever fit me again.
I've been undertaking a major, whole-house decluttering over the past 4 months, and things are going great, but now it's time to do the bedroom closet and I'm at a loss. I don't want to get rid of great pieces that I might be able to wear again, but it's also kind of depressing looking at them every day and being reminded that I'm not where I want to be. Has anyone been through this? Any tips, thoughts or suggestions? Thanks for reading!
This is the result of a depression that has lasted almost 10 years. I wasn't happy because I was always the fun one in the group and didn't feel free to make mistakes, show negative feelings and things like that. Today I'm improving, but I'm not moving forward because everything gets stuck, everything collides with how much stuff I've accumulated. At the same time I want to throw it away, this mess proves how bad I was and I know I'll never be able to explain in words how deep the depression went, so my mind kind of wants to leave it as a tribute to the problems I overcame. It ended up becoming, in a way, an idolatry of a version of me, as if it didn't allow evolution or moving forward. Then the only alternative is always this desire to record, be it photographing, filming, narrating, but nothing seems to do justice to what I want to convey... And I know this is procrastination, but the feeling is valid too.