How To Start Decluttering When You Feel Overwhelmed – 101 Tips For Clearing Your Clutter

Some or all of the links in this article may not work. I’m busy updating a few things.

Here’s how to get started when you have too much stuff. Let’s look at those feelings of being overwhelmed and dig into the hands-on work. When you have major decluttering to do, it takes inner strength to get past the overwhelm. You’re not alone if you feel a little lost.

Why Decluttering Is Hard

Decluttering can be hard when it stirs up memories and emotions. Some physical objects are buried in clutter because it’s been too hard, emotionally, to deal with them.

Another challenge of getting rid of clutter is having to make so many decisions. Do I keep this or not?

And here’s a big one: What if I make a mistake?

The good news is that the whole process of decluttering can launch you into a phase of life where you trust yourself more. You can let go of unpleasant things and whatever thoughts and feelings they carry. You can lighten your load. The Messynest Method of Decluttering teaches you how to move from overwhelmed to calm and confident.

It’s sometimes hard but it’s worth it. And by the way, you can do hard things! Never forget that.

These 101 tips for dealing with clutter will help you get started. If you don’t know the Messynest Method yet, be sure to check it out. It makes all the difference.

How To Declutter Anything

There are two steps to decluttering anything. 

Make a decision

The first step in decluttering is to decide what to keep and what to let go. For each thing you own, you have three choices:

• Keep
• Can’t Decide
• Don’t Keep.

Follow through with your decision

The second step in decluttering is to follow through on the decisions you make.

Find a place in your home for every Keep and Can’t Decide. It may not be the perfect place, but put away as much as you can, as close to where you want its final home to be. Then deal with the Don’t Keeps.

How to get rid of things

Following through with the Don’t Keeps means finding a place outside of your home where the item will be welcome. Here are the main options for getting rid of something.

• Use it up
• Give it away
• Sell it
• Recycle it
• Throw it away.

Know where the thing is going

If you have decided to let go of something, you need to have a place for it to go. Until you know where and when your object is going, it’s not going anywhere. Part of Follow Through for the Don’t Keeps is finding the right recipient, making the necessary arrangements, and carrying them out.

Self Care Comes First

Doing a lot of decluttering takes a lot of energy. To be in good shape for the invisible demands of decluttering, self care is essential.

Use a daily self care checklist

If you stop doing basic daily self care, it can be a sign that something is wrong. Monitor yourself daily using your Basic Self Care Checklist.

Know how to get back to normal

Use your Rescue Self Care List to restore your energy when you need it.

Practice conscious relaxation

Let go of the tension in your body, often. A short pause to unclench your jaw and drop your shoulders can be a booster.

Build resilience every way you can

Resilience means being able to roll with the punches. Get started by removing things and changing habits that don’t fit the life you want now.

Decluttering Step By Step

This step by step method can be used for pretty much any decluttering challenge. After the tips on the method, there are tips for decluttering books, and decluttering your bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and nursery.

Use a Decluttering Journal

Have a notebook and pen handy while you declutter. This is your Decluttering Journal. Using the same notebook [link] each time will save you time. At first it may seem to add more work, but as you go on following the Messynest Method, you’ll find it helps you go faster.

Remember why you are decluttering

Decluttering doesn’t mean you have to get rid of everything. It means having your possessions arranged in the way that most adds efficiency, comfort, and pleasure to your life. Ask yourself, “Why am I decluttering? What result do I want?”.

Set SMART goals

If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there. Use SMART goals to guide you. 

Stick to your stopping time

Slow and steady is the best way for major decluttering projects.

A project is made up of short sessions, typically one or two hours. Sometimes the whole project can take many short sessions, and that’s fine.

When you start a decluttering session, decide at the beginning how long the session will be. Write down your stopping time and set an alarm for that time. Do not let the session go overtime.

Work in very short bites

Inside your session, you will get more done if you work in short bites. Start by setting the timer for 10 minutes.

Empty the garbage bins

For the first 10 minute bite of your decluttering session, go through your house and pick up all the obvious garbage. This is not a treasure hunt. Just get the easy stuff that you can see without having to open doors and drawers. Empty every garbage can, wastepaper basket, and bin, whatever you call them.

Take the garbage all the way out

Get the garbage out of your home and into wherever you put it for collection. The same goes for recycling and composting, if you have curbside pickup for those. Put these things as close to their final destination as possible. Now you can move forward with a clean slate.

Start small

Pick a small space to start your decluttering project. It should have clear boundaries, like one shelf, or one surface, or one box. Work only on that small space until you are done, no matter how many sessions it takes.

Keep using the timer

You’ve done your first 10-minute bite already, by doing a garbage run through your house. You’ve taken all that garbage out. You’ve picked your small space. Now set the timer for 10 minutes again.

Do the easy things first

At every stage of the process, do the easy things first. Don’t force yourself to do hard things when there are easy things you could be doing instead.

Spend only 10 minutes deciding

Has this ever happened to you?

You decide to declutter a room. For an hour or two, you wander through the room, sorting things into piles. You have great intentions and you move a lot of things. You feel like you’ve done a lot. You have piles of sorted things to show for it. This pile is for recycling, this pile is for donations, this pile is for garbage, this pile is to keep.

And then … something happens. The phone rings, you have an appointment, you run out of time, you stop. You promise yourself you will deal with the piles next time.

Except, you don’t. Instead, you start again, making more piles. A few things get put away or let go, but for the most part, you are handling the same objects multiple times and not making much progress.

Instead, try using one 10 minute bite at a time. Set the timer for 10 minutes. Only work on your small space. Use the 10 minutes to make decisions. One item at a time, put each item into one of these three categories:

• Keep
• Can’t Decide
• Don’t Keep.

Those are your only three piles.

Follow through on those decisions

When the timer goes off, stop sorting. You now have only a few things to deal with, not piles and piles of stuff. It’s time to follow through. Here’s how.

Keep: Put these away. You may not have a permanent home ready for them yet, but put each item in a place close to where it will finally belong. It’s OK if you decide to leave your Keeps where they are for now, or permanently. If you have a better place for them, put them there now.

Can’t Decide: Don’t waste time and energy on things that you find it hard to decide about. For now, these get treated just like the Keep group. You must find a place and put them away.

Don’t Keep: These are things you are comfortable letting go of. Before you start another 10 minute bite of deciding, you need to put these things as close to their final home as you can.

The main options for letting go of something are:

• use it up
• give it away
• sell it
• recycle it
• throw it away.

Things you will use

Consumables that you will actually use up should be kept where you use them. Make a page in your Decluttering Journal or a note on your phone where you write down: Things I Do Not Need To Buy. When you go shopping, look at this list. Don’t buy things you already own. Use up your surplus.

Examples (yours may vary):

• spices
• shampoo
• soap
• light bulbs
• toothpaste
• dental floss
• pasta.

Where to put the Don’t Keeps

The Don’t Keeps that you are going to give away, sell, recycle, or throw away all need to physically leave your home as soon as possible. At the start and end of each decluttering session, take out the garbage and recycling. Those are always Don’t Keeps.

But what about the things you want to give away, donate, or sell? Where should those go?

Find a willing recipient

If you don’t have a willing buyer or recipient who will either collect the item or accept it from you in the next week, don’t move the object. Instead make a note in your Decluttering Journal. You can have a page for “Things I want to find homes for”. Make a note of what the thing is, where you put it, and today’s date.

If you really want to give something away or sell it, you may have to do some research. The same goes for items that may be recyclable where you have to check the rules first.

You haven’t really made the decision to let go of something until you know where it is going.

Some of your decluttering time needs to be spent on finding the right places for things you don’t know what to do with. This might take up one session a week, or you could do it as a bonus session when you are online.

Try doing an online search for “what to do with used [name of thing] in [name of your locality].” If you are on Facebook, ask in your local neighbourhood groups for suggestions.

Before you give anything to anyone, or donate anything to an organization, be sure they actually do want it. Just ask.

When you know exactly where the thing is going, and it is going to happen within a week, you can move it, but not until then.

Have an outbound holding area

Choose one place to hold things that are going to new homes within a week.

In your Decluttering Journal, write down these sentences and complete them:

The place where I put things that need to be taken somewhere or are waiting for pickup is: ________________________________.

The next time I will deliver things to wherever they need to go is written on my calendar and the day and time will be:_______________________.

This way, you will have one and only one holding area. You also have an appointment with yourself to move things out of your holding area and out of your house. Make sure you honour that appointment.

Once a week, do your deliveries

Don’t let your outbound holding area become a dead collection of stuff gathering dust. Set the same time every week to deliver anything that has to go somewhere else. Your goal is to make sure the holding area is completely empty by the end of your delivery day, every week.

It’s OK to keep things you can’t decide about

When you have a lot of decluttering to do, it’s OK to have a Can’t Decide category. You will learn to make decisions about those things, but in the meantime, do the easy things first.

Start the next 10 minute bite

You have spent 10 minutes in your small space dividing things into Keep, Can’t Decide, and Don’t Keep.

Then you put the Keeps and Can’t Decides away. You put the Don’t Keeps in your outbound holding area if you know for certain you can take them to a willing recipient on your next delivery day, preferably not more than a week from now.

The Don’t Keeps with no recipient are treated like Can’t Decides until you find a recipient.

When you have put everything from all three piles into their proper places, you start again. Set the timer for 10 minutes again and continue making decisions about the things in the small area you are working on.

Have you noticed that it takes at least 10 minutes, or longer, to put things in their right place? That’s why you don’t set the timer for the putting away phase, only for the deciding. Do 10 minutes of deciding, then put all the things you made decisions about into their right places, no matter how long it takes.

Do not start your timer until all the things you’ve decided on have been put away.

Stick to your quitting time

Keep going. Do 10 minutes of deciding and then put everything away, no matter how long it takes. When you reach the quitting time you wrote down at the start of the session, put away your last batch of stuff and then stop. Don’t overdo it.

Try to finish with everything put away, not with three piles of stuff waiting for you.

Don’t undo your work

We sabotage ourselves too often. Once you have decluttered a space, guard it jealously. Do not reclutter it.

Appreciate and celebrate your small successes

Even if the mountain in front of you is big, every step you take puts you closer to the top. For a long time, no one else will notice or care about your progress. That’s fine. Be your own cheerleader! When you have done solid work, even if it’s only for 10 minutes, you deserve credit.

A Few Tricks For Decluttering Anything

You’ll find you get faster and more confident about decluttering the more you do it. Whatever helps you is worth writing down in your Decluttering Journal. Here are a few tips.

Put like with like

In a disorganized house, it’s hard to find things when we need them. So, we buy new things. And then eventually we have seven can openers, but we only need one.

Think of one thing you have multiples of. Take 10 minutes and go through the house gathering up all of that thing that you see. For me, it’s black pens.

Once you have gathered Like with Like for 10 minutes, decide how many of that thing you actually need and want to keep. Put those away. The rest are ready to leave your home, either as garbage or recycling, or as a Don’t Keep that needs a recipient. When you have a recipient, put the things in your outbound holding area. Until then, you will have to store them. Make a note in your Decluttering Journal so you don’t forget to find a recipient.

Like with Like is a handy trick for helping us see how much money the clutter habit is costing us. Putting things away in a designated spot is a money saver because we don’t have to buy duplicates.

Use a 15 minute inventory

Are you blind to your own clutter? After living with it for a long time, we simply stop seeing it. When you want to start or restart decluttering, pick a room and do a 15 minute inventory. Here’s how.

Grab your Decluttering Journal. Set a timer for 15 minutes. Without moving, just look at the whole room and write down what you see. Don’t go into detail. Stop when the timer stops.

This exercise helps show you what you have been ignoring for years. After you do the inventory, stop and reflect. Is there any garbage here? Throw it out now. Is there anything else here you would be OK letting go? Let it go now, in whatever way will best get the job done.

What thoughts come to mind when you do the inventory? Maybe it’s a list of things that need mending, or an observation that you have a lot of old electronics and you don’t know what to do with them. Whatever you think of, if it’s got to do with decluttering your stuff, make a note. If you get stalled in the future, come back and work on the things you noticed.

You can do the 15 minute inventory as many times as you like. It can recharge you when things seem to be too much. One bite at a time.

Start with what you see

This idea is based on advice from author Dana K. White. Don’t start opening drawers, boxes, and closets until the space in front of you – what you actually see now – looks good.

Ignore advice that doesn’t suit you

A lot of advice, even by the top experts in their field, is not meant for you. Think about it. If you had to follow every piece of advice by every expert out there, you’d go crazy. You are the boss of you.

Accept that some things have to go to the dump

While it would be nice if everything could be reused or recycled, that is simply not the case. If you feel bad about sending objects to the dump, think of it this way. That item has to go to the dump sometime. If you don’t do it, someone else will have to. Is that what you want?

Don’t declutter for other people

Do you enjoy having other people handle your stuff? Do you like them to decide what to throw away? Do you like having them reorganizing your possessions?

For most of us, the answer is a loud No.

Deal with all your own stuff first and leave other people’s stuff alone. Set an example, without taking a holier-than-thou attitude. Show how you are enjoying decluttering and how good it is to get results.

Living with someone else’s clutter is a huge topic, often full of emotional triggers. Before you even think about decluttering for someone else, be sure you are happy and confident about your own clutter management.

How to Declutter Books

Do you have too many books?
How big is your “To Read” pile?
Is it hard for you to let go of your books?
Here are some tips on decluttering your library. Use the 10 minute bite method to make sure you actually declutter and don’t just move things into piles.

Give yourself time

For book lovers, letting go of books can be emotional. Give yourself time to process your feelings.

Notice what’s good about having fewer books

Books are wonderful but they are also heavy to move, they take up space, and like all objects, they gather dust.

Take a moment to finish this sentence and write it in your Decluttering Journal: The good things about owning fewer books will be _______________.

Work on one shelf at a time

It’s so tempting to flit from one bookshelf to another, sorting, piling, straightening, but not really making progress.

Instead of that, pick just one shelf and for 10 minutes, sort the books on that shelf into Keep, Can’t Decide, and Don’t Keep. Put the Keeps and Can’t Decides away. (They may belong right where they are.) If you have a place for the Don’t Keeps to go, put them in your outbound holding area and make sure they are gone within a week.

Special books

Do you have irreplaceable books? The tips below about getting rid of certain kinds of books do not apply to special, irreplaceable books.

Once you are clear about why a book is special to you, you can start deciding what to do with it. Where there is no one among your family and friends interested in a special book, try an online search for someone who might be. For example, a search for “Where to donate family Bibles” leads to a couple of organizations who might be interested.

Remember the following tips about books do not apply to special books. Special books deserve careful thought and sometimes a bit of research.

Get rid of garbage books

Unless a book is out of print and completely unavailable in any form, there is no reason to keep a copy that’s damaged, has bugs in it, is missing pages, or is falling apart. It’s not going to be a pleasure for anyone to read. It may even damage other books shelved with it.

Get rid of any obvious garbage from the shelf you’re working on. If you have to think about whether it’s garbage or not, just leave it and move on for now.

Do not donate damaged books to a library or charity. That puts the burden of disposal on them. Don’t do it.

Get rid of old textbooks

Textbooks are often outdated within one or two years. If you can sell them on the used book market, do it as fast as you can because most textbooks will soon be worth nothing.

If you have continued to study and learn in your field, you already know which textbooks are and are not worth holding on to. If you haven’t looked at a textbook in a few years, you probably won’t. And if you do decide to refer to it in future, will the information be current and accurate?

Do not donate used textbooks unless the recipient specifically says they want them.

To recycle textbooks, or any books, check the rules where you live. Your city or county government website is a good place to start.

Don’t keep outdated how-to books

Many how-to books of just a few years ago may be completely useless today. Do you need a three-year-old social media guide? Especially in technology and media, things change fast.

Outdated how-to books are ready for recycling.

Don’t keep manuals for things you no longer have

It seems every electronic gadget we buy comes with a manual. 

The manuals often hang around long after the gadget is dead and gone.

Manuals for things you don’t own are ready for the recycling bin.

Return books you don’t own

Anything that can go back to its rightful owner, should.

Books you’ve already read

If you’ve already read and enjoyed a book, why are you keeping it? If it’s readily available from the library or online, you can get it again easily. You don’t have to keep a copy.

Reference books

You may own books that you refer to from time to time. These are useful and you use them, so it makes sense to keep them. What about reference books you don’t use any more? So much information is available online, maybe you don’t actually need to keep the physical book.

How To Get Rid Of Books

You have a few choices. In each case, make sure the recipient actually wants the books you plan to give them. Pawning your garbage off on other people is a rotten thing to do.

Here are some ideas for letting go of books.

Gifts

A used book can be a nice casual gesture of friendship. It doesn’t have to be for some occasion.

Donate books to a library

If and only if the library actually wants your donated books, go ahead. In some places, the library may be able to issue you a tax receipt. Before you ask for one, find out approximately how much it will be for. If the amount is small, consider not asking. It costs the library staff some time to prepare a receipt, which undermines the value of your donation.

Also, don’t expect the library to keep your books. It may be that they would rather sell it at a fundraiser, give it to another library, or do something else with it. Once you have given the books away, their fate is no longer up to you.

Other places to donate books

Try an online search for “where to donate books”. If the answers are not showing places in your area, try “where to donate books in [name of your locality]”. Depending where you live, you may be able to donate books to prisons, hospitals, schools, military, retirement and nursing homes, and anywhere else that has a population of readers.

Little Free Libraries and neighbourhood book exchanges are another way to share good books.

Donate books to charity fundraisers

Some charity book sales are big annual events. Others are smaller, and may be ongoing. Do an online search for “charity book sales in [name of your locality” and see what’s going on near you.

Selling books directly

Is it worth it to sell books directly, either in person (garage sales and such) or online (eBay, for example)?

It depends. If you desperately need the money, or if your collection is quite valuable, selling the books might make sense. Valuable collections are a special case, and it would be a good idea to get an appraisal before you sell.

If you plan to sell books that aren’t particularly valuable, you may only get pennies on the dollar for them. You will be giving up a fair bit of time.

Bottom line: If you enjoy the activity of selling, do it for the enjoyment, not for the money. Look at book prices in markets like eBay – not at what sellers are asking, but at what books have actually sold for. You may decide it’s not worth your time.

Selling books to a used book store

If you love browsing bookstores, you probably know that used book stores have some of the most interesting assortments. Typically they do not pay much for books but if you want to exchange your books for store credit rather than cash, you might do better.

If you want to support your favourite store, consider just giving them the books they are interested in, and not asking for anything in return.

Can you recycle old books?

The question of whether you can recycle old books depends on where you live and what sort of recycling facilities are available to you. To get the answer, look online for your local government, or phone them. There may be requirements that you have to take off the covers of hardbacks, and some places may not be able to recycle every kind of paper. This is so variable, you have to find out exactly what’s allowed where you live.

Should you burn old books?

It’s usually a bad idea to burn books and it may be against the law where you live. If there is a bylaw that says you can’t burn household waste, then you can’t burn books.

Even if it’s technically allowed, it’s got some hazards. The smoke can be toxic. The fire itself is a risk. Burning paper is easily caught by the wind. If a piece blows away from your yard and into a dry, flammable forest or field, you could start a major fire. Don’t risk it.

Using old books for art and crafts

While you are decluttering your home, it’s probably not a good time to start a new hobby. If you do not already make art or do crafts using books, don’t save your books only because some day you might. You will be able to get used books in future if you need them.

Of course, if you already know people who want your books for their own projects, by all means, give them the books.

What to do with old magazines

The big difference between books and magazines is that most magazines aren’t meant to be kept.

Consider switching to a digital subscription so you don’t keep getting paper copies.

Unless your magazines are truly special, just recycle them. Current issues of expensive magazines might be an acceptable gift to a friend or a donation to your local library but you should check first. Especially with COVID still in circulation, people and organizations aren’t as ready to accept used magazines as they once were.

Step By Step Decluttering For The Bedroom

Every room has its own character. Here’s how to tackle the typical bedroom clutter.

Remember, decluttering has two parts: Making decisions and following through.

Write down your ending time

As for any decluttering session, before you start, write down the time you will stop. This decluttering session may be one of several you will have for the bedroom. Don’t feel you have to do the whole room in one go.

Take out the garbage

Set your timer for 10 minutes. Find and empty all the garbage containers in this room.

If you see that there’s more garbage or recycling than you can do in 10 minutes, that’s OK, do it now. Just do what you see. Stop when the visible garbage and recycling is gone from the room.

Finish this job before you start the next. All the garbage and recycling needs to go right out to the curb (or wherever you put it for collection).

Make the bed

The whole room looks better when the bed is made and there’s no extra stuff on it – no magazines, no food, no clothes. Make your bed and take a moment to admire it.

Pick a small area

Even though your goal is to declutter the whole room, it’s easiest to do one small part at a time. One way is to start at the door and work your way around the room clockwise.

You are only doing what you can see without opening drawers and closets. Once that’s all done, you can pick one drawer or closet at a time.

Set a timer for 10 minutes

Now it’s time for 10 minutes of decision making. You are only going to have three categories:

• Keep
• Can’t Decide
• Don’t Keep.

Spend 10 minutes making decisions about clutter in the bedroom

In the small area you’re working on, spend 10 minutes making three piles: Keep, Can’t Decide, and Don’t Keep. When the 10 minutes is over, stop sorting.

Put things where they belong

It may take more than 10 minutes to find the right place for the things you have just sorted. That’s fine. You do not use a timer for this part. Take the Don’t Keeps either to:

• the garbage or recycle bin. You are going to make a final trip today to the outdoor garbage and recycle bins so it is OK if you put these small amounts in the indoor garbage and recycle bins for now.
• your outbound holding area if you have a willing recipient (or buyer). Without a recipient, you have to put the Don’t Keeps away while you find a recipient. Do not let these things go into the holding area because they will sit there forever. You need a recipient before you can put something in the outbound holding area.

Put the Keeps and Can’t Decides where they belong. This may be where they are now, or it could be some other part of the house. Do your best to put everything where it belongs.

What to keep when you declutter the bedroom

Make a list of the things you would have in your bedroom if you were starting from scratch. Write it in your Decluttering Journal. Here are some suggestions:

• bed
• pillows
• sheets
• blanket, duvet, quilt, or similar
• clothes
• dresser
• bedside lamp.
  
  The things on your list are things you don’t have to think about.

What to remove from the bedroom

How you choose to decorate and use your bedroom is up to you. If you are decluttering for comfort, efficiency, and even for your health, here’s a list of things to consider removing. As you read this list, make notes in your Decluttering Journal of any thoughts that come to mind.

Things to remove from the bedroom:

• other people’s stuff
• work things
• extra books and magazines – just have the one or two you are currently reading
• broken things that can’t be used or enjoyed
• extra supplies of anything. Unless you have nowhere else available, do not use your bedroom as a warehouse.
• food (food doesn’t belong in the bedroom, but that’s another story)
• hobby things and projects. Be reasonable. If you find it relaxing to knit in bed, fine, keep one project in the bedroom. Not your entire supply of patterns, wool, needles, and unfinished work.
• art you have not got room to display.
  
  What else is on your list of things that don’t belong?

What to do with your old mattress

Because of the potential health problems (bedbugs, dust mites, allergies), it’s not easy to find places that want to reuse old mattresses. Do an online search for “how to donate mattresses in [name of your locality]”. Be sure you are getting up to date information, because COVID has changed a lot of things about donations. You may have to pay for a charity to come and collect your old mattress.

Some retailers will take back your old mattress and box spring for recycling when you buy new ones. Take advantage of this if you can.

If your only option is the dump or recycling, try and find a mattress recycling place. You may have to pay a fee at either the dump or the recycling place.

How many sets of sheets should you keep?

Over time, it’s easy to collect more sets of sheets and pillowcases than you actually need. For each bed in the house, if you have two sets of bed linen, you will have one in use and one either in the laundry or clean and ready for use.

Try this for a month. Pick the two sets you want to keep, for each bed. Pretend the other sets don’t exist. At the end of the month, ask yourself how many sets of sheets you need per bed.

What to do with old bedroom furniture

Selling or giving away large items has the problem of needing to let strangers into your home. This is a security risk you can avoid by

• donating the pieces to a reputable charity that will pick them up
• selling them to or through a dealer who will pick them up, or, if you can,
• delivering the furniture to a purchaser (after being paid).

For truly valuable pieces, consider using a reputable auction house that does estate sales. 

Keep sets together if you can. Otherwise you will be stuck with odd pieces that don’t fit anyone’s decor.

How to declutter clothes

For very gently worn, currently fashionable or classic pieces: give them away to someone you know who truly does want them. If there is no one, look for a consignment shop that can sell them or a charity that would like to have them.

Other wearable, older pieces: look for a place to donate them. Some charities appreciate clothes in good condition, even if they are not fashionable.

Worn out, stained, ripped, or otherwise damaged clothes: look for textile recycling. Some charities accept all clothing and sort it for sale or recycling. Ask at your preferred charity: What do you accept? What do you suggest for things you do not accept?

How to pare down your wardrobe

Here’s some tried and true advice: If you haven’t worn something in a year, be truthful. Are you going to wear it again? If not, it’s time to let it go.

If it doesn’t fit, why are you keeping it?

If it’s in need of repair, either fix it this week or let it go.

Like with Like is a great technique to use on clothes. Try it on anything you have a lot of, like socks, for example. How many pairs of socks do you have? How many do you really need and want?

Decluttering the Kitchen

The kitchen is probably the most heavily used room in your house. Unless you live alone, the kitchen is one of those shared spaces that everyone uses but no one takes responsibility for.

Here are a few ways to declutter the kitchen, hopefully in a way that won’t ruffle too many feathers.

A nice thing about decluttering the kitchen is that at the start, you don’t have to make decisions. With the tips here, you can go straight into putting things away and letting them go.

Have a cup of tea (or coffee)

Intense decluttering starts with self-care. Before you launch into a kitchen declutter, take a few minutes to sit down and prepare yourself. While you enjoy sipping your beverage, think about how easy or difficult it was to make that drink. If you had to look hard to find a clean cup and spoon, or you aren’t too sure about the freshness of the cream, it’s a sign that you can make life more pleasant for yourself.

Don’t get up just yet. Do a 15 minute inventory from where you are sitting. In your Decluttering Journal, write down the things you notice as you look around the room. What’s there that no longer needs to be there?

Take out the garbage

The kitchen usually has at least one garbage can. Sometimes there will be one for garbage, one for recycling, and one for organics (compost), depending on the facilities where you live. Whatever you have, remove it now. Take it out to the place it needs to be for collection.

Clear the kitchen table

Is your kitchen table a dumping ground for things that belong elsewhere?

Ideally, a kitchen table is used for eating. It’s a place where things get spilled and crumbs are created. Are you able to take a cloth and wipe off your entire table at the beginning and end of every meal?

Chances are, there are things on the table that have nothing to do with eating.

Instead of starting with a 10 minute bite of decision making, you can just begin by putting things away. Skip anything that you have to think about. Do the easy things.

Start at one end and work to the other. Put away everything that doesn’t belong here. The whole kitchen will feel less cluttered once you do this.

Wash the dishes

If you have ever looked at FlyLady.net, you’ll know that her first step in housekeeping is to shine the sink. Whether you choose to go that far is up to you, but to declutter your kitchen, you do need to wash the dishes and put them away.

No matter how much other work you do in this room, it will never look good if there are dirty dishes on display. Just do it.

Do a 15 minute kitchen inventory

Grab your Decluttering Journal and a pen. Sit down. Set a timer for 15 minutes. Without moving, write down what you see. Make any notes you like. The idea is to take time to notice what you normally overlook.

What do you see that will be easy to let go of right now?

Clear the other surfaces, one at a time

The table is clean, the dishes are done and put away. Things are already looking better. Your 15 minute inventory showed you what’s in plain sight but no longer wanted.

To make a big impact in the easiest way, keep working on what you see right in front of you. What’s on your counter top that doesn’t need to be there?

Do the easy things. If you find yourself stalled because you are trying to make decisions, work on something easier. Here are some suggestions.

How many containers do you really need?

The stash of old food containers and their lids just grows and grows. How many do you actually use in a week? The rest are just taking up space.

Check your local recycling rules. Then start letting go of your excess containers. You decide what feels right. Containers without lids, lids without containers, and flimsy containers that really aren’t that reusable can all go into the garbage or, if allowed, recycling. You aren’t using these and you won’t miss them.

Old non-stick cookware

Some of the coatings on non-stick cookware can start to flake off, especially if the coating has been scratched. While there may be some debate about whether eating the coating (yuck) is harmful to your health, we can dodge that question. Non-stick cookware with a damaged surface becomes sticky cookware.

The question is, what can you do with it?

If you do not have an obvious and immediate way to use it as something else, see if your local recycling system will take it. If not, do a search for “how to dispose of non-stick pots and pans in [name of your locality]”. A number of websites mention say that some metal recyclers will take them.

Should you give it to someone else to use as cookware? No.

Recipes you don’t use

Do you have a lot of recipes clipped and saved but rarely, even never, used? Saving your mother’s heritage recipes is one thing, but saving cuttings that have never had a sentimental value is quite another. Recipes for everything can be found online these days. No need to save that pile of paper.

Cookbooks you don’t really like

Some cookbooks look great but they don’t suit your tastes. I have several like this. After trying a few of the recipes, I found that the authors and I just didn’t think the same way about food. One likes frying and deep frying. I haven’t fried in over 30 years except twice, unsatisfactorily, when using that cookbook. Another lovely book uses ingredients I simply can’t get. And yet another cooks in multiple complicated stages, which I don’t enjoy.

There’s nothing wrong with these books, I just don’t like them.

Making the decision about cookbooks is easier when you ask yourself, “Did I actually like cooking from this book?”.

The options for getting rid of old cookbooks are the same as for books generally except there may be more opportunity to sell them. Some cookbooks are fetching high resale prices. If you want to do the research before deciding whether or not to sell, make a note in your Decluttering Journal, and book a time to do the research, preferably in the next week.

Sell the books if (and only if) either they are truly valuable or if you love the act of selling things.

If you choose not to sell them, you could give them to friends and family who will enjoy them. Look online for cookbook collectors. Ask if your local library or a charity you support would like to have them.

Unlike other types of books, cookbooks with a few stains from use in the kitchen may still be acceptable. You need to make it clear what condition the book is in.

Worn out cloth tablecloths, placemats, and napkins

After a while, tablecloths, napkins, and placemats can start to look unattractive. Some fabrics, like linen, can improve with age and good care. Others just wear out.

Pick out all the kitchen textiles that are obviously no longer appealing to anyone. Just grab the easy ones where no decisions are required.

What to do with old table linens that are no longer fit for use:

• reuse them as dusters, paint cloths, and cleaning rags. Only keep them for this if you don’t already have some! Chances are you have more than enough rags already.
• donate them to a charity that will take them for recycling. Some charities that accept clothes will also take any clean fabrics. If they can’t be sold as is, these things get bundled up and sold in bulk to textile recyclers.
• take them straight to a textile recycler yourself.
• look for innovative programs. Do an online search for “what to do with old tablecloths”, for example. The Threadcycle program in Seattle says that most clothes, shoes, and linens can be recycled or reused even when they are holey and worn out. Your municipality may have something similar.

Dead and unloved plants

Not all houseplants are meant to last forever. Some are cute when they’re small but then they grow up to be straggly, prickly, leaf-dropping, or just plain awkward. Or, they die.

Some plants look dead because they are dormant. In the spring, they surprise you by suddenly turning green.

In the meantime, you have a dead plant (or what looks like a dead plant) sitting in your kitchen.

You have two choices. If you don’t like the plant, whether it’s dead or dormant won’t matter to you. Get rid of it. If you love the plant, put it in a less visible place while it sleeps.

Dead plants are one of those things that a 15 minute inventory will turn up. You stop seeing them after a while until you start paying attention to what is actually in the room.

Bags

Grocery stores are starting to eliminate plastic bags, but it may be some time before they are all gone. Do you have a stash of bags tumbling out every time you open the closet?

Plastic degrades with time, and unfortunately, some plastic bags turn into fluffy bits when they get old. It’s better to recycle these, if you can, before you have a mess.

Can you eat it?

As you look through your pantry or fridge for your next meal, what items are you bypassing, again and again? Either use it, preferably this week before you forget, or toss it.

Food that’s no longer safe to eat should be thrown away so no one gets hurt.

Food that is safe and edible should be eaten. You can make a game of this. Once a week, make a meal using what you have. Whether it’s spices, pasta, frozen vegetables, or some condiment you’ve never tried before, just give it a go.

Use up what you have before you restock. In your Decluttering Journal or on your phone, add these to your “Things I Don’t Need To Buy” list.

Broken ceramics

If a piece of ceramic dinnerware – a plate, bowl, mug, etc. – is cracked or chipped, its useful life in the kitchen is over. Old chipped plates can be used under houseplants, but there aren’t a lot of other great uses for them.

Some people use them to make mosaics. If that is not your hobby already, now is not the time to start. If you feel you must keep these pieces, set a deadline for using them. Mark it on your calendar and when the day comes, reconsider your idea of making the broken china into something.

In the meantime, do what is easy. Weed out all the damaged ceramics, and let them go.

Don’t put ceramics into the recycling bin. The typical recycling system for glass can’t take them. They contaminate the recylables, and that is the worst outcome.

This advice from the City of Calgary, Canada is typical. Send your broken ceramics to the landfill with your household garbage. For the safety of the workers who handle the garbage, you should wrap up these broken, sharp items or put them in a sealed container so they won’t cut anyone. Label them with a marker, “SHARP”. Make it easy for the workers to know what they are dealing with.

Some brick recyclers will recycle ceramics by crushing them. Have a look online to see if that’s available to you.

What to do with souvenir mugs

Souvenir coffee mugs are on the “Don’t want” list of some charity shops. Before you donate them, ask about this. On the other hand, organizations that help people get established in new homes might welcome these as donations. Some office coffee rooms are always short of mugs. Others always seem to have too many. Ask your friends if they know of anyone who’d like some mugs at work.

As you look through your kitchen, pull out the mugs that it’s easy for you to say good-bye to. If you have to agonize over the decision, move along to the next thing.

Another look at decluttering the kitchen

Going through a 15 minute inventory, pulling out all the broken and unwanted items and taking them where they belong will create some space. You may need to do this many times to get comfortable with the result.

Once you are happy with what you see on the table and countertops, then and only then is it time to start opening drawers. Work on one at a time. Get rid of garbage, use Like with Like to find duplicates you don’t need or want, and commit to using the things you keep.

The kitchen has a lot of things you can put away or let go of without having to make any hard decisions. Once you have done that, use the two step method for the rest.

A quick review of the two step method: First, make a decision. Use the 10 minute bite to make decisions (Keep, Can’t Decide, Don’t Keep). Then, carry out the decisions by putting all the things where they belong. When you have done this for everything you touched in the 10 minute bite, you can start another 10 minutes.

Decluttering the Bathroom

Like the kitchen, the bathroom is often a shared space. Remember, you are only decluttering for yourself. Don’t try decluttering for anyone else without their permission.

Get rid of the garbage

Every time you start to declutter for the day, empty the garbage. Empty the recycling too. Get it out of the house.

Old makeup can be unhealthy

Makeup has a shelf life, and so do the applicators. Throw out any makeup that is old, or that is separating, discoloured, smelly, or just doesn’t look or feel right. If you have had an eye infection, give your self a clean start and get rid of all the old products and applicators.

Old makeup can be unfashionable

Go ahead and update your look. You have permission to throw away a partly used lipstick or eyeshadow to make room for a new one.

Use soap slivers in the laundry

Do you have soap slivers hanging around? Just throw them into the sink next time you’re handwashing something, or into the washing machine on the next load. Or put them straight into the garbage. Soap slivers exist because people don’t like to use tiny pieces of soap. Stop hoping they will change.

Change your toothbrush

Change your toothbrush at least every three to four months. If it’s wearing out earlier, change it. If anyone in the family has had a cold or some other ailment, change everyone’s toothbrush.

While you’re at it, put away partly-used tubes of toothpaste and work through them one at a time. If they are too old, throw them away now. You only need one tube in use at a time.

What’s in the bathtub or shower?

Do you regularly use every single product and implement that’s in your bath or shower right now? This is another place where partly full bottles stack up. You only need one of each product you actually use: one soap, one shampoo, one conditioner. Put the rest away and then use them all up, one at a time, before you buy more.

Old facecloths and towels

When facecloths and towels have been well used, they show it. The fabric loses its absorbency. Don’t expect these things to last forever. Pick out your best towels and facecloths, and let go of the rest. How many do you need? It depends how often you use or reuse them between wash days, and how often you do laundry.

For example, if you do laundry once a week, and you are OK using the same towel all week, then you can be fine with two bath towels per person. That’s one in use and one either in the laundry or clean and waiting in the linen closet.

Take a look at your own habits over the next week or two, and decide what you actually need.

Old cleaning products

Some of the harshest cleaning products turn up in the bathroom. Make sure they’re safely stowed where they won’t spill and where children and pets can’t get them.

Many cleaning products should not be mixed with each other. Some are flammable or explosive, and some are dangerous when wet. Keep this in mind when storing them. Don’t let accidental leaks lead to household accidents.

Don’t throw these things in the garbage or flush them down the toilet. A lot of them should be disposed of like the toxic waste they are. If you are not sure, check with your municipality’s solid waste department and the fire department. Throwing a bunch of chemicals into one bin and leaving them for the garbage pickup could cause an explosion or fire.

Decluttering the Dining Room

There seems to be a feeling that young people setting up house don’t want what Baby Boomers call the good dishes, the good silverware, and the crystal. It’s a shame, because these things are often beautiful and of higher quality than their newer counterparts. What can you do with them?

Use the good dishes

If you feel comfortable using the good dishes, and the silverware, and the crystal, just do it. You are not going to live forever. You’ve cared for and housed these pieces for a long time. Go ahead and enjoy them.

Write down the story of your special things

A set of dishes is much more meaningful to the next owner when the history of the set is documented. It doesn’t have to be a long and involved story, but those are great if you feel like creating one.

What you should aim for is the factual history of the set. Work backwards from today. Identify yourself so there is a real person as the starting point. When and how did you get these things? What do you know about the set’s history before that? Do you know where it was made? Is it associated with special occasions, e.g. a wedding or a birthday? Add whatever other details you like.

Pass along a copy of the story with the set.

Ask a wide group of family, and perhaps friends, what they think you should do with the good things

You could just ask your family and friends if they want your good things, but a lot of people will say yes to something just because it’s free, not because it has any particular significance. Consider sending out a letter to your siblings, nieces and nephews, grandchildren and so on. You might include your good friends too.

Tell them you are looking for a good home for these treasures and ask if they have any ideas. My hope would be that at least one person would have a genuine interest in the family history and would treasure your things as much as you have.

If no one suggests an idea you like, you can consider selling the set through an auctioneer who deals in such things. Or, you could donate it to a charity. Often people will say, “Donate it to the museum.” Museums unfortunately cannot accept everything they are offered. If you think your set would be of interest to a museum, write to them and explain why. Include the story with the ownership history, and ask if they want to have it.

Selling old china, silver, and crystal

As well as selling by auction or online, you may find a dealer interested in purchasing your things. Try searching “sell old china sets”. There are a number of businesses that buy and sell individual pieces as well as entire sets.

Decluttering the Nursery

A baby’s room tends to become a child’s room and then a teenager’s room, until one day it turns into a semi-empty room with layers of childhood things in it. This is potentially dangerous territory, since the things in here belong to the now-grown child (or at least, they may see it that way).

Some people take an all-or-nothing approach. They give the child a short deadline to take all the stuff they want, with the rest to be thrown away. Others are more gradual, letting go of a dozen things now and then (with or without permission). And then there is just plain procrastination, where the room sits in limbo. Here are some ideas.

Take a 15 minute inventory of the top layer

Without moving anything, use your Decluttering Journal and do a 15 minute inventory of what you see. Then immediately pick up anything that is clearly garbage, in everyone’s opinion, and toss that away.

Put away everything that has a place

It’s amazing how much you can declutter a room just by putting things away. Make the bed, hang up the clothes, take out the garbage and recycling, and then see how things look.

Pick your strategy

The things in your kids’ rooms are a hybrid of theirs and yours. There can be a lot of emotions stirred up when you start emptying those rooms. Think about the best way to do this, based on what will work best for your family.

Remember, self care is an important part of decluttering. When you find it challenging, it’s OK to stop. Take care of yourself first. The stuff can wait.

Good luck with your decluttering projects. Use the form on this page to get more ideas and support.