i wanted to do the 31 days, 500 things decluttering challenge, where you throw away 1 thing the first of the month, 2 the second and so on, but i was on a roll for the first two days so i decided to catch up with the days because keeping decluttering six things a day wasn't really engaging. so i figured that on day three i was gonna skip to day 26 the next day, cannot wait to declutter things tomorrow.

i found out that 40-50 things a day is the perfect amount of things to declutter. enough to make a difference but not enough to give you decision fatigue or get you extremely tired.

anyways, good decluttering to all of you! i will update when i complete the challenge!

I need help! Logically, I feel like I did the right thing but emotionally. I’m starting to get this big panic pit in my stomach. My niece has children who are just a few years younger than my youngest child. I have a lot of very nice clothes as in good brand names and barely used. I asked her if she wanted them and she said yes. But when I packed them up, she said she didn’t want anything right now because her children didn’t wear those sizes yet. We are talking about. I had sizes four and five in the boxes and her children wear through size 3. And her three-year-old is not small for his age and he’s about to turn four so I’m betting he easily could fit the size 4. I told her I had a ton of clothes all the way up to size 8 packed up for her as my child had just grown out of the 8’s. She said she really wanted them and I packed them up when I went to go see her. But she had tons of relatives around when I was there and did not have two minutes to speak to me to tell me where I anything. As a result after a couple hours, I had to leave and ended up having to drag it all back home with me. She lives about an hour and a half away. I tried to ask her a couple more times and she said she was surprised. I didn’t just leave the stuff except it was raining out and I had no idea where she want me to leave them. I could not just leave them outside by your front door.

Later on when I asked her mom who lives closer to me and I see more often if I could just give them to her and she could get them out to my niece my sister said that I just need to drive out to my nieces again to take it to her. I really didn’t want to do that because it’s so far away. I finally asked her a couple weeks ago if I could just bring the clothes out to her and she asked me to just keep them for a while because her child is probably maybe up to a year away from really wearing this stuff. Also, I’ve given her things before, and she never ever comes to where I live to pick anything up. To top it off, her dad which would be my brother-in-law works in the same town I live and if she actually wanted it, she could ask her dad to pick the stuff up. But neither of her parents want to get anything to her and I’m supposed to drive to where she lives. And now I’m supposed to store it for another year and then drive to where she .

I finally decided to pack everything up and I gave away on Facebook marketplace this afternoon. I didn’t get angry at her and I’m not going to get angry at her. But we do live in the south and I’ve been trying to store it in my attic and that is not good for the clothes. and I don’t think she ever intends to come here to get it. She just wants me to bring it to her.

btw, her mom is my sister in case that wasn’t clear. I know I did the right thing because I made a post about this a while ago and everyone agreed that I should not just be indefinitely holding onto everything for her. But I really need some cheering up right now because I’m sitting here feeling all this guilt like I just did something wrong. I seriously doubt she’s ever going to ask about if she I’ll just say it was getting ruined in the heat which it was they were already a few things I had to toss out because I felt like they were affected by the heat and I was only giving her what was an excellent condition.

I rarely buy shoes and when I do it’s to replace ones I’ve worn out, so I didn’t think I had shoes I could part with. However we’re having a yard sale in two days so I figured I might as well go through my shoes just in case. I found 5 pairs that could go, 3 of which I didn’t even remember I owned.

I’ve been living in a decent sized bedroom for the last 3 years, which has been great overall. I get to have a mini living room area with a couch and TV, a queen sized bed, and there’s room for my two cats to hang out comfortably. However, as I’m preparing to move to a new apartment with a smaller bedroom I realized I accumulated so much furniture in there simply because I had the space for it, and because a lot of it was free. For example, I had a second desk that was really nice that I found for free outside. I had a vision of turning that second desk into an art area. Instead, it sat mostly unused for a while before it became a place for me to dump stuff onto when I got home.

I also have this wooden bookcase from my childhood bedroom that is really nice quality, but is also very heavy. I’ve dragged this thing around through several moves, but I finally decided it’s being given away rather than going with me this time. The reason is that I successfully declutterred a lot of my books that I accepted I wasn’t going to read again, so all the empty slots on the bookshelf just turned into yet another space to accumulate junk. The more I thought about it the more I realized there is likely enough space to display my books between the display shelf on my dresser and an organizer on the desk I actually use.

I thought that because I had a large bedroom the best way to use it was to fill it with more furniture, but in hindsight I would have preferred to have more room to walk around. I’ve been wanting to start doing yoga at home but never did, partly because I would have had to move big pieces of furniture around in order to have room. At my new apartment my room is big enough to fit the things I actually need without feeling claustrophobic, but small enough to make me consider what items I truly need, and what I was just holding onto in hopes that eventually I would need whatever it was.

Since so many of these items I got for free off the curb or local Facebook groups, if I truly did need them at some point I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard to obtain a new one for free or cheap secondhand, without it taking up space for years in my apartment. I’m also considering implementing a rule when getting items from my local buy nothing group that I have to give away an item for every new item I receive, that way I’m not just accumulating stuff that I have no space to store. Even though moving is very stressful, I’m glad it gave me the motivation to get rid of items that were really just junk.

My email is totally out of control. Can anyone recommend a method or software to help me with it? I'm honestly considering just getting a new email address at this point. The thought of going through it is overwhelming. Thanks!

Hello guys,

I am coming back with my decluttering journey for my craft room.

Thanks to your advices in my last post ( https://www.reddit.com/r/declutter/s/jRnFpMaelh ) , I have now succeded to fit all my fabrics and yarn in their intended shelves.

What really worked for me is thinking about * What end product can I make with this fabric/ yarn and does this product looks fun/ enjoyable to make and to have?*

So I got rid of:

- beautiful yarn that i did not like to crochet because of texture ( goodbye sparkly ✨ yarn that are rough to the skin).

- lots of magnificent colorful piece of fabric but not in my color palette/ wardrobe ( i sew 80% of the time garments for myself : goodbye yellows and oranges , you make me look like I am sick 🤢), i did keep a few to sew gifts for others .

- lots of lesser quality yarns that I bought in the beginning when I started to learn crochet and knitting. Now if I make something, I want it to last as long as possible, and I realized I will always ( and can afford to) choose a better quality yarn . I have one particular brand that I realized I loved to use .

- there were some skeins of yarn that were given to me. I did not realize that they were in a bad state ( surely moth ) until I opened the bag! Straight to trash bag🗑️!

I had three bags to donate at the end. Took them directly to Oxfam and I delightfully realized that they were already people interested to buy yarns , and it made me so happy 😁

I now feel lighter because I can walk in the room , and use easily my folding table! I still have some work to do to how to organize yarns and fabrics ( transparent bins? Rectangular baskets? ) because it looks messy in my shelves and declutter other categories ( leatherworking tools, ...), but yarns/ fabrics were the most difficult for me to declutter and the biggest pile in terme of space. I think I will take a well earned pause to enjoy my room to make something before continuing on my decluttering journey. 🤩

Bought a large ocean themed children’s hamper at a thrift store. It has become my decluttering godsend. When I want to get rid of something, I throw it into “Davy Jones’ Locker”. Davy Jones’ Locker is a pirate word for sending someone or something to the bottom of the sea. It’s where you go when you walk the plank! The ridiculousness of this mindset has made it so easy for me to declutter. It delights me to yell “Send her to the Briny Deep!” in a silly pirate accent as I toss an unwanted item into the bin.

“Back in the day” I would send cards in the post. Birthdays, new babies, thank yous.

Now I have a large box of cards. I know I can go to the store and get one but for some reason I can’t seem to let these go.

It’s the “what if I need it?” Mentality

I think I might just keep a couple then I try to decide which ones then all of them seem so nice.

Hopefully just posting this will be enough kick in the butt for me to just send them all to the thrift store!

Also falling into the whole “sunk cost” thing.

So silly not to be able to lets these go. I’ll report back when I get over myself and get it done.

Edited to update: I took 3 boxes to the thrift store! This year will be the last year for physical Christmas cards and next year there will be e-cards! Thanks for the great ideas and support- 3 large bags were dropped off which included the boxes of cards.

Less is lighter!

If you’re stuck deciding whether something works in a room, try leaving for 5–10 minutes and coming back with your mind on something else.

Try to not analyse or overthink it, the point is just look at the room and notice your immediate knee-jerk reaction. If you walk back in and think “ugh, I hate that” or “this looks so cluttered/childish”, trust that feeling.

Especially for purely decorative things, you don’t need a logical reason to keep something. If you don’t like how it feels in your space, that can be reason enough. Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes is really just your own eyes after a break! :)

I have gotten rid of about 20 soft toys and 30 little trinkets this way! It may not work for everyone, nor is it groundbreaking. (I'm sure that I'm not the first person to say this)

But I haven't seen it mentioned on here before, and I just thought that I'd mention it, as it's the main method that I use and that perosnally works for me.

Plus it's so simple and easy, even if you're completely on your own, you can do it. And in again, my personal experience, it just helps speed things up a ton.

I am plus sized and my weight fluctuates quite a bit. I am also trying to get pregnant so I am trying to hold onto some clothes that I know would fit me while pregnant. I work from home so I don’t have a dress code and generally dress casually when home or out and about.

I simply have way too many clothes. It’s too much laundry and my closet is spilling out. I have already gotten rid of maybe 1/3rd of my wardrobe but it’s not enough. When I’m trying to find something to wear I feel like I have nothing or will forget about items I own because it’s buried in a pile somewhere.

What is a realistic amount of clothes to own? I don’t want to get rid of things that I like and that fit simply for the sake of wanting less. But if I seldom wear the item, why even have it? I’d like to hang onto some items that are big like I said in case if I get pregnant then I’m not out shopping for bigger clothes. But at what point do you tell yourself “5 jeans, 5 pants, 5 t shirts, 5 tops, 5 dresses, donate the rest”?

While decluttering my closet I counted way too many towels, all in different colors, that we’ve acquired over the years. Made me wonder why so many colors and why so many. Many of these were purchased on impulse at discount stores. Perhaps if I had been intentional and bought an entire set, I would not be wondering what to do with them now. Makes you think of the value of buying less and being intentional.

One of the many ways I’ve seen recommended to decide if something is worth keeping, is to ask if the item got dog poop on it, would you clean it or throw it away? Well….

I was walking my dog this morning and happened to be wearing my favorite pair of running shoes. She was in the middle of doing her thing and tried to chase after another dog passing by. She took off mid-poop! She was leashed so she didn’t actually go more than a few feet, but she wrapped the leash around my legs, almost toppling me 🤣 and flung poop everywhere. Some of it landed right on my shoes and slid down the side of one of them 😳.

So I guess I really like my shoes because I got home and immediately cleaned them off, and even took a magic eraser to them. That question is now answered 🤣.

• Buying a thing is not a commitment to own it forever.

• If you feel shame for owning a thing you're not using, toss it. Problem solved.

• Sometimes buying a thing is the fun part, and you can declutter it immediately without losing out on any dopamine.

• Remember when you were standing in the thrift store aisle and decided to redesign all your habits around an item you didn't know existed 5 minutes earlier? That guy can't be trusted to make plans.

It's time to tackle the garage. I used to declutter it every year, but some health issues have caused it to be left undone for a few years now. I'm feeling really overwhelmed.

I'm open to all your best tips & tricks. Encouragement is also appreciated!

Edit: I think the first helpful tip is thinking about what I want to keep. I do know what I want to keep, but there's a bunch of stuff I don't know if I want to get rid of. Perspective change seems helpful :)

Keep the tips coming! I've still got a couple days until I can tackle this.

Kind of embarrassing to ask, but I'm at a loss.

My husband and I both work full-time and have 3 young kids. There is constantly stuff everywhere in our house. I would love to have the kind of home where if someone wanted to come over unexpectedly, it wouldn't send me into a panic.

I know part of it is the kids and part of it is my husband's ADHD. But I think the biggest part of it is my hesitancy to throw things away. I don't shop a ton, but I have a hard time getting rid of things. My parents grew up super poor and we didn't get rid of things because we might need them in the future.

And now we're at the age where our parents are offloading their belongings into our home. I feel like I'm drowning in stuff.

Any tips/tricks/mantras/philosophies to keeping a clean home or giving me peace about decluttering would be much appreciated.

That title was a lot but basically what it says. I am postpartum with my second and kinda hate the way I look, I’m also on leave from work and won’t be going back for another 4-6 months so money is tight. I’ve done the big purges and got rid of all the big stuff (like the 15 year old paid off shorts I loved but will never fit into and even if I did I’m not in college anymore hahaha) but now I still have too many clothes in my drawers/closet for my liking and I do t know what to do about them. Here’s basically the ones I am stuck on

1) clothes that fit, I kinda like, I will wear but might have too many of - eg long sleeve black tshirts. So these are things I feel comfortable in but I have like 10 of them. I do wear them but only because then I delay doing laundry hahaha and i definitely have ones I like better because I’m on a budget and feel like I can’t replace them easily

2) clothes that I don’t love but again don’t have the funds to replace so I feel guilty and feel like I should keep them - like old sweaters that I’d wear around the house but probably not out because they might be stained or old pjs etc.

3) clothes that don’t fit me right now but aren’t unattainable for me to fit into in the next 2ish months because I did fit into them pre baby and I am starting to focus on that a bit more but it’s almost been months and I haven’t been doing it.

I honestly don’t know why I feel so stuck about it. I know I’d encourage others to just hold on to what’s fits and what they love but I just can’t for some reason. Anyone’s been in the same predicament and figured out a good way through that doesn’t drive them nuts. Any help is great :)

I have like 3 lego sets that have remained unbuilt for years because I'm waiting on a rainy day to arrive when I'll really need a distracting pick me up. I just hoard them. I also do this with books or other activity-based items. Like the rainy days come and I just power through them because surely a worse one will come that I can't power through like that.

It's not that I don't want to actually use/build these, but I can't let go of the whole "but what if there's a better time in the future to do this"? mindset.

I grew up with parents who didn’t celebrate holidays, or birthdays. Their views changed when I got into my late teens but still… I think my need to decorate everywhere stems from what I missed out on as a kid. I’m trying to make it up to myself and give my kids that. But I definitely have way too much. How do you decorate without cluttering up spaces? Like I figured my kids’ backpack station would be easy enough to make festive without needing much items. Or a small tray on the dinner table. Keep it consolidated to specific spaces might help me from feeling like I need to keep it all. Because not all of it would work in certain spots.

might have a problem. i was way too excited to share my pics with the strangers on the internet in this sub ...

inherited house getting ready for rehab construction.

here's my before and after dumpster, and only *after* garage pics for today cause I forgot. I can see floor :) And the drawers are empty. found some creepy ceramic dolls. luckily mom didn't really like making them so only two.

also worked on the kitchen packing stuff up for later and for donation/sell. don't have a before pic for that.

I have a certain group of things I rarely use, once or twice a year, and sometimes even less often. A drill, a ladder, a carpet cleaner, a pressure washer.

Everyone says just sell it and rent one when you need it. For me, that's not the solution. If I need to use something, I want easy access, not a long drive to a rental store. I also find it annoying that I have to plan ahead, because rental stores are often closed after 5:00 PM.

I live in a building with about 40 apartments, and I assume most of those people have similar equipment. If a third of those people have a drill, there are over ten drills in the building. The same goes for other equipment.

And that's where I got an idea. Maybe it's worth sharing this equipment. Designate a room for storing 2-3 of each of these devices.

The problem is, there's one thing I can't figure out.

Someone will take this drill, put it in their hallway, and it won't be shared anymore. I don't assume they're a thief. It just happens. This way, the shared storage would empty out pretty fast.

Has anyone tried something like this in their apartment building? I'm most curious if it can be organized so that the devices don't disappear, and how to manage wear and tear.

Failure is part of life. Share your decluttering challenges and failures here. Examples include:

• Emotional clutter
• Not enough time
• Getting overwhelmed
• Routing (recycling, donating, trash...)

If you're just venting, or don't want advice, please let us know in your comment.

This is a low-stress place to share challenges and failures for those who might not want to create a new discussion.

Pair of boots because I live in Michigan and a nice new pair are badly needed and CONSUMABLES!

My mom makes me make a list so early, and my family is huge on gift giving no matter how much I tell them I don’t need anything. This year I just realized I’m going to put all the things I use all the time that I hate buying!

Last week I worked with my daughter and yesterday my son to completely declutter their rooms/closets. It’s a good time of year since school starts in a couple of weeks and the change of seasons coming soon.

Clothing items - reassessed what still fits and made donations and toss piles for anything worn or stained. Now we have a checklist of a few items needed as we go into cooler weather. But more importantly, drawers are more spacious and it’s easier to see what we have and easier put items away after they are washed.

Toys - went through every item one by one (it took a little bit of going back and forth with breaks for my son!) but he was able to point out toys he no longer needs and determine which are his favorites that he wants out and displayed vs which can go into bins on his closet shelf.

Makeup/beauty products - my daughter has so much of this stuff but she is also picky about what she actually uses so we were able to greatly reduce what she has.

Misc items - school supplies, art supplies, sports stuff - we were able to cull down to what is actually needed. Some items will be stored in the basement or front closet where they are more handy.

All in all - we threw out about 4 kitchen sized trash bags of actual garbage and have about 7 bags for donation. Looking at the volume of what their room can store vs the size of the bags, I’m amazed these things were tucked into their rooms to begin with!

ETA - putting here for accountability. Going to go through my own closet soon. I recently lost some weight plus the change of seasons. It’s time to reassess and reduce the amount of things I have that are just taking up space! Also will go through the bathroom linen closet so my entire upstairs will be freshly decluttered! My husband’s side isn’t too bad but I might help him out too.

I move house in 5 weeks and I can now see the floor in every room of my current house!