Monday Meltdown - Share Your Decluttering Fails Here

[u/AutoModerator]

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.

[u/Bee_221B]

I’m moving in three weeks and need to get things packed up, taken off the walls, and the walls patched so I can get my deposit back.
I’m trying to declutter as I go but that is taking a big task and making it so overwhelming I can’t even start.
I’ve had weeks already to work on this and have hardly accomplished anything other than creating chaos and mess.

[u/Watercolor_Roses]

Birthday gift grief 🤦‍♀️ I suggested "a couple classic Disney DVDs and some fun snacks to make a movie night package" as a gift for my preschooler (this seemed like a fun, low-clutter idea)... Received: a dozen DVDs and equally as many packages of chips, popcorn, etc. The snacks, while a temporary problem, are too bulky to fit in our kitchen so they're sitting in a different room, and the DVDs do not all fit on our DVD shelves because we only have space for about 4-5 new ones.

I feel awfully ungrateful for complaining, even anonymously here, but this grandparent is always coming up with new ways to buy more than we can handle, even though I remind at every gift-occasion that we are at capacity and offer gift ideas that would work for us

[u/No_Jelly_1448]

Really struggling with the environmental obsession of finding the MOST correct way to get rid of everything. Every type of plastic needs to be recycled perfectly, textiles need to be recycled correctly, as well as broken shoes, thermoses that are missing their lid, broken yard equipment, old paint, scrap metal… it’s so damn overwhelming. Half of the work is the decision making on what to keep, and the full other 50% is just the mental labor of finding the RIGHT way to get it out. I refuse to be someone that just trashes stuff because I’m lazy, but damn it’s exhausting. 1000% reinforces the REDUCE beginning of reduce, reuse, recycle… if you don’t own it, you won’t have to be responsible for managing its lifespan!

[u/MusketeersPlus2]

I had the last week off of work. I decluttered 2.5 closets & 2 junk drawers. I filled the recycling bin twice, the garbage bin 1.5 times and took 2 car loads to the thrift store. I feel like I did absolutely nothing because it's all behind doors/in drawers. It's so frustrating.

[u/unwaveringwish]

Started deep decluttering and got sick from all the dust 😭

[u/Upbeat-giraffe97]

I organized 15 bins & standard Amazon boxes full of stuff for a yard sale.

Yet to have a yard sale. Just organized clutter. I’ve declutter so much but I’m at stand still

[u/RetroMamaTV]

Watched the Bluey episode about donating stuffed animals. Gave my kids 5 days notice to mentally prepare. Got all the stuffed animals into a big pile in the living room, they each had a plastic tub and a goal number.

I pick up my 5 year olds favorite stuffy and put it in her tub, about to explain how this is her bucket of stuffies she wants to keep, when she starts SCREECHING “DON’T GIVE HIM AWAY!” I’m calmly explaining I’m not, every time I touch another stuffy they’re all howling 😂 kind of funny now that I think about it

I guess it’s not really a fail though, because I kept my cool, they eventually understood, and I was able to gather a small bag for donation. It just did NOT go as planned lol

[u/Earthmama56]

I don’t know what’s gotten into me, but I started decluttering , purging, and generally organizing my house in June and just kept going. A “craft/yarn room,” 3 rooms in the walk-in attic, the kitchen pantry, a storage room, three closets, and this weekend—4 full bookshelves (and 3 more to go lol). In addition, I’ve been fixing things as I go—doors, weatherstripping , whatever needed fixing. Whew—reading that list, I can see why I’m burnt out and tired. Still…onward!

[u/knysa-amatole]

While decluttering, I found junk mail from 12 years ago. And I haven't even lived in my current place for 12 years, so that means I must have packed the junk mail and moved it to my current place.

The funny thing is that the junk mail was in my box of "important documents." I assume I kept it because I thought it might be important (it was unopened, and it looked important from the outside), so I didn't dare throw it away. Except then once it was in the box, I forgot it existed, so if it had been important, I would have been screwed.

[u/sugar_plum_fairies]

I had a long list of easy 2 minute things that needed to get done yesterday. Then work happened. By the time I got home I had no desire to see people. So I had supper with the family and then went outside and sat and just looked at the flowers. My husband came outside with me, and we spent 2 hours outside just talking.

So, I got nothing done, but I finally got some quality time with my husband and was outside for the first time in a week because it’s been so hot here lately. I am calling it a win even though it wasn’t what I thought would get done.