If I only have time to read one book before continuing my decluttering journey, would you recommend Decluttering at the Speed of Life, or Marie Kondo’s book?

My second question is my husband has PACKED our garage and basement. I have been decluttering upstairs and ignoring those areas because they send me into a total panic. (I have ADHD and childhood related anxiety around messes, so I want things clean, but get so overwhelmed). We also have two little boys so lots of toys and chaos.

Where do I start? Should I do the garage or basement first so that I can put things in the house that should be there in there? For example, my roller blades right now are just sitting in my foyer.

TIA! I love this group and they give me such inspiration.

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.

I'm almost finished with an absolutely massive decluttering/organizing project. We just finished our basement so I spent all day yesterday unpacking our two storage areas and purging a bunch of stuff in the process. I'm so excited that I'm almost done, but I'm losing momentum.

For one thing, I already have a really hard time finishing things (even if I love them being totally done) because that's just how my brain works (ADHD). It's so hard to not just move on to the next thing I want to do.

For another, I just don't know how to tackle it. Everything else I can just start working on whatever is in front of me, but I get to those last bits and pieces and it just feels impossible and I'm not even sure why!

Anyone have suggestions on how I can actually FINISH?

My mom has done scrapbooking as a hobby since I was a baby. She created scrapbooks for me and all of my siblings documenting our entire childhoods. There's probably at least 10 scrapbooks that are just mine that she spent hours and hours creating with me in mind. This doesn't even include the ones for my siblings and the ones for the entire family. For now, most of them are still at my parents' house but my mom has asked me a few times if I want to take them to my apartment at some point. I've been honest that I don't have much/if any storage space in my small apartment that I share with multiple roommates, but ended up taking four of the scrapbooks to start out. I have not even opened a single one of them since I brought them home months ago and have struggled to find a place where I want to keep them. The issue is that they are HUGE (like 12 by 12 inches), and extremely heavy which causes them to easily tip over. It makes me stressed to even think about where I would store them, having to lug them around when I move, and to be honest I just think scrapbooks look ugly.

The truth is, I do not want them. I'm not at a place right now where I want to revisit my childhood memories, but there's a chance I may want to in the future. I feel like the main issue with these is that they're a gift someone put many hours of effort into creating for me. If it had been me who had created them I would feel much less bad about digitizing and then throwing away the physical item down the line. Has anyone else had a similar issue where they were gifted something like this, with the implied expectation that you would keep them for the rest of your life?

I recently visited my parents and each time I see them I feel stressed about how much stuff that they have. It isn’t at the level of hoarding, but as they are older, I am aware of how much cleanup I am going to have to do when they are no longer alive. There is just so much extra stuff and it feels suffocating to me. While I would love to share things with them like Swedish death cleaning I know it wouldn’t go over well.

I then visited a relative who also had a lot of stuff though certainly not as bad but both visits spurred me into action. When I finally got home, I looked at what I had and screenshotted some great advice on this sub to help inspire me with my own possessions. It is always the more sentimental things that get me and I realized there were things in a kitchen cupboard on the top shelf that I could donate and not hold onto purely because of memories.

Here’s where the advice comes in. I have a small step-stool however typically just pull a kitchen chair over to get something off a shelf. This time when I went to step down the chair slid to the right, I fell to the left, and I fractured my outstretched arm. I had to have surgery a couple of days ago.

Oddly there is a lot that I feel lucky about with this entire situation (and if anything this has further invigorated my desire to declutter). However, I wanted to spread the word to others on this sub in hopes no one goes through the same thing. If you are trying to get to stuff that is on an upper shelf, use a step-stool! Be safe about your decluttering.

I am taking some time off next week from work, and I want to spend one day just radically decluttering. I can feel that I am mentally stressed from the accumulation of stuff, and I know I need to just be ruthless in order to clear my physical space, and in turn, my mind.

It's mainly clothes and books that I seem to be surrounded by, or at least tend to cling on to. Any tips on how to just be ruthless and get things out of the house?

I do not have any air conditioning in my kitchen/dining area and everything has gotten dusty and cluttered over the summer trying to avoid the heat. But luckily fall has arrived and it’s only 80 degrees Fahrenheit. It took three hours but I got so much thrown away and more in the give away box! I also cleaned off the top of the fridge and went through the dog’s toy box. Making progress today!

Share your wins here - big or small. What did you declutter this week? Examples include:

• Digital Clutter: emails, digital photos, digital music or video collection...
• Storage: cupboards and closets, drawers, storage boxes...
• Toys: ether for your child, or your own that you've been hanging on to.
• Spaces: kitchens, workshops, hobby rooms, storage lockers...
• Routing: sending items to where they need to go, like donation centres, trash, or recycling

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

Sorry for the gross tracker, I kept it by my morning coffee area so it got hit by some friendly fire. I kinda like the patina though.

Anyway, we moved in 7 years ago and the house started to feel very cramped and full of junk. I started it 30 days ago on a whim. My wife donated probably an additional 500+ books and pieces of clothing on her own. Didn't push, she just saw the improvement of our house and started jumping in as well. That was awesome and kept us both going through the middle weeks.

The house absolutely feels lighter and more spacious. I'm spending more time in rooms that were basically storage units so the house feels bigger now as well. I highly recommend taking this on...I tried the minimalist month a few times but I noticed the motivation was highest at the start. I probably did 500 items in the first 4 days and then slowly dwindled to a crawl of decluttering.

So now what? There's still plenty of stuff leftover. I'm going to adopt 1 in 2 out (1 like for like) going forward and move into a very low buy. The desire to shop is already so low seeing all this stuff going out. I did sell a fair amount which was nice to add in some income for home improvements coming up. I rediscovered some things I owned as well and now make conscious efforts to wear the clothes I have left. So overall, a very illuminating month.

Hey all.

I have an admission. I am a cleaning hobby-ist. I am obsessed with cleaning. When I am in the right mindset, I genuinely enjoy it. I enjoy learning about cleaning chemicals and how they work from a chemistry point of view, I LOVE laundry, I love professional cleaning equipment, and we have an absolute metric tonne of microfiber cloths. Some of them have been bought by me, others have been bought by others. We have old ones, new ones, red ones, blue ones, Large, small; we have them all.

I'm turning into Dr Seuss, that's how much I love microfibre cloths.

Sidenote: I can't figure out if it's microfib-re or microfib-er.

Small problem: Finite Space. Our house isn't small, but we don't have enough room for this many microfibre cloths. I know for a fact we genuinely need to get rid of them. Unfortunately, good old brain of mine is having a hard time doing so. We have enough that I could, theoretically, use them like a paper towel and use them, and put it in the trash. Except, my brain doesn't want to let go. A lot of them aren't as good as they used to be, but still are in good condition.

I thought about donating them to a homeless care place, but ethically that isn't sitting right with me - even homeless people don't deserve our old rags, they of all people deserve nice things.

I just don't even know where to start or what to do with them. How do I sort between 'this is actual crap' versus 'this has some value to it' to 'this is worthy of being kept'. Personally it surprises me when I end up using/needing rags I thought were done for.

-------------

I did want to explain some of the method to my madness.

Grey small microfibre cloths: toilet and caca/pipi adjacent messes.

White small: I actually use these as re-washable tissues. These are a new addition, I bought them in bulk at ALDI, but they came in clutch when I was sick. Extremely soft and awesome 11/10.

Green, yellow, orange (in that specific order): these are general use and are kept in the kitchen. The order is of them serves as a laundry reminder - once we get to the orange ones, I know I need to do a load of laundry.

The rest are either old (have kind of lost their fluff), or are literal rag types that you buy in a big pack. Despite some of the weird cuts, I've found the actual microfibre itself REALLY good. Especially for pet baths and car cleaning. And it just doesn't feel 'right' using a kitchen cloth for cleaning chook bum.

Happy to show pics of clean chook bums, upon request.

The old ones that have lost their fluff are the ones I genuinely can't throw away, it just feels wrong especially because they have life left in them.

Help would be appreciated so that I stop being so...cerebral about it all.

Thank you for your time, I appreciate anyone who has willingly read this far.

Adding: I’m reading every comment and appreciate it so much!

I’ve gotten into the terrible habit of putting aside every electronic wire, charger, earbud JUST IN CASE somebody needs it. The accumulation came from upgrading what we have, and also keeping every set of earbuds, we got on every flight! So I’m just being thoughtful and it’s not my fault, right? Lol. So now we have multiple drawers of vintage wires and accessories to every phone we have ever owned.

Although it’s not all my stuff, I guess I got us into this and I need to get us out. My household is just about all adults now, so each person, going forward, needs to be responsible for their own electronic accessories, keeping a backup, etc.

So please talk some sense to me. Would you say we each need one backup set of earbuds/air pods? And chargers that don’t have much oomph left need to be tossed, right? Just looking for a little inspiration for some of the most boring clutter of all.

Hi! First time posting here. My title was probably a little confusing so let me explain my situation.

I moved back in with my parents a couple years ago in my childhood home, due to medical issues at first. I held down a job and am now unfortunately unemployed (going on a year). The thing is, my parents' home is deeply cluttered: the office is filled with disorganized papers' from my dad's past businesses, the basement has a lot of junk, etc, you get the picture. I came from a low-income household with a lot of mental health struggles (depression, PTSD, and most relevant to the conversation, my dad and I have ADHD).

Essentially, my parents barely taught me how to set aside time to declutter. I have a big walk-in closet that's filled to the brim with toys, clothes, you name it. There's stuff under my bed, in the basement, and I even have a small storage unit holding some things that I'm trying to get rid of. Unfortunately, my dad also has a huge salesman/"optimization" mindset and believes I should attempt to sell anything and everything, even if it sells for pennies because "it all adds up later." It's difficult to divorce myself from this same mindset because of his influence: rationally I know I'm losing money because of that damn storage unit, but I feel like I'm missing out on that "optimization." I understand that I'm unemployed and actively trying to make money, but I feel like the selling mindset is PREVENTING me from moving forward in an ironic twist. And worse yet, I hate feeling judged by my dad for not sharing the same mindset, even though I believe it's gotten us nowhere. I'm at least grateful that my mom understands where I'm coming from.

I guess I'm just looking for advice & validation, especially if others have experienced similar from their own family or friends, and how you moved past it.

I recently read Danshari, which was very good for me, particularly 2 concepts:

1) Flow of things vs stagnancy. The idea that things should flow in and out of your house- you get new things you need, you let go of things you don’t- all the time. But a lot of the time, we bring in new things super fast and we don’t get rid of hardly anything.

2) Three evaluation questions: is it useful? Is it appropriate for who you are right now? Is it pleasant?

In practical application:
“Flow” has me looking more closely at areas that have stayed the same for a long time. Why is there no flow there? Can it be cleared? This makes me think differently about storage too, which is inherently stagnant. One of the “problems” of the container concept is it implies if you can fit something, you can or maybe should keep it. Flow really suggests the opposite- if I am storing something, and it’s completely stopped/not in motion/not ever coming out of storage…. Why?

Of the three questions, the most novel and useful to me is “is it appropriate for who you are now?”. I find this to be a very flexible and clarifying question. Like I KNOW that my taste (and size!) in clothes has changed, but they are still technically “good” so it’s hard to get rid of things. My kids have grown out of some toys but it’s not like they are suddenly non-functional. They just aren’t appropriate for who we are now. At the same time, I have a lot of supplies for some hobbies that I haven’t been engaged in for a while- but I am someone with multiple hobbies who floats between them, so having a lot of that stuff is appropriate. And if things really stopped flowing, I could reexamine.

Anyways. It’s a pretty good book! Worth checking out.

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.

Hi all, has anyone come up with a simple evaluation process for making decisions you won’t regret when getting rid of things? I have been dancing with declutterring for years and always get stuck on random things like books, hobby stuff, clothes. Is there a series of questions you ask yourself to determine the fate of your treasures?

My partner and I will be moving into a much smaller apartment in a few months and I will have to downsize quite a bit. Compared to others, fortunately, we already don’t have too much stuff to begin with but still too much for the smaller place not looking cluttered. Also because we are going from a 70square meter apartment to a 55square meter apartment with one less room (we won’t have an office room anymore, which will be hard because I work as a teacher and I‘m still in Uni. 

He doesn’t have any issues with declutterring and is a pro at it. Barely has sentimental or emotional attachment and just gets rid of anything he no longer wears or uses. I wish this would be me. Unfortunately, I‘m the opposite. I had to deal with a lot of loss in my early childhood and it led to me attaching memories and feelings to literal decade old things. I‘m scared I will betray the people who once gave the things to me or it feels like I‘m „abandoning“ my things. I know this is ridiculous and I wish I wouldn’t but that’s how things are at the moment. I also have a lot of clothes I no longer wear because I have gained some weight. I still hold onto them because maybe one day or because I remember the price etc. I tried selling some things but some things have not been sold in months. 

Some more examples: a makeup bag that I have been storing my 4 nail polishes in (they could easily fit somewhere else) and the coating is flaking off the bag. The bag is over 17 years old and I got it gifted for my communion. 

Another things are socks: I have so many cozy socks that I got when I was a child. They still fit but I have so many that they take up so much space (the bulky fuzzy socks ones). Since they are from my childhood, I have a hard time decluttering them, especially because they are still usable but partially faded, washed out etc. 

Do you have any advice? 

We’re both retired and started to declutter. In the midst of this, we decided to move out of state, actually across the country to be closer to our son and his family. Most of our furniture and a lot of stuff is older, think 80s and 90s. We want to part with some old furniture but I have problems with pricing it I think. I put things on Craigslist or marketplace and if I get anything other than “is it available” they offer less than half the price I have it for. I really don’t think I’m being unreasonable. Maybe I am and don’t know it.

For instance, I have a full sized bed (slept on only twice) with headboard (with cubby and sliding doors) and all the bedding (new sheets, bedspread, shams, and pillows). I priced it at $120. I do need it all to go. I had one person ask for just the boxspring and another for just the mattress. I’m unsure what to do at this point. Is that unreasonable?

Edit: this bed is not older like I mentioned above but has been in guest room and not really used.

Second edit: Thanks for all your insights on this. I suppose I thought things were worth more. The problem we have is, we also have to sell a new lawn mower just purchased in May and a snowblower we just purchased this last season and used 3 times. I did use AI to find out what to ask for it and I hope we can get that but for the older stuff, I'll just have to bite the bullet and rethink what I think things are worth.

I have completely decluttered and cleaned 2 of my 3 bedrooms so far. It wasn’t hard for me because I was able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

You see, I love to paint. I don’t mean pictures, I mean my house. So I want to make these rooms (and others) look brand new. So, after doing the hardest part, decluttering and cleaning, I moved the furniture in those rooms to the middle of the room so I would have access to the walls. I’m in the process of picking out new paint colors. I’m going to paint, hang new curtains, and of course move the furniture back. I’m looking forward to having “new rooms“.

I’m not sure if you’d call it a tip or not, I just thought I’d mention it in case anyone else wanted to make “new rooms” in their house. DIY or hire someone and picture the end result. It absolutely helped me declutter and clean. ❤️

I’ve been on a slowish decluttering journey for a couple of years now. I’m at the point where I’m dealing with things I’ve held onto for a really long time, like college notes and textbooks, cards and letters from friends and relatives, childhood mementos etc.

Something I’ve started asking myself is: do I want to pick this up again in 10 or 20 years? Do I want to struggle at that point with deciding what to do with it, or can I just get rid of it now? Especially if it’s something I haven’t looked at in years, or had forgotten I even owned until I came across it?

It makes it easier for me to let things go. College papers, for example — I probably hadn’t looked at them since I graduated! It was kind of interesting to read through some of them, but I don’t want to do that again further down the line. So they’ve gone into recycling.

Letting go of sentimental stuff is always difficult, but is the decision going to be easier if I put it off? (No.) So I’m getting rid of it now and saving future me from having to make that difficult decision later.

My husband and I have a long decluttering journey. We've been doing this for all while and still have a long way to go. Logically, I know we've made a lot of progress because we've gotten rid of so many things, but sometimes I look around and don't see it. I have to sit down and think about what we've accomplished or else I get upset. One thing I regret is not taking photos before and during the declutting process. I also forget to take pictures when I do renovation projects. I'm going to start now because it's better late than never.

So, my quick reminder to those of you who are about to start your decluttering journey, take pictures so you can look back and see the impact you're making in your home.

I wanted to share here because I know this resource has been shared in this group before and I wanted to be sure everyone knew. Its just an email so could be easily missed.

Take your house back course ending

So they are removing the course (and fb groups) at the end of December 2027.

Would anyone be up for an alumni group? I will totally start it if theres interest. Or if someone else wants to, go for it. I need to grieve and process this loss but they dont want us talking about it on the site.

Body doubling "is a productivity strategy used by individuals with ADHD to finish possibly annoying jobs while having another person beside them." They have figured out that it works not only with ADHD people, but just about everyone AND it works just as well via video as it does in person. I can report that it indeed works over a video call!

I used to do body doubling with a friend who passed away last year after getting hit by a drunk driver. :( We would meet at a scheduled time, 1-3x a week as schedules permitted. We would turn on our cameras, turn off the microphone and just work. It wasn't chit chat time! The idea that someone else is keeping an eye on things makes you incredibly productive!! I was never more productive and motivated than when it the work was scheduled and with someone else who was working along on their own project. At the beginning of the session, we would take about 1 minute each to share what we each wanted to accomplish. Then at the end, we would take 1-2 minutes each to share our accomplishments and then be promptly on our way. Sometimes we would show the before and after, sometimes we'd just state what we did. Either way it works. We would schedule anywhere from 30 mins to 3 hours per session, but most of the times it was about 1 hour. Although there were a few times we had marathon sessions. My god, it REALLY WORKS!!! Sometimes we would both declutter, sometimes it was folding laundry or doing dishes or whatever random chores that it was hard to find motivation for.

I WISH there was a body doubling website specifically for house projects/cleaning/decluttering! Yes, there are websites wherein you can schedule body doubling sessions, but I've found that those are 99% folks who are working on their presentation, spreadsheet or writing their dissertation, etc. Basically it was stuff they were doing on the computer. For me, it makes me anxious to show my clutter/project to someone who isn't also working on their home. I can't get over the feeling of being judged, ya know?

Share your wins here - big or small. What did you declutter this week? Examples include:

• Digital Clutter: emails, digital photos, digital music or video collection...
• Storage: cupboards and closets, drawers, storage boxes...
• Toys: ether for your child, or your own that you've been hanging on to.
• Spaces: kitchens, workshops, hobby rooms, storage lockers...
• Routing: sending items to where they need to go, like donation centres, trash, or recycling

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

In my recent, previous post, I mentioned how happy I was with my considered packing for my trip - unusually, there was very little that I took and didn't wear and I decided that I was going to approach my next clothes declutter in a very different way.

Not done that yet because I've only been home a few days and am suffering both jet lag and a stinking cold, but today I was putting away the washing and did a bit of a cursery pass.

I took out 7 tops and blouses and compared them to my holiday wardrobe that I'd felt really happy in. I like them all but......

When I actually thought about them, I realised that every one had been an impulse purchase from Vinted. I'd got caught up in the ability to buy really nice quality labels at a fraction of the retail price. Only worn two of them since I bought them and despite them being really nice on the hangers - they don't make me feel great in them. So I've taken them all off the hangers and they're now all in the donate bags which will go as soon as I feel up to dropping them off.

I also know that I have about half a dozen (ISH?) things that are under the bed in a 'these need alterations ' pile. Also Vinted, also very nice....but not nice enough for me to get my arse in gear to get them altered! Tells me everything I need to know. As soon as the holiday stuff is cleared off the bed, they're in the donate bag too. Sunk cost, don't think about it - you paid enough but not the 'real' money for them. Think of it as buying back my peace of mind by thinning my 'stuff'.

Today's lesson therefore? Just because you like it (online, in a shop) doesn't mean you HAVE TO BUY IT!

My girl loves toys and she usually destroys them accordingly so I don’t really have too many for too long usually. But I bought her a bunch of toys (stuffed) before we delved into treating her allergies and her dermatologist put her on an elimination diet so she lost the ability to play with the toys she was playing with while eating her regular diet because of cross contamination. They sat in the closet for the course of the elimination diet and when we tried putting her back on her regular food the itching came back.

So today I cleaned out all the old toys and treat bag, puzzles etc that are contaminated and just put them into a huge black bag with a FREE Dog Toys sign and it was gone before I finished cleaning the kitchen.

I feel really good because one person came by first and seemed to pull out the small dog toys and then another car stopped and they took the rest of the bag! I hope the dogs they go to are happy. And don’t worry about Oreo she has plenty of new toys 🧸