The Ultimate Decluttering Thread

[Turbo29]

My city offers bulk trash pickup up to 4x/year. You can pick a date on their website and then place the items (up to 10 cubic yards) at the edge of your yard up to 7 days in advance. There are people who are aware of this and drive around looking for piles. If placed out a week in advance, almost always the "good stuff" will be gone long before the trash pickup occurs.

 

[old medic]

Those who have a garage and can't park a car in it need to declutter. How does one let things get so out of hand?

Well my truck wont hardly fit to begin with. but have 3 motorcycles, an ATV, wheelbarrow of wood and 3 rolling shelves of stuff....

 

[old medic]

Today I put up a new hanging light in the dining room. It made me think of this thread.
So what you all are telling me is that I should throw this away?

We have a ton of similar stuff from our years long rebuild. After Helene hit we went through and dug out a pickup load of leftover stuff and brought it to a church group that was helping with rebuilding...

 

[Surewhitey]

Same here. Fortunately, there are a lot of people, including me, who will see the stuff at the curb and post a curb alert to our Buy Nothing group and town Facebook group. It's disturbing how many people think nothing of throwing away stuff worth hundreds and hundreds of dollars.

I've been grilling on a Webber grill for 10 years now and just started using my second one. Both from bulk trash... So many things we've rehab'd from our "rich" neighbors.

DD found her coffee table and with 2 hours work, looked new again.

 

[Surewhitey]

Decluttering for me is making storage more useful and accessible. Took a pantry closet and made a built-in drawer base and adjusted shelf upper to match our cabinets.

Also alphabetized the spices...

 

[mystang52]

DW and I use our local "Freecycle" a lot, to give a second home for usable stuff we no longer need. Before the internet, I'd often put out something on the curb, with a sign saying FREE. It never lasted on the curb more than a couple of hours.

 

[sengsational]

That's one of my struggles, too. I've posted about it before. I've got 25 long sleeve dress shirts in my closet right now. While that is down from closer to 40, now that I'm retired I only wear a long sleeve dress shirt a handful of times a year on the Jewish holidays, funerals, weddings, and Bar Mitzvahs. Do I need to keep 25 shirts if I only wear maybe 5 a year? But they're all good shirts, fit well, are different colors and patterns, so thinning them out is a challenge.

I've called the dress shirts too, but still have too many. The white ones are a little yellow now and need to get "dispositioned".

Any tips for getting a reluctant spouse on board the decluttering wagon?

Mine appreciates my ability to organize. If my actions leave a pile that doesn't go anywhere, she suggests she doesn't need it anyway

The other basic technique is to use the "buy it again"argument. If there's resistance, just say, if you feel the need for it sometimes in the future, just click and a new one will be on the doorstep the next day.

While I respect the decluttering, I cringe when I hear people say stuff like this. I just think of how many thousands of dollars of stuff ends up in the dumpster every time someone does this. The average person has no idea what has value. The things most people think are trash are often the very things worth the most.

My most important decluttering rule is to get rid of the high-value stuff first, especially if a $500 thing would go for $10 at a garage sale after my eventual demise.

My city offers bulk trash pickup up to 4x/year. You can pick a date on their website and then place the items (up to 10 cubic yards) at the edge of your yard up to 7 days in advance. There are people who are aware of this and drive around looking for piles. If placed out a week in advance, almost always the "good stuff" will be gone long before the trash pickup occurs.

Here you have to specify (on the city web site) what you're putting on the curb on bulk trash day to schedule a pickup. The non-city pickers are very efficient, making me wonder if the city doesn't leak the list. My stuff has been picked up before the city got to it.

But yes, I'd save the wire nuts

 

[IncomeOriented]

I'm currently working in the garage to declutter.

Could use some suggestions on how to handle:

1 - all the nuts bolt plastic pieces and left over parts from the last 30+ years of being kinda handy. I have jars full of stuff. A parts cabinet of drawers full of it. Some in small boxes and little plastic tupper's. (sounds like a lot when I write it all out)

2 - Tools. I know I have a lots of tools that I'm not going to use anymore. I can keep the basics for the small stuff. BUT - how to get rid of the rest. (other than eBay)

 

[mystang52]

Nuts, bolts, etc just send to recycling/garbage. If you ever need one of them, it'll cost a buck or 2. Tools, try local online market or Freecycle

 

[disneysteve]

Could use some suggestions on how to handle:

1 - all the nuts bolt plastic pieces and left over parts from the last 30+ years of being kinda handy. I have jars full of stuff. A parts cabinet of drawers full of it. Some in small boxes and little plastic tupper's. (sounds like a lot when I write it all out)

TRASH or put them all in one big box together and list it on Marketplace for free or a few dollars if you want money for it.

2 - Tools. I know I have a lots of tools that I'm not going to use anymore. I can keep the basics for the small stuff. BUT - how to get rid of the rest. (other than eBay)

Marketplace if you want money. Buy Nothing or similar if you don't.

 

[COcheesehead]

Moving is like a laxative for clutter. It’s gotta go and you have no choice.
We hit Goodwill, the Hospice thrift store, eBay and the “free” category on Facebook Marketplace.
We’ll still likely will move some junk that we’ll get rid of later, but we have less junk in the trunk now,

 

[Teacher Terry]

Income Oriented, My experience having garage sales is that tools and fishing items sell like hotcakes. The key is to advertise that you have tools and all the men will come and buy them.

 

[EastWest Gal]

While I respect the decluttering, I cringe when I hear people say stuff like this. I just think of how many thousands of dollars of stuff ends up in the dumpster every time someone does this. The average person has no idea what has value. The things most people think are trash are often the very things worth the most.

A decluttering story. We live 3000 miles from family, and they haven't visited us in 20 years, though we visit them. So after the pandemic, we decided to turn the guest bedroom in to a music room and get rid of the queen brass bed that no one was using and a tall thin hutch that had several shelves and a closed area with a fold out lid that could function as a desk. We had no trouble donating the bed, but no one wanted the hutch, which was slightly damaged. So we arranged a large item pick up from the township and set it on the curb the day before. A local college student was walking down the street, saw the hutch, range the doorbell and asked if he could take it. Win-win.

 

[reneeh63]

We have never parked a car in the garage, even growing up in the 60s and 70s we didn't and almost none of our neighbors did. Today, there are only a handful of houses on our block that use their garage for their car. It's just not a common practice around here and hasn't been for my entire life so it isn't new either.

Growing up, the garage was for storage. Bikes, seasonal stuff like lawn chairs, inflatable pool, beach umbrella, sports equipment, snow shovels, sleds, etc. If we had parked a car in the garage, where would we have kept all of that stuff? There wasn't anywhere inside the house for it all.

Adult us would also never even consider parking in the garage because we had a car fire in our driveway year ago. Had the van been in the garage, we would have lost our house. I know that was a freak occurrence but it was enough to keep us from ever doing it, not that we would have anyway.

I get it! And I think some of this is related to whether basements are a common thing. In the Midwest, for example, EVERYONE has a basement and some builders won't even take you on unless you have one in your plans! That in combination with the kind of weather you have and if that weather really necessitates needing shelter or whether it's pretty optional. So it's not always a matter of being a 'bad' cluttered person but merely a lifestyle thing.

 

[reneeh63]

Today I put up a new hanging light in the dining room. It made me think of this thread.

So what you all are telling me is that I should throw this away?

View attachment 62258

I didn't need it on this project, but I'm not throwing away three good wire nuts and three good screws. I might need them one day.

OMG - I have at least a dozen of these packets! I have a small box I throw all this kind of 'extra' stuff into but I have to say I've never needed to use any of them. The only good thing is that they're tiny so the space taken is negligible.

 

[Chuckanut]

When I declutter I have a simple rule to determine if something is good to keep or just more clutter. I throw it out. If I need it inside of 6 months it was good to keep.

 

[splitwdw]

Today I put up a new hanging light in the dining room. It made me think of this thread.

So what you all are telling me is that I should throw this away?

View attachment 62258

I didn't need it on this project, but I'm not throwing away three good wire nuts and three good screws. I might need them one day.

Yes, throw them out. When we were clearing out the garage after my husband passed there were hundreds of these in every size and color. Same thing with nuts, screws, nails, washers, etc. It had gotten to the point where you had to be careful when you opened and closed the drawers because something was going to get jammed. I use to hate to get out a tool from it's drawer. My husband had duplicates of so many tools. Partly my fault, we both like tools and that was a favorite gift to give each other. I don't have too many duplicate tools because mine are more specialized for metal work and enameling. My husband was one of those people that is good at everything he tried so we had tools for so many different jobs. He was even better and faster at making bowls than me.

 

[disneysteve]

I get it! And I think some of this is related to whether basements are a common thing. In the Midwest, for example, EVERYONE has a basement and some builders won't even take you on unless you have one in your plans! That in combination with the kind of weather you have and if that weather really necessitates needing shelter or whether it's pretty optional. So it's not always a matter of being a 'bad' cluttered person but merely a lifestyle thing.

We had basements. That had no bearing on how we all used our garages. The basements were living space. In our case, it had the laundry room, an extra fridge and freezer, overflow storage of non-perishable food items and paper goods, toys and board games, etc. Then there was the finished recreation room with a piano, stereo, pool table, and sofa. Nowhere at all to put all of the stuff that resided in the garage.

 

[disneysteve]

OMG - I have at least a dozen of these packets! I have a small box I throw all this kind of 'extra' stuff into but I have to say I've never needed to use any of them. The only good thing is that they're tiny so the space taken is negligible.

But that line of thinking is part of what leads to clutter. It doesn't take up much space and I might need it someday. News Alert! You will NEVER need it and in the highly unlikely event that you did, you wouldn't be able to find it and you'd end up at Lowe's buying a new set.

 

[IncomeOriented]

But that line of thinking is part of what leads to clutter. It doesn't take up much space and I might need it someday. News Alert! You will NEVER need it and in the highly unlikely event that you did, you wouldn't be able to find it and you'd end up at Lowe's buying a new set.

Double win! I enjoy going to Lowes, and get satisfaction from reducing clutter.

 

[Koolau]

My decluttering has been nothing short of an abject failure. I get started and I move things around, but I don't end up organized or less cluttered.

This is where I am right now. I get a good start but then become overwhelmed as I realize I have no clue how to organize things.

 

[hesperus]

I've had a long-running decluttering thread at another site where I'm no longer active so time to start one here.

Regardless of age or wealth or retirement status, there's a high probability that you have too much stuff. Drawers, closets, attics, garages, basements, sheds, and even paid storage units filled with items that you rarely if ever use. All of that stuff takes a physical, mental, and financial toll on us. We've struggled with this for years but in recent years we've been making a more concerted effort to improve the situation, which is why I started documenting it in the other forum and now here. It's a never-ending battle but I feel like we've made tremendous progress.

One thing that always helps is travel. It's always so nice to be in a hotel room or rental home that is clean and organized and not overflowing with stuff. It creates a much more peaceful environment, even if only for a few days or a week or two. Coming back to a cluttered house after a break makes me feel the "weight" of the stuff even more. To be clear, I'm not talking about hoarding or anything to that extent. Most all of our stuff is clean and orderly, put away in closets and drawers. There aren't piles to climb over in the family room or anything of the sort. There's just plain too much.

One big focus of my decluterring efforts is our garage. Last year, I spent several days working in there and got rid of tons of stuff that had been piled up for years. This year, I plan to continue that effort and I hope to have it in even better shape by the fall.

Today was our first taste of spring weather and my wife was out so I spent a couple of hours in the garage. I got 4 cartons of random stuff packed up and drove it over to Goodwill. I sorted through and disposed of 3 bags full of reusable shopping bags (the food pantry uses them for deliveries). I disassembled and trashed a small shelving unit that I built over 30 years ago when we used to sell at collectible shows. It's lived in the garage since we stopped doing that in the mid 2000s. It's finally gone. A broken mop. A broken umbrella. A bolt of fabric I got free somewhere and thought I'd sell but never did. A number of items I was saving to sell (I have an ebay business) but I checked comps and they aren't really worth selling. Those got added to a new box I started for Goodwill. Several items that I am giving our daughter to sell on ebay (she started her own business in December). I went through two boxes of china that I had purchased sometime last year. I had already sold most of the set but these were pieces Replacements wasn't buying and I never got around to putting them on ebay. Turns out that they are now buying the salad plates so I'll get $48 for those. Decluttering can be lucrative at times. The other pieces will get listed on ebay by my daughter and we'll split the proceeds.

I could go on and on but you get the idea.

So this thread is the place to share your own decluttering journey. Let's hear about your challenges and your successes. Let's encourage each other to keep at it. Post before and after pictures if you'd like. Whatever keeps you moving forward.

I started doing something similar last year and the biggest thing that helped was going room by room instead of trying to tackle the whole house. The garage was the worst for us too. So much stuff that “might be useful someday.” Once we started actually letting things go the space felt completely different. It is strange how much lighter a house feels when there is less clutter around.

 

[IncomeOriented]

This is where I am right now. I get a good start but then become overwhelmed as I realize I have no clue how to organize things.

The problem for us isn’t the stuff, it’s us. It’s the attachment we feel to the things that are “attached” to us and our lives.

We can only work on a segment or area at a time. Like a closet, some cupboards, part of the garage, etc.

We go through the stuff and get a first sort and get rid of the easy stuff. Wait at least a day or two and go back to decide what is important to us, when last used, when last looked at or thought about. Is there a better use like selling or donating it?

But as we work through this, it is ever more clear that the problem is our attachment to stuff. We have come to realize this is because we have had such a great life, a fantastic journey together that all this stuff represents.

On the other hand, stuff associated with unpleasant experiences are amazingly easy to get rid of.

The problem isn’t the stuff, it is us. But reframing it as an opportunity to revisit good times and do some good for others , changes the vibe from drudgery (and loss) to moving forward.

 

[Jerry1]

Me and especially DW definitely have the attachment problem. That it might be useful someday is part of it, but mostly, we just like our stuff. Unfortunately, we (especially me) just don't like the clutter that keeping it entails. After a couple moves, we're definitely doing better, but I don't think we'll ever get to being clutter free. Thankfully, there are worse things in life and overall, we're quite happy with life at this time in our lives.

 

[COcheesehead]

I have a rule of if I get something new as a replacement, the old one has to go. My DW has no such rule and now as we are literally in the process of moving, she wonders why she has accumulated so much “stuff”.