Things I Don’t Do When Decluttering

Have you ever felt like there's conflicting advice out there on what the “right” way to declutter is? Well, the truth is there are many right ways to declutter, and each person is going to have different needs and things that work (and don't work!) for their own personality and season of life. Today I'm sharing some of the common decluttering advice that I don't personally find helpful – it's not bad advice, it just doesn't work for me!

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Click here for the episode transcript.

CONFESSION TIME

Today I’m confessing that I don’t always follow my own decluttering advice. There are several common pieces of advice that just don’t work for me and I’m going to tell you what those are.

BLINDLY DONATING

First, I do not make myself declutter “maybe” items without looking through them again. I’ve heard it said that if you’ve left something out of side, out of mind for a few or several months, you don’t even know it’s there. Don’t look through it. Just load it in the car and take it to the donation center.

A SOURCE OF ANXIETY

That causes a lot of anxiety for me. As I pull up to the donation center, my mind just starts worrying that I may be getting rid of something that I actually need. So I quickly spend a few minutes going through each item. If I come across something that I’m not sure I want to donate, then it stays in the “maybe” pile.

KNOW WHAT YOU CAN HANDLE

It’s okay to keep things that aren’t necessarily essential as long as they aren’t overwhelming you and your space. You have to know what you personally can handle and what your space can easily handle and manage.

DON’T STOP DOING WHAT WORKS

Everything that I’m sharing today depends on you and your personality. If something you hear me say I’m not doing works well for you, then don’t stop doing it. Everyone is unique in their decluttering journey and everyone’s going to do it a little bit differently.

HAVING A ONE AND DONE MENTALITY

Another thing I don’t do when decluttering is I don’t have a one and done mentality. Decluttering is something you’re going to have to come back to over and over again. You’re decluttering for right now, for this year or this season of life.

Now, as you declutter more and more, you may find that you’re doing few decluttering sessions and that decluttering has become more of a lifestyle.

FREEDOM TO HOLD ON TO SOME THINGS

Knowing that I’m going to declutter a space again in the future is comforting to me because if I come across an item and I think I may like to get rid of it, but I have some hesitations, I can hold on it knowing that I’ll be coming back to the space when I declutter again later.

HAVING NO REGRETS

Another thing that I don’t do is perfectly declutter. By that I mean that there are things I’ve gotten rid of and I actually regretted decluttering them.

One item was a game that we received as a gift. We tried to play it and just couldn’t figure it out, so we donated it. Not long after that we heard how great of a game it was and did later learn to play. It is a really fun game!

In hindsight, I would have kept it, but I don’t really feel bad about donating it because we have friends and family members who own the game, and we are able to play with them anytime.

We also received a salad spinner, but at the time we didn’t really eat salads, so I donated it. Well, then we did start eating salads and owning a salad spinner makes it so much easier to dry your lettuce, so I bought another one.

Looking back, if I’d kept the original salad spinner, we would have saved $20, which would have been great! But it wasn’t a huge deal or crisis that we had to buy another one.

THE BIG PICTURE

Chances are you will declutter something you regret. For most items you will not want or need it again. So don’t let that fear of regret paralyze you and keep you from donating items when you’re concerned you might need them someday.

NOT SELLING DECLUTTERED ITEMS

Another thing is I don’t make myself donate every single item. I do actually sell some things on Poshmark or Facebook Marketplace.

Now, if you don’t already have a Poshmark or eBay store set up, or haven’t been selling on Facebook Marketplace, then it probably is best to just get the items out of your home instead of hoping to sell it someday.

BE SELECTIVE WITH WHAT YOU SELL

I am pretty selective about what I choose to sell. So if you already have something set up where it’s easy for you to sell, or if you have something that’s a higher ticket item, it may be worth doing.

It’s also important to consider how much you can actually get for it. Most people overestimate the value of their stuff. You won’t get anywhere near the purchase price you paid, so you’re not going to make a killing selling things. You’ll have to decide what it’s worth to you.

SELLING LARGE ITEMS

We’ve sold some larger things, such as pieces of furniture, and those are going to have to get out of your house anyway. It’s a bigger process to sell these, but it’s kind of a service to you because somebody comes and picks it up.

SMALL ITEMS & ELECTRONICS

Keep smaller items like clothing and electronics in a small bin until you’re ready to list them for sale. That way you can do a group of listings all at once. And again, use only a small bin to store these so that they stay manageable.

DONATING “JUST IN CASE” ITEMS & GIFTS

Another thing I don’t do when decluttering is I do not automatically get rid of everything that qualifies as a “just in case” item or a gift.

This goes back to knowing what you can handle and what your space can hold and that means  you have to practice moderation and balance, which isn’t easy. Can your space support the number of things that have been gifted to you. If not, a few more may need to go, but we aren’t getting rid of everything that isn’t immediately serving a purpose.

NOT DECLUTTERING THE PANTRY

I also do not skip decluttering my pantry. I love my kitchen, but I do not have a lot of accessible food storage space, so regularly decluttering my food is necessary.

I first look for food we aren’t eating or using. If it’s open, I’ll move it to the front and that helps us to see it and eat it. But sometimes it’s open, and no one likes it or will eat it. Nobody wants to waste food, but it’s better to get it out of your pantry now instead of waiting until it spoils and goes bad.

If you have unopened food that no one in your home is going to eat, you can take it to a food pantry and donate it.

GETTING RID OF GREETING CARDS & MEMENTOS

One last thing I do not do when decluttering is get rid of all my greeting cards. Greeting cards seem to be a perfect merge of my love languages. I love being given gifts and words of affirmation. While most people keep them and never look at them, I do look through and read mine.

I also love keeping mementos like an old Disney paper fast pass and a mayonnaise packet from my sister’s first date with her now husband. And I love looking at these on occasion, too, and reliving the memories. They make me super happy.

So a few years ago I went through my greeting cards and realized so many that were from the same people said the same thing – Happy Birthday! Love, Grandma and Grandpa. I didn’t need every card that they’d ever sent, but I kept one or two to remember them by and to have something in their handwriting.

I think what I had to do was to not view every single thing that I was given in the exact same category and holding the exact same weight, because greeting cards and mementos are important to me, but not all of them are equally important.

YOU KNOW YOU BEST

If some of these things I’m sharing that I don’t do are working for you, do what’s best for you. We all have unique circumstances, so take the underlying principles and apply them in a way that works best for you!