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!

I have a bowl filled with plastic fruit, and a copper-colored container that holds plastic pansies. Now, there's nothing wrong with decor from Michael's--there's so much color and variety to choose from.

I also have an orchid and an amaryllis. Both have finished blooming. The orchid is growing a second new leaf, and the amaryllis bulb new roots (it was a waxed bulb I repotted when it started to run out of water). Watching these beauties bloom, and now watering, fertilizing, making sure they are placed to get the optimum light, learning what to do this fall to encourage them to bloom again--all this gives me more happiness and satisfaction than owning some plastic decor.

The plastic decor is on its way out.

I’ve lived in my neighborhood for over 20 years, as have most of the people on my part of my street. That might be part of why so many things accumulated in my house over this time! Anywho I’ve been decluttering multiple generations of paperwork and belongings for about 10 years now and it’s been… emotional and a lot. Especially considering a lot of the people involved are deceased. Seems like it’s been a decade of saying goodbye over and over.

Anyways, someone in my neighborhood recently passed away. Within 90 days their entire house was emptied out, house sold, furniture trashed, and new people are already in there. For some reason I’m feeling deeply affected by this? Not even sure why because I was not close with these people. I guess bearing witness to the process has me feeling some type of way.

I’m not sure what I even feel about it. Maybe I’m upset because someone’s whole life and house can go into a dumpster and then it’s like they never even were there? It’s not like I haven’t had that thought before, that’s part of why I’ve been working so hard with decluttering and clearing things out. Maybe I’m mad about how long it’s taking me meanwhile that persons family did it fast? I honestly don’t know.

I’m not even sure why I’m telling you all this lol. I guess I thought maybe someone here could relate.

Posted some photos a few weeks ago and I got quite a few comments telling me I decluttered too much and my apartment looks sterile and uninviting now. I’m convinced it was just the difference in the before and after pictures how much was gone, as well as it being a sunny day on the before photos and and rainy in the after photos. Be honest!! Is it really unwelcoming?

Edit to add: for everyone wondering why I care what others think of my apartment-I don’t really. I am the child of a hoarder, I figured out last year a really huge subconscious stress in my life was how cluttered and full everything in my house was. It was definitely childhood related and we moved to a smaller apartment and so the difference felt drastic. Once I did my first round of decluttering the weight that felt like it was lifted was incredible. I went back through a few more times, I’m just trying to make sure I’m not going overboard due to my history around this thing. Thanks everyone!!

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.

So my husband is out of town for the week. First morning I circled the house to get rid of all the boxes stuck here and there for iPads, computers, appliances. I mean after the first 30 days or so why keep them. Next a load of old electronics dropped off. They have been sitting in a box for several years. He insisted they need the hard drives removed and destroyed. But he hasn’t done it. Found a place that is certified to do it and protect data and information. They also took some broken and no longer used small appliances.

The next was the laundry room. Completely emptied out the laundry room. Filled several large garbage bags with trash. A whole load to thrift store.

Today was the junk closet. Lamps that we no longer use. He said he had “friends” he could give them to. Uh, that was several years ago. Blankets that went to the local pet rescue. Decor items we have not used in years. More trash, another trip to the thrift store.

Tomorrow I am completely emptying out the pantry. That works the best for me because then I am forced to keep going to put it back and actually handling stuff makes me realize it’s broken or I no longer need or want it.

Next it’s books.

I am on a mission!!

I posted about a week or so ago about wanting to get rid of my books because I'm dyslexic and AuDHD and having them on my shelf made me feel guilty, plus I just really need the space right now.

I mentioned this to my Mum (I live in an entirely different town) and she said something like "oh what books are you getting rid of?" and I said uhhh, one was about plants? She then was sad that I had already gotten rid of it because she "might have wanted to read it, maybe...". Literally the vaguest explaination and it's already a problem? Yeah just going to keep this to myself, in future...

I have a hard enough time navigating my own feelings about decluttering, let alone navigating someone else's feelings about *my* possessions.

It's so difficult because when we talk in abstracts such as "I really want to declutter" or "I have too much stuff" she's all for it, but it's like she turns into another person when I actually do get rid of things. It lulls me into a false sense of security.

Anyone else navigated this situation? I'm getting more annoyed about it as I am an adult who was never taught how to disconnect from items, and now I'm learning it feels like I'm doing something wrong.

The flair is possibly premature, but hear me out.

I live in an apartment (owner). We are having new windows installed. Workers need unhindered access throughout.

I have way too much stuff, and was pretty overwhelmed by the timeline.

A couple of friends came, helped box up a bunch of stuff (fairly indiscriminately), place in a storage locker (!), and left me with the rest.

Since then I have been spending some time (1-1.5 hours) daily on specific tasks: kitchen drawers, cabinets, boxes of paperwork, clothes closet (was not too bad already).

In a sense it is unrealistic, because I have all that other “stuff”, but there is space in my house to organise what is here now.

I am adopting the container method (“I will use this amount of space for this type of item”). For example, my friend kindly said “you don’t need any more plastic food containers” (I think many can related to where that came from). I now have an open box in a kitchen drawer, and will have no more plastic containers than what will fit in that box. As I find more in the wrong place, I decide which I would rather keep.

I also the past few days went through a lot of paperwork and training materials from a long time hobby. Yes, I kept some that are sentimental and some that are cool and not available online. But I threw out more that 80% and freed up 3 large plastic tubs.

Everything feels so different, because the canvas is, well, not blank, but at least not terrible. I have both physical and mental space to work. And a friend on messenger who is cheering me on.

I understand there is risk in putting things in storage, but I an too cheap to continue paying, so I think this will be sufficient motivation to get everything sorted this time. A few boxes at a time.

Grateful for my friends, for sure!

Tomorrow is Sunday, and my designated day of rest - I plan to work on sewing a peg bag to replace the 10 year old plastic shopping bag. Because I like sewing, and have nice fabric.

(Throw out for me means donate what is relevant, sort trash according to local rules).

I got rid of sooooo much you guys. I really wish I had before pictures!! It might look like I have a lot of storage but I don’t, this is pretty much all I have but I make it work. My closet has a ton of space but I have no linen closet so I have to keep my extra sheet set, towels, beach blankets, ect. In there.

My bathroom has only under the sink cabinets.

Kitchen has a small pantry and nice cabinets

Hallway closet is small but deep so we have our coats, vacuum, beach chairs, cooler, cat carrier, suitcase, and Christmas decor in there.

Hello everybody,

I am in the process of decluttering for my dreamed craft room🤩.I sew, crochet , knit, draw , paint and do some leathercraft. Those are the hobbies that I keep because they are so important in my life, I keep coming back to those. I am fortunate enough to have a place dedicated to it in my home but it is overflowing. I managed to throw away two trash bags of scraps and unfinished projects, decided to keep one brand of paint / colored pencils , but now I am facing a wall.

I wanted to "contain" ( Dana K White method) all of my stash , but it seems that I can't decide which fabric/ yarn is the best or my favorite. If I bought them, I already loved them, so I have difficulty to declutter. Also they all "sparks joy" so I am facing a wall.

I also have lots of pattern magazine, I don't know which one to keep or to let go.

For people who have done this with creative stuff , what was the method/ the mantra ( "the object or the space" ) that clearly made a difference?

I have a hard time actually driving into town to get rid of just one thing. Today I had an unexpected free morning, and decided it was time to stop procrastinating.

today I finally decluttered:

• donated one standing desk that I have been trying to get rid of for a year, but it's been too heavy to bring when convenient and needed a special trip.
• The soccer stuff I posted about a little bit ago
• 4 years expired medications. Why is it so hard to find somewhere to dispose of these?
• As well as miscellaneous non decluttering errands while I was out

My daughter is 10 and the last couple birthdays and holidays when asked, we would request clothes or books. She now has around 30-40 very cute tshirts that have room to grow but are not too big to not wear. I could easily go a month without doing laundry. Same with pajamas.. a few loved ones give nice ones but she has more than 10 sets.

Everything fits her. Everything is worn but it just seems like a lot. When I put away laundry, there are around 6-8 tshirts that can’t fit into her drawer. For PJs, they are really stuffed into the space designated. We have a first in, first out system going so everything gets used pretty equally. Should I declutter or just accept overstuffed drawers and wait for her to outgrow stuff?

There’s only one thing worse than hanging onto aspirational items. Holding onto somebody else’s aspirational items! I’m the poster who always struggles with clothing.

YEARS ago I took on a lot of hand me downs from a family member who shortly worked and lived in a metropolitan area. Things didn’t work out, so all the professional clothes sat. Eventually, they were given to me, which means these things are beautiful but already more than a decade old!

I don’t have a fancy job and I’m probably kidding myself that these “classics” can pass for still being in style. Cuts change and you can probably tell they are older. My eye is not quite trained for that but I’m sure some people can tell.

I’m embarrassed to see how much of my closet is devoted to somebody else’s aspirations, and a phase of their life that did not work out. I guess I figured I would wear them for dressy occasions, but those occasions just never seem to pop up.

Gathering now and looking forward to donating them to an organization that specializes in helping women and children. Maybe somebody can incorporate a piece or two into their wardrobe effectively without feeling dated. Something to get them started.

I used to sew a great deal - quilts, aprons etc. I eventually quit sewing but was left with two large totes of beautiful fabric. I thought so many times about getting rid of it but I would look at the fabric and put it away again. Today was the day though. I have been trying to clear a closet I use for storage and decided I was ready to part with it. Listed the fabric on Marketplace and it was sold and gone in a couple hours. I kept pictures.

This may be old hat for many of you, but this tip has saved me more times than I can count.

The target: an item(specifically one that isn’t trash and has objective value as its own item) that you know you should get rid of and don’t love anymore, but it’s a Gift/has sentimental value/used to be our favorite and maaaybe it could be again

The process: close your eyes and picture a person who would love this object. you can make them whoever you want. Maybe its an old lady who has all the other parts of this matching set of Little Angel dolls. Maybe its a teenager who is just starting to cultivate their style and is trying to find skirts just like the ones you wore as a 20 year old. Maybe it’s some weird funny fellow who collects ceiling fans and has been HOUNDING over this model and just can’t find it on eBay.

Now, picture them finding this item in a thrift store. Picture that old lady picking it up and peering at it. Picture that teenager trying your skirt on and goin “⭐️👅⭐️ I look so cool”. picture that odd fella giddily texting his Fans of Fans group chat that he finally found the c90XT with internal rotator socket.

If you could hand this person that thing, wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t you prefer they get joy out of this item that you’ve been holding onto out of a sense of dogged obligation, probably to an aunt who has no idea she even gave you that damn figurine? For every item that you’re sitting there laboring over, there is a human being in this world for whom it is special, exciting or absolutely life-saving. And sure, maybe that person won’t walk into that thrift store. But they’re definitely not going to walk into your closet. So go put it somewhere they might find it and hope that they do.

I’ve moved to mostly ebooks but have a small keeper bookshelf for physical copies of books I truly love.

My mom is a huge bookworm to the point that books have literally taken over her home. Over the past 2 decades, she has gifted me piles & piles of physical books. To be honest, I’ve never read any of them. They appeal to what she likes instead of my preferences. I absolutely understand the psychology behind her actions but the end result is my office has turned into the Guilt Book Room. I’ve been unable to part with any of the books because I feel like it’s a betrayal of her time/effort/love.

Today I went through every single book and ended up keeping 3-4 out of 100+. It was exhausting. I’m going to donate to a little library near me and the library. I feel fantastic seeing the cleared space but also very guilty.

What it says on the tin.

I have a bunch of haor ties/scrunchies that I don't have the hair for anymore but don't want to get rid of. I've downsized the collection before, but they still take up a lot of space in the drawer. I don't even know if I want to let my hair grow out again, because I prefer it shorter.

What do I do with them? I don't need them, I have no use for them...but what if???

I've moved from a 1 bed (55 sqm / 590 sqft) apartment to a 3 bed (80 sqm / 860) sqft apartment. I've been enjoying the increased space and I want to keep it that way!

In the process of moving, I discovered how much stuff I have. Yikes! It gives me stress to look at all the stuff I've accumulated. I decided before moving that I would put all my moving boxes into one room and declutter from there.

One of the movers gave me a tip to unpack slowly and declutter in the process. It's so easy to just hide things in cupboards!

I grew up in a household that accumulated a lot of stuff "just in case" but I'm trying to undo that.

Do you all have any other tips? I want to declutter soon but I don't want to rush the process. How can I plan my decluttering and make it a sustainable process if I have to take time for it?

Note: I live in Europe, if that makes a difference.