The 5 questions to ask to free yourself from your clutter

Decluttering isn’t an easy task! It takes a lot of emotional and physical labor, and it can be exhausting. When decluttering, you may experience a phenomenon called “decision fatigue” where you find yourself unable to make a decision on an item. It is easy to throw out the trash and the clothes that don’t fit anymore, but the real clutter is harder to let go of. When you are stuck and can’t choose whether something should stay or if it should go, ask yourself these five questions to make the choice easier.

Do you use it on a semi-regular basis?

If you aren’t using this item every single day, that isn’t necessarily a reason to get rid of it. By semi-regular, I mean at least once a year. I have a HUGE silver platter that I use every year at Thanksgiving when I cook the turkey. It takes up so much space (I mean it when I say huge) in my garage but I won’t get rid of it because I use it once a year. If you have sleeping bags that haven’t been on a camping trip in 10 years, they should go.

Is it making you money?

Do you use it for work or does it help you generate income? If yes, it stays. If you are hanging onto it because you think it may be worth money and you might eventually put it up on eBay, get rid of it. Most of the time things aren’t worth as much as you think they are. Things rarely sell for what you expect them to, and wouldn’t you rather have that space back in your home?

Can you buy it again for a reasonable price or borrow it?

If you are holding onto something for the “someday” that you might use it, have you considered the possibility of letting it go and getting it again in the future? You can let go of the bike pump that you have just in case your tires deflate on the bikes you haven’t ridden in years, and know that you can borrow one from a neighbor. Keeping things because you think you might use them might actually cost you more to store them than it would be to buy them again IF you needed them. And in my 20 years of decluttering, I almost never see anyone who actually uses those items they thought they needed.

Do you have a place to store it?

Not shoved into a closet so that every time you open the closet door it falls on your head. Not tucked away in a back corner that makes it inaccessible. Not in your spare room that you have turned into a storage unit instead of using it as your office like you intended. If it has a drawer that it fits neatly into, it stays! If you don’t have a space for it, you have too much stuff and it needs to be decluttered.

Do you love love LOVE it?

If this item makes you happy, and you really truly love it, it can stay. If you are holding onto it because someone else loved it, because it was a gift from someone, or anything that has nothing to do with your own emotions, it can go. You do not need to carry the burden of someone else’s feelings or things. Keep something because YOU love it.

Making the decision

If you answered yes to any of these questions, keep the item you were debating. If you answered no to all of them, trust that you can let it go and the world won’t come crashing down around you. Asking yourself these five questions whenever you get stuck will pull you out of the rut and keep your decluttering progress on track!