Quick tip for you as you pursue a life of owning less:
Begin by identifying what you need, rather than identifying what you can remove.
Often times, when we set out to declutter a space or a category of items in our home, we begin by looking for things that we can remove.
We identify the shirt that doesn’t fit, the kitchen utensil we don’t use, the toy that doesn’t get played with, or the old make-up we stopped using years ago. We scan our closets and drawers asking the question, “What can I get rid of?”
To declutter faster, change the question you are asking.
Rather than asking, “What can I get rid of?” Ask, “What do I need to keep?”
The new approach will change everything.
For example, let’s say you want to declutter the clothes you wear to work. You could go to your closet, try on every outfit and every accessory, looking for things you no longer love or no longer fit. When you finish, you’ll probably identify a small pile of clothes that you could donate at your local drop-off charity.
This is the approach of looking for things to remove.
Or you could try a strategy of identifying what you need.
If you go to work five times each week, theoretically, you only need five different work outfits (assuming you only want to do laundry once/week). Go to your closet and identify the five outfits you love the most and would choose to wear each week. This is all you need to keep and everything else could be removed immediately. After all, you’ve kept everything you need.
Now, this is your life and your closet. I may be comfortable wearing the same clothes every day, but you may want a little more variety than five outfits. It’s up to you (obviously). You may look back at your closet, after identifying five outfits, and notice a few other outfits that you want to keep. You know you don’t need them, but you may still want a few more. Take them out and set them next to the others.
You can keep what you want, but your mindset will have changed—knowing that you are now keeping things you don’t actually have to have.
In the end, all the remaining clothing in your closet can be decluttered. Your donation pile will almost certainly be larger than the previous approach.
And this principle can be applied in countless areas in our home.
How many sets of bed linens do you actually need?
How many towels per person are required?
How many place settings or coffee mugs do you need?
How many televisions do you use at a time?
How many coats, decorations, spatulas, scissors, pens, hobby supplies, tennis racquets, or toys are actually needed?
Identify the minimum. You can keep more if you want, but you’ll find the process of decluttering goes much faster when you start by asking, “What do I need to keep?” Rather than, “What are the things I can get rid of?”
About Joshua Becker
Very well Explained! Great work!
Brilliant for those of us who have already decluttered so much and feel a bit “stuck”, but know we could/should do more. It’s a fresh new perspective to get us back on track. Thank you for consistently inspiring us to strive for “less” lol.
Great post. I have already done this in some areas, when the kids left home, I cleared the cupboards over time and left 4 plates reduced mugs and cutlery and have found that we prefer to use one set of stuff over the day and keep washing it up after use.
I’ve always had issues with too much clothing, but I’m turning my mind set to that. Lockdown in UK also changed mindsets, with consideration of what truly was essential.
Thankyou x
I completely agree with this positive approach! When I have the mindset that I am curating for the best…what I need, use and love regularly…it truly changes how I look at my things. It makes the sorting decisions easier because if there’s anything a little off with an item, I know it’s not a “keeper”. Thanks for sharing this concept, Joshua!
What a paradigm shift! I love this idea!
How do you get past the fear of “might need it; keep it just in case”?
I suggest having a box set aside for those things…
Put a future date on the box (eg 6 months away) and only after that date open the box.
At this point you’ll probably feel more clarity on the question of whether you’ll ever need them again (helped at least in part by realising whether you’ve missed them at all in that 6 months!)
Hope that helps some.
I love this approach! It has a more positive vibe to it, and just thinking about it does a mind shift for me as I have started cleaning out stuff again. It is like saying the cup is half full rather than half empty. With that in mind I will try not to think of it as a “chore”, but know what I will gain by having less!
Thanks again Joshua for more inspiration & to all of the posters for other good ideas & thoughts.
I never actually thought about it this way, but I love it! This will really change my decluttering. Thank you for this post. It’s actually one of the most helpful posts I’ve read.
This is a total game changer for me. I have been decluttering for three years…and have made great progress…but had hit a wall. This is exactly what I needed to read. This concept is so different and inspirational. Brilliant! Why didn’t I think of this??? Thank you.
This is probably the most useful piece of advice I’ve read on my journey to owning less. I can’t express in words how much I look forward to reading the blogs from Joshua. Over the last four years my life has been completely changed by the positive and simple approaches posted on this site. I can’t thank you enough.
This sounds so obvious, but it really has helped me to make decisions. My other strategy is to ponder (given my ever advancing age!), what items can I reduce so that our kids don’t have to eventually do so much sorting. They live in the UK and in distant states with full houses already; they may want a few items, but definitely not much… Thanks for your articles, links, etc.!
This is a paradigm shift from “What should I REMOVE,” to “What do I need to keep?” This totally turns inside-out most decluttering plans and organizing procedures. I recently applied this mind-set/approach to my office supplies at home and found I only needed very little. I donated a large supply of brand-new office supplies to a school which DOES need the items.
This sounds like a really helpful decluttering idea. I look forward to implementing it in my storage room!
I already implement this—-
So helpful. This technique works well.
I like this approach. It makes a lot of sense and I will definitely be using it. But I also still struggle with it, I work in an industry which requires me to be in the office as well as outside in all weather conditions on a regular basis… im also in Canada so deal with all 4 seasons. Do I keep a set of clothes for each season?
Hi Court,
It seems to me that you need clothes for each season as well as for outdoor/indoor activities.
Maybe you can separate the clothes, shoes, boots etc. for each season & activity to see if you would like to streamline anything: Wornout? Outdated? You really never felt comfortable wearing it? You don’t actually like it? If not, don’t worry about it. You may need everything you have.
I had seen an article with a chart – are you a clothes hoarder? It was an eye opener. I decluttered my closet accordingly. I have 7 shorts – one in each color, 7 capris – one in each color, 7 pants – one in each color, 7 long sleeve polo shirts for the winter, 7 sleeveless t shirts for the summer, 7 dressier shirts, 7 cardigans – one in each color, 2 dresses – 1 black/ 1 color, 1 multicolored skirt, 2 dressy pants- 1 black/ 1 blue, 3 pairs of sweatpants (for snow removal)/ 3 sweatshirts, 3 everyday sandals (blue/ black/tan), 2 dressy sandals (gold/silver), 1 pair boots, 3 pairs of everyday shoes (blue/black/tan), 3 pairs of dressy shoes (blue/black/tan), 2 summer nightgowns/ 2 winter nightgowns, 1 winter robe/ 1 summer robe, 1 pair winter slippers/ 1 pair summer slippers. Underwear/ socks are double the number of days in the week (14 of each). I have a heavy long winter coat (everyday), a long rain coat that has a removable lining, a short raincoat w/ hood (summer), light denim jacket and 1 fancy wool coat. Having this amount takes me through all the seasons and all kinds of weather.
I love this simple new approach!
I need to try this method, because as you mentioned, I have been doing the “what I don’t need method” and trying to get rid of that. It has worked to some extent, but your suggestion is a totally different way to think about it, and I appreciate that. Thank you!
Thank you! This is what I need. I have extra everything. I need to uncomplicated my life by keeping only what I NEED! can’t wait to get started on this
Thank you! This is what I need. I have extra everything. I need to uncomplicated my life by keeping only what I NEED! can’t wait to get started on this
Nice post Joshua. This is a great turn around on the usual decluttering method. I have struggled with clothing most but when I look at what I actually use I saw how much I don’t use and it was a lot easier to let go!
Using this technique of “what do I need” is is a total game changer for me. Thank you!
Hi Joshua, I can attest to this. The difference in mind set is incredible. I decluttered my home over a period of a year in chunks of time using categories. It worked well and I eliminated approximately 50% of my household belongings. When it came to the attic, I asked myself, before I even went in, ‘What do I want to keep from here?’. It made the process much easier I had decided I would keep Christmas decorations only. I came across a couple of other items that I needed to question again. The rest, 95%, of the items went straight from my attic to my car and on to the charity shops of choice or the dump. It is so much easier to ask what you want to keep. As an aside, I then repeated the process in my house by asking what I wanted to keep. I would estimate that in all, I got rid of 70% of our belongings. I have maintained this approach and now don’t buy things in the first place and I am financially better off too. My own peace, money and the planet – win, win and win!
The funny thing about this is, I’ve always known that this is the best declutter method, yet when it comes to actually going through with this strategy and removing the unnecessary pile, I find myself “wanting” all of it or feeling guilty as it seems so wasteful. Then there is the constant battle with the thought of “but what if I want it in a year or two or perhaps even need it? What if my daughter would like it when she grows in to it?” Now usually my biggest issue is clothing but I find I’m constantly trying to repurpose or donate rather than throw away but the reality is that people do no want some of my junk. So while I think that I “want” certain things beyond the necessities in my life, I’m constantly trying to rewire my thought processes as ultimately I want a minimalistic home and space more and I have to keep reminding myself of that when faced with the biggest mental challenges.
This is so helpful to have in my hands.