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?”
I’m in the process of decluttering my apartment, mostly with clothes. I have way too many clothes. I work part-time and need to keep a certain amount of clothes. My daughter just started a new job, after 22 years of work, wearing uniforms. I invited her to visit “Bev’s Closet”!!! I told her I have short sleeves, 3/4 sleeves, long sleeves; tops with flowers, solids and prints. She came twice and made a killing!! Two huge bags gone. Two happy campers. I still have more to purge. I like the new way to begin, approaching this task with a new question. Ready, set go!!! 👀👀
This works… a funny story.
I find clothing the hardest to make decisions on. I have 2 separate closets in my room. One, I kept for “occasional” clothes; formal, cardigans, blazers, etc. The other, for “everyday” items and work.
One day, while vacation planning via YouTube, I noticed a few videos about “what not to wear in Europe”, the idea being you want to avoid looking like a tourist, for several reasons. Curious, I watched some and they all said the same thing: no leggings! Since the only pants I owned were leggings, I began to rethink my entire wardrobe. First I went thrifting for shoes, hit the jackpot and then realized I’d need to make room for all of them. I decided if I didn’t have time to sort fully, I would temporarily transfer all my non-negotiables to the “everyday” closet, and all the “everydays” I never wore to the “good” closet until I could get to them.
I went to sleep that night all excited looking forward to choosing something I loved from my “new” closet. Woke up, opened the door in anticipation, only to find… I STILL had nothing to wear! (except shoes! lol)
I realized at that moment that I didn’t even own much in the way of “everyday” clothing, besides a few favourite fall/winter sweaters. Nothing for summer at all! The rest was all dressy stuff!
A couple more thrifting trips later and I’m all set. I’ve made better choices, have more of what I want and less of what I don’t, and I guess can safely get rid of most of what was transferred to the other closet.
I love thrifting. I love finding unique, “new to me” items in a quality you can’t find anywhere else anymore.
But I realized much of what I was buying was too fancy for every day, that I was buying it based on its uniqueness instead of its usefulness. I also learned I’m not comfortable in bulky knits; I need finer, more fitted things that hang right and move with you. I took note of which sweaters I gravitated back to and why.
When you start with what you can’t live without, it all becomes so much clearer.
Thanks.
I started decluttering or down sizing I call it 5 yrs ,before we retired.
I donate, or give stuff away Monthly. I only keep stuff in totes, & mark the dates, & what is in each one. I go through them every few months, & get rid of more, re date them, & make a new label of what’s still in them.I have totes for my 2 grand kids already marked with their names on them.son has decided what he does want, or don’t, & the rest will go. We will keep only what we need to get us by.We have emptied out the attic, most of the basement except husbands work bench, tools. upstairs is mostly empty except rooms for guests.We don’t take steps anymore..We have everything on the main floor that we need. Smallest room is for storage only.No bags, or boxes totes only.Works out great.
Thank you for this article. I’m struggling with my downsizing as it involves my belongings along with my mother’s and my father’s belongings… All the emotion and attachment find me waxing and waning in motivation. As well, my marriage is coming to a close. So much to let go of…your insightful words are a help during a massively difficult time.
God bless you, Cheryl. I am going through some similar situations. It truly is difficult!
Very well Explained! Great work!
I really appreciate these articles. I want to tone my stuff way down but, it seems like every time I get rid of something, I end up needing that exact thing just a couple weeks later. Seriously, the exact thing!
Pack up the stuff you want to get rid of and store it in another room or garage for a few months. Then if you haven’t needed it, it’s okay to toss or donate.
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!