Note: This is a guest post from Courtney Carver of Be More with Less.
Decluttering is usually the first step people take to simplify their lives. It is often the easiest and most effective place to begin. Removing the excess from our homes naturally encourages us to look at the more challenging, often hidden things that also complicate our lives: debt, busyness, mental clutter, just to name a few. But it often starts with physical possessions.
Decluttering teaches us how to let go and create space. Owning less helps us save time and feel lighter. And it often causes us to rediscover the joy of giving.
If you feel overwhelmed with stuff or struggle when it comes to letting go, start with some of the items that don’t come with major emotional attachment—or at least, the items without positive emotional attachment.
If you are looking for a good place to start, let go of these 10 items to jumpstart decluttering:
1. Clothes you don’t wear. Clothing is a great place to begin. Most of us have too much of it, but we still wear the same things over and over again. Donate the jeans that don’t zip. Toss the socks with holes. Remove the outdated fashion. And if you have an extra coat or hat, give it away. There are lots of people who could use it this time of year.
2. Unidentifiable items in your junk drawer. It might be too soon to jettison the entire junk drawer, but you can easily remove the items that have no name, no place, and no meaning instead of saving them just in case you remember why you put them there in the first place. If you don’t know today, you won’t know tomorrow.
3. Lotions and potions. Get all of your lotions, potions, makeup, shampoo, and other products into one place. Put the things you use every day back where they belong. Toss the rest.
4. Lonely items. If it can’t be used without a match, and the match is long gone, it’s time to let go. Think cassette tapes without a cassette player, Tupperware tops without containers, and lone socks.
5. Kid stuff. Instead of shaming your kids into decluttering, make it fun for them. Announce a prize for every 10 things they can collect for donation. The prize can be a family activity or your child’s favorite meal. If you have more than one child, offer a bonus if everyone hits their goal to encourage them to work together.
6. Stale food. Set a timer for 15 minutes and go through your pantry, freezer, or refrigerator. Dump anything out of date, or opened and stale. If you find things that are good but you’ll never eat, bag it up and drop it at a homeless shelter or church.
7. Extra dishes. If you have two sets of dishware, silverware, or glassware, one can go. If you love your good dishes, use those every day. If they are stuck in a box somewhere and you never use them, give them to someone who will.
8. Other people’s stuff. If your home has become a storage facility for friends and family, make a few phone calls. Be kind, give notice, and politely ask them to remove their stuff or offer to help if they aren’t interested.
9. Things that bring you down. Sentimental items are usually saved for later on in the decluttering process, but letting go of things that remind you of people, places, and events that have hurt you in the past will make room for more joyful memories.
10. The guilt. This might not fall in the “easy” category, but if you let it go now, it will make the rest of the journey more meaningful. You paid enough already with time, money, and attention. Guilt is the worst payment of all. With guilt, you continue to pay with emotion, by holding onto the past and by punishing yourself for old habits. Say goodbye to guilt.
Letting go of these items will lighten things up and encourage more decluttering, more simplicity, and more freedom. Once they are gone, celebrate your progress and dig back in.
A simple life is waiting.
For more, check out our The Declutter Your Home Checklist.
For me, purging/letting go also applies to thoughts of the past, that hold me down. Letting them go; which is not always easy; is making my life ‘lighter’.
I’m still struggling to get rid of my late partner’s books – some common or garden fiction and some specialist books. I just hate letting the more specialist ones go without making a few pounds for charity, and it’s difficult to find the right buyer. And the more readily available ones – for some reason I want them to go to someone who I know will love them and read them multiple times like he did!
Perhaps you could look at it differently. What if while you were trying to find the “right buyer” yourself, you missed finding them because they were still in your home? Why not donate to a thrift, used bookstore or library for a fundraiser sale, so the books would be available to whomever was out there looking for them? Set them (and yourself) free.
As for the “lotions and potions” recommendation, please don’t toss them. If they have not separated or congealed, they’re still useful. Donate them to your local homeless shelter or other facility that serves the homeless. Homeless women love the smell of cologne and nice lotion, and it’s a treat for them. Moisturizers and other creams are also very welcome. (Anything with sunscreen is an added bonus.)
Good point Catherine because these will all end up in a landfill eventually, but to extend their usage in a creative and helpful way is more sustainable. On the food spectrum, I had a sibling ask me about honey, saying she had thrown some away because it had crystalized, not realizing it was still good. Education here too is the key, and if you make a little priority of doing this you will not only save money, help others out, but be more thoughtful of your purchases in the future.
I am not sure about other states but in California in certain cities like Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco & Sacramento they have shops where you can bring in your clean/reusable plastic or glass containers to refill them with everything from shampoo, lotion, dish/laundry soap with natural products that are non-polluting.
It can be a little challenging at first, like using your own cloth bags for produce and shopping (just make sure you wash them every so often) but for me it comes down to using natural products and only buying what I need plus connecting to a larger community of like-minded folks.
I agree fully with this article. I live a very happy simple life and it began with letting go of things. I always tell people who say that they can’t let go of sentimental items that they should take a picture if them.
I have been doing this. It is very freeing. I still have the picture but not the clutter.
I didn’t know anyplace would accept an opened bottle of lotion. Thanks for the info. I am using a great lotion that I got in a fragrance I don’t care for. It’s almost gone now but if I had known homeless shelters would accept, I could had donated an almost full bottle.
Or use them up before buying anything else.
Only if they are unopened!! Bacteria will only add to their problems!
Shelters don’t want opened or half-used lotions or potions. So don’t just dump them without asking first if they take such things.. Unopened, still viable things – of course.
We moved from Oh to FL in 2010, and then to GA in 2019. That makes it easy to unclutter. Only pack what you really want…
“Special dishes aren’t for special times, they’re for special people” ~ Carolyn Ingalls, Little House on the Prairie
I love this quote. It has helped me keep perspective on more than just dishes.
One of my favorite all time quotes also!
Old clothing is a big one for us. Hard to convince ourselves to throw out those pants/ shirts from ten years ago that don’t fit anymore (THIS is the year we’ll finally fit them again!)
From time to time I just have to factory reset my phone and computer just to eliminate all the clutter.
We also own three dogs and they bring so much clutter. Old leashes/ half destroyed toys- we just need to throw them out.
I do want to see a here’s how to de clutter in an environmentally friendly way, when it comes to tossing lotions and shampoos and beauty products, or the lidless containers and socks and maybe clothes that are beyond being donated that maybe you use for yard work or house etc. Any time you say toss, we have a responsibility to toss it in a way that won’t be a burden to the environment, because ultimately while you’re decluttering your immediate home life and getting the relief from that, our planet is our home too, I’m struggling with that part but it’s making me start researching for more solutions that encompass my values.
I am right there with you. Every time I think about decluttering what can’t be recycled or reused, I think about where the decluttered items will end up — the landfill? Yikes and then I stop. So, I’m struggling with that, even knowing that it will encourage me to accumulate far fewer things that might end up there.
I think we need to look at that when we purchase the item. At that point the decision is made as to what type of container or item will, at some point, end up in the trash.
Agree! You should never buy clothes you do not need. Try to exchange with friends or family instead. And do not toss clothes in trash. Use the glass and metall and paper and battery and electric devices and food waste… bins that are available.
I read your blog every day. Thank you! Regarding throwing out socks with holes in them, I agree, but Inhave a friend who had breast cancer. I made pillows for her post surgery recovery and used the holey socks to stuff them with. These are great suggestions and I’m going to share it on my Facebook page.
I read somewhere (pinterest I think) something similar to number three but with your kitchen utensils – so many we collect!! Put them all in a box somewhere else in your kitchen. After a month, you keep the ones you have gone into the box for (that you USED) and the rest can go to the thrift store. I can/jar food so I had to exempt my canning tongs and the like that I use twice a year but it really works! And for number five – bribing isn’t the answer. Leave your kids to figure it out for themselves – by following your example. Besides, a ‘prize’ is just more clutter, eh? Unless it was a pizza party or something. I like the idea of having one day a month to go through and collect items for the thrift store. Put it on the calendar on the fridge so everyone knows it’s coming up.
I just did the prize thing with my kids today. They each earned a trip to frozen yogurt and $5 because they did so well. No clutter! They got so much for Christmas I couldn’t breathe.
Joan, as a teacher, I can say I totally agree with you. The prize for kids should be taking their used toys to a thrift shop knowing that another child will have the chance to love their toys like they did, at one time. It is important for kids to feel the value of giving to others without expecting anything in return but that wonderful feeling of helping someone else or the planet. I had my second graders work at a food bank during Christmas time just stacking canned goods from the floor to the table, to make it easier for the basket fillers. They would ALWAYS ask if they could go back and help again. It was so fun.
Thanks for posting this! I am someone who does better following a list to get things done and this is a starting point for me.
There is something about the way you write! Its always refreshing! Thanks so much Joshua, God is indeed using you!.
Thank you for your post. I’m transforming into a minimalist. I realize less is more. I plan to retire in 3 year’s. I going to get my 4 bedroom house decluttered and minimize my life and downsize to a moblehome. This will allow for my husband and I to have the freedom to travel like a Gipsy. Becoming a minimalist will help our retirement dreams come true. Go’s bless you.
My parents had a great marriage and my mom was widowed at age 67. Instead of letting my dad’s clothes sit in the closet for years, she selected a sweater and plaid shirt he like to wear (when they went camping) kept those two items (and wore them a lot) and promptly donated the rest. I have a friend who still has all her late husband’s clothes in the closet (he’s been gone almost 20 years). What a shame – those clothes could have done so much good for someone; instead they just sit; probably dusty, moth/bug damaged and waiting to be thrown out by someone else when she is too old to do it herself. Sad.
When my dad died, my mom had me take a load of stuff to donate. I said, “Are you SURE you want to get rid of this stuff? I don’t want you to regret it.”
She replied, “This is all stuff I have been wanting to get rid of for years and your father would never let me.” She then made two fists and said, “I’m feeling the POWER!!”
Now if only I could have that attitude. LOL
Love your story!!!????
My husband died of cancer 4 years ago. We had a great marriage, but he was a bit of a hoarder and would never let me throw things away. I must say I can relate to your mom’s sense of power and freedom when it came to getting rid of a lot of his stuff. Kept some special things that were sentimental, but most special are photos, some recordings of his sermons, and all the great memories.
My mother donated my father’s clothes one week after he passed away. We only kept two items and gave his brand new coat to his brother. I know the clothes we gave away will be used by someone who really needs them, and that’s what he would have wanted for us to do. Both my parents have always been very organized and minimalists. It’s inspiring and good role models.
My goal when I started purging six month ago was to be able to have the main floor tidy with 15 minutes notice if company was going to drop by. Im so much more social and welcoming now knowing I don’t have to be embarrassed by my house and can find joy in a short notice stop by and not have to refuse or feel that my private space has been invaded.
What I save is getting smaller by the season. Less stuff, less to keep organized and clean.. Equals more time for doing what I love… Flower garden.
I didn’t know what you meant when you said most people have way too many clothes until I ventured a peek in my closet and dresser. I hardly ever go in my closet, yet there are clothes packed in there. It’s the same with most drawers of my dresser. I hover in the same two dresser, rotating maybe five favorite things. I decided to round up all the clothes and put them on the bed, and in my clothes quest I managed to unearth two boxes of clothes that had never been opened from the move. Two years ago. I wish I took a picture of the mountain, but I’m really glad I didn’t. It looked like a quarter of a Goodwill store. Needless to say, I rounded up twenty-two large boxes of clothes and donated them.
I still have my five favorites.
Thanks for these suggestions. I’m excited to move onto the next tip!
I did the same thing ! Love what I kept and it is going to be so easy to maintain. Possibly a real money saver too in that earlier today I picked up several items and just before checking out at register I put the items back on the rack. Smiled and thought …I have everything I need. Go for it every one. Feels great !
I’ve done the “put things back” thing, too, and it’s a great feeling to walk out of a store with the things you planned to purchase and nothing else!
I had a friend that at the new year, turns every hanger in her the WRONG way (open end toward you). When she wears something, she turns the hanger the right way. At the end of the year, anything that is still the wrong way is sold/donated.
I have found that this is a helpful gauge for keeping on top of clothes decluttering.
Great article! I love de-cluttering. I began initially by throwing away items from friends who had hurt, insulted or who sucked the living spirit out of me. What a relief! Now I don’t bring anything into the house unless something else leaves. Thanks again!
Easy to read simple yet some of it hit me hard. I was recently hurt by being excluded by my sisters in going to a storage where my fathers clothes were stored I wanted to see what was there and maybe an item or two. I already have a few of his things at home some of the last things he wore and a hat I where on my early morning walks . I realize now that is wasn’t so much the things I wanted but the experience of seeing his beautiful suits and ties and remembering the man that wore them one more time. I have been working really hard on becoming a minimalist but it hasn’t been easy when your sentimental . Great simple article Thanks
Losing a loved one is definitely tough, and I see the direct correlation to clutter. Seeing/possessing of an item/s is not going to change the memory of your dad. Truly these are “just things”. I can understand how this would be upsetting for you not to have that opportunity, and maybe even cause tension between family members. Treasure what you do have like pictures, letters, and memories. If you want something tangible you can put together a photo book/ scrapbook and include pictures of things similar to what your father had. I collected some pictures from online of silly things like black licorice, the type of straw hat my dad wore to the beach, the type of cigarettes he smoked. It was comforting.
Adrian, that was an excellent suggestion to make a photo collage of sorts using things similar to what your loved one enjoyed! It would almost feel like a project you were doing together. GReat idea that wouldn’t take up a lot of space but would make you smile when you walked by!
Bless you, the longing for those special memories can be overwhelming, can’t it?
I was able to call a Methodist preacher in my community whom I thought might be able to use a few items from my dad’s wardrobe of suits, shirts, ties.
The clothing was a perfect fit unbelievably, all four seasons of clothing. He was quite overwhelmed with the gift and I with the joy of knowing my dad’s collection would be used on for years!
Love reading every post of yours. They are so interesting. Keep it up!
Hello Joshua
Soy de Argentina, Rosario
I’ve been reading your articles since I’ve found you
And am on my way decluttering
I just wanted to tell you that I’ve just found this youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWMDzSPg_K8
although I didn’t watch it, the information is the same as in this article of yours. I think the girl took it from here but she did not make a mention of you. That bothers me a bit that’s why I feel like telling you. I also commented that in the video.
Un saludo : )
She had a TINY attribute that says (and I quote): “Inspired by Joshua Becker.”
That’s not “inspired by,” that’s blatant plagiarism. I left a comment with the link to this article in the comments.
To me, the message is what is important. Thanks Joshua.
Great response Joshua! :)
Thank you so much for your inspiring words!! We started our decluttering journey 6 months ago, and what a blessing it has been on our family!!