r/declutter

I had a cute breakfast nook table with two stools in my kitchen, but we never really used it as the dining room was steps away. It was a clutter gatherer!

I really liked it, but it was constant work to keep it cleared off. We seemed to drop random items on it instead of putting them away. Decided to remove it to the garage to see if I'd miss it. (Nope)

Posted it on Marketplace, and now it's sold. I love the space that opened up in the kitchen.

So, I have a fairly common problem: I have clothes that I am trying to sort and potentially get rid off, mainly because I have limited space. Unlike posts I went through, I have a slightly different issue. I am wearing almost all of them regularly (except a few pieces for special occasions), and I have to keep different “thickness” variations for different seasons. The problem is that there is that category of clothes that is “too worn to be for outside, but otherwise fine”. That is often t-shirts, like for example if the print is starting to come off and the neck is stretched too much. They are all still cozy, so I usually wear them at home until they start breaking. Growing up we would use such clothes for gardening etc., so their life cycle was complete and also, somehow shorter. Now I don’t have the garden and it feels like I haven’t thrown anything in years. I might get 1-2 new t-shirts per year because some would be downgraded to wear at home, but I just am ending up with a bunch of clothes that are still fine (and I am wearing them in rotation). How to break this cycle of getting a ton of “home clothes”, and not feel guilty of wasting things that are still wearable?

I’ve got movers coming in less than a month. Full move-out in a little over a month. I feel completely immobilized by the amount of things I no longer want or need but feel the need to find them new homes.

Many things can be rightfully donated, but I have SO MANY craft supplies that might have been lightly used or never used and I cant find anyone to take them. I can try to find a retirement community, or maybe a summer camp that might want the supplies?

Then there are the sheer amount of shopping bags. Paper, plastic, canvas, reusable. These are ALL worthy of a second life, but what do I do with them? Search for an organization that needs bags?

There seems to be so much planning for my items no longer serving me, and it’s completely immobilizing me. I just want to be done with them. I would love to just feel okay with it instead of the guilt that comes with this “failure“. (and yes I know it isn’t a failure but my perfectionist brain gets stuck in very specific loops of how things should be. Doesn’t make it right, but it is what it is)

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.

I heard a story on NPR this morning that said one in every three people in the US now rents a storage unit. How is that even possible! The only way I can wrap my head around that factoid is that some people must have multiple storage units, the way the overall divorce rate reflects the fact that some people get divorced multiple times. Statistically it works out to one unit for every three people, but they are not evenly distributed.

The reporter also said the average cost for a unit is $120 a month, which works out to $1440 per year. I get that for some people it's a short-term fix to store their best pieces of furniture and other valuables while they are between permanent housing arrangements, and it makes sense for that purpose - as long as the months don't stretch into years. But for those of you who rent storage units as expandable spaces for all the stuff you want to keep, but not enough to keep it in your house - I'm genuinely curious. Do you really think that stuff is worth what you're paying to keep it? What cutbacks are you forced to make in your lifestyle and activities, because you have to pay so much for an "overflow apartment" where your extra stuff lives and waits to be of use someday?

Speaking for myself, I'm happy to do the hard work of sorting, decisionmaking, and letting go of all the stuff that doesn't fit in my living spaces, so I can use that $1440 per year on things and experiences that are more personally meaningful.

I am literally never going to sew potholders. Goodbye, fabric and batting. I will make clothes, so that can stay. Not the stuff that icks me out when I touch it, though.

I do not need these American girl dolls. They deserve better than living under my bed. Same with these random stuffed animals. Have fun!! I'll keep one that's been with me all my life, and maybe one doll.

I don't want to decorate, for the holidays or otherwise. Any of them. I want peace and simple and clean and space. Not minimalist, but ordered and honest. Bits and bobs, out! A few things that speak to me may stay.

Time to shake it all up and see what's left when the dust settles.

If you look at me, you’d think my eyes were brown, but actually they are hazel. In the right light, and wearing the right color, they can look green.

I bought a cute, bright green dress online. The kind that would really bring the color out in my eyes. The model looked so pretty wearing it. I had an image of me wearing it in the summer fluttering around like a butterfly.

But when I tried it on, it just didn’t look right. But I didn’t want to give it up. I thought I just needed the right belt, or the right underwear, or to lose a few pounds. So in my closet, it stayed.

I took it out again yesterday. Tried it on. And came to the realization that it just wasn’t meant for me.

In the box it goes. Along with the pink dress that never looked right.

And as I dropped off the box at the donation shop this morning, I felt relief.

Letting those summer dresses go felt like choosing the version I actually am. Someone who can make room in her closet,and her life, for things that actually fit!

Tried to sell them, had a bad time (I sold some of my unneeded items before and it's never been as unpleasant as with this luxury brand), decided I'd rather keep the necklaces and threw out the pretty brand packaging and took down the listings.

Now I feel guilty about keeping the necklaces even though they are super tiny (all I could afford lol) and the boxes and the packaging were taking up 99% of the space. I honestly think I was trying to sell the necklaces out of guilt about the bad financial decision of buying them in the first place.

Now

I think I’ve officially entered my empty nester era because I just tried to tidy up the linen closet and somehow ended up sitting on the floor surrounded by tubs of my kid’s old t-shirts. 😅 High school sports. College events. Club shirts. Random spirit wear. The stuff I can’t donate because it feels like donating the memories, but also… I don’t want five plastic bins living in my closet forever. So I’m looking into t-shirt quilt companies (t-shirt blanket makers, memory quilt makers, whatever you call it) that can turn this pile into something I’ll actually use. Like a blanket for the couch that makes me smile instead of a clutter situation that makes me feel guilty.

What I’m trying to figure out

Which company makes the best t-shirt quilts?
Not necessarily the fanciest, just the best combo of quality, ease, and “I’m trusting you with my kid’s shirts” comfort level.

If you’ve ordered one, I’d love to know:

1. Who you used
2. If it felt worth it
3. Any surprises, good or bad
4. Any tips for choosing shirts, sizes, layouts, etc.

Names I keep seeing while researching

These pop up a lot when I search “best t-shirt quilt company” and “t-shirt memory quilt”:

1. Project Repat
2. MemoryStitch
3. Campus Quilt Co.
4. My T-Shirt Blanket
5. QuiltKeepsake
   (and I’m sure there are amazing Etsy makers, I just get overwhelmed trying to vet)

Questions I’m asking before I choose

1. Do you use interfacing/stabilizer on every shirt block?
2. What size are the blocks, and can I request certain graphics stay intact?
3. Do you send a layout preview before sewing?
4. What’s the backing like, soft and cozy or more stiff?
5. What’s the real turnaround time once they receive the shirts?

What happens if a shirt is thin, cracked, or has holes?

My “before and after” goal

Right now: bins of shirts I can’t let go of, taking up space.
What I want: a blanket I can throw over the couch, that feels like a warm little time capsule, but in a way that’s actually useful.

If you’ve done this, tell me who you used and whether you’d recommend them. Especially if yours was for that whole “kid left home and the house feels weirdly quiet” phase.

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.

Our walk-in closet in our bedroom is stuffed to the brim. I am off work today, so I listened to a podcast and decided to see what progress I could make. I ended up getting a bunch of boxes that can be recycled, and filled up 2 trash bags full of clothes set for donation.

I set a timer as I have time blindness (ADHD), and I was feeling really accomplished…until I realized that I didn’t even make a dent. It’s still absolutely packed.

How do you keep the motivation to declutter something that just seems so overwhelming?

We are 2 parents, a 7 year old, 2 year old, and 8 month old in a 2 bedroom apartment for the next 12 months. Right now the 7 year old has his own room, we converted half of our walk in closet to a room for our toddler, and the 8 month old’s bed is in the corner of our room. We’re packed pretty tight.

I go through phases of throwing things away and decluttering but right now I’m really struggling. The apartment is so cluttered, and every day it gets extremely messy. I’ll admit my husband and I need to be better about picking up after ourselves in the moment, but there’s still just too much damn stuff for our small space.

Financially, things haven’t been great, so I’ve also been falling into the trap of “if i get rid of these DVDs, and we end up losing our internet, we won’t be able to have ANYTHING to watch” (even though we haven’t pulled out the PS2 in 5 years, even without internet)

The top shelf of my oldest’s closet is filled to the ceiling with boxes of old clothes and toys. Our half of the closet is filled with our junk; books that filled a shelf my toddler could reach (that I collected in my 20s and never read that I’ve been using as decoration), clothes I don’t wear, extra purses etc.

I also inherited my grandmother’s craft room 2 years ago when she died and all of that stuff is in the desk area, our closet, and some of the top of the oldest’s closet. This stuff is hard because I culled it once when I inherited it, but I am a sewist/crafter and now I’m deciding what things I’m actually going to use, and what is wishful thinking that doesn’t fit my lifestyle. There’s also the grief and sentimental aspects. This includes like 2 milk crates of old magazines that I just can’t seem to part with (I love the vintage ads and cozy 80s aesthetics but it’s a bit much). Also, I feel bad about getting rid of anything I could sell because of the tight finances, but I know it’s really not worth the time.

I think my biggest struggle is that I know we will be upsizing soon, but right now it’s just too much for our apartment. I need help 😩 not to get too personal, but I’ve been so depressed and burnt out; I’ve been neglecting my school and other personal responsibilities, I think if I can just get my home in a reasonable state I can start to feel better.

Pulled every piece out did keep and donate piles the works. By month 3 the shelves were stacked again half from duplicates I bought because I forgot what I had. Round 2 was the same outcome by month 6. Anyone keep it stable past the 3 month mark or is the bounce back the default?

My husband and I went to visit my grandma across the country last year who gave me a whole laundry basket of skin care and make up products she has been saving since at least the pandemic for me. It was very sweet of her and at the time, I was really excited about it because a lot of it is nice skin care products that I have been wanting to try but didn't want to spend the money on.

When we got home, I invited one of my best friends over and let her pick out anything she wanted that I didn't already claim for myself (which was like 1/4 of the haul). She was really excited about it too.

Then a couple months later, we went to a dermatologist and an allergist because ever since we moved into this apartment unit, I have been randomly breaking out in rashes across my upper body. We did several allergy tests and I found out what chemicals I'm allergic to.

Unfortunately, about 90% of the products my grandma gave me and some of my previous products I am allergic to. I asked the doctor about it because I have been using some of these for years without really noticing anything. He said that I can be mildly allergic to these chemicals but I should still stop using them because I could increase in sensitivity the more I expose myself to them.

Alright, makes sense. I'm still having rash outbreaks despite using these products though. So we didn't really get to the bottom of whatever is causing the rashes but we did end up with a laundry basket worth of (mostly free) products I can't use.

I decided to message my friends and invite them over to pick out whatever products they want and then I would donate the rest or sell them for like $2-3 on FB or something. But when I told my husband this, he was so upset about it!

In his mind, it is a total waste to get rid of these unused, full size products. And like, listen, I would love to keep these and use them. BUT I AM ALLERGIC. He is really against me trying to get rid of them. So I was like, "oh are you going to use these instead then?" and he was like "IDK, maybe?"

Reader, he does not use skin care or makeup items.

The most he does is his hair cream, body wash, shampoo/conditioner, and face wash. That's kinda about it. Every lotion I've tried to get him to use, he complains it's too greasy or makes him look too shiny.

So now we have a laundry basket of products that are going to expire if they haven't already and they're just sitting there collecting dust. I've started using some of them even though the doctor said not to because I don't know what else to do!

Any advice?

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.

Hi all!

Back in college, I ended up collecting a bunch of comics. Nothing of any value I don't think, just a few runs that I never cancelled, so ended up with a bit of a backlog. I organised them once and filled one of those comic boxes but then moved them all into a cube of my Kallax.

I'm not reading them, I'm not going to read them and if I do want to read them I'll either buy the volumes or read them online. I do collect pretty covers every now and then but that's it.

What's a good way to declutter a hefty amount of comics? People who buy comics in my area are really only after the ones they can make money on and selling them individually is a headache. I have the time to sell them, so I was considering collating them into each run and selling all that way.

Has anyone had something similar?

Thanks :)

Just curious how everyone tackles decluttering. Though it'd be helpful to share many different methods to help others understand theres many ways to do this!

Do you start by item type, room by room, or something else?

Ill share whats been working for me:

I go through just random stuff and declutter only what im comfortable decluttering right now. I may pass back thru it again but to avoid overwhelm i just do for right now. I work toward one big donation day at a time, think maybe a car load size amount of stuff! And I give myself maybe a month or so in between to allow myself the time to process the change bc these things are sentimental and such. I dont go room by room or anything, just whatever im motivated to do or sounds easy since the more you do it the easier it gets so i follow that path of what i feel i can tackle next. I also like to start with whats visible as the visual progress motivates me to keep going.

Received a belated and beautiful wedding gift from friends overseas as we just visited them. A photo book with memories of the trip we took to see them last year.

I'm not very body confident right now and looking at the photos, taken within the period of a week, I couldn't believe that I was looking at the same person across the various images. In some, I look ok....but others? It's definitely me in all of them, but that frumpy person that looks huge? That's me too but why do I look so different?

I've taken time to really look at these images. The main difference? The clothes I'm wearing. The top (in the truly awful photos) has quite fussy details around the tops of the arms, the silhouette is shapeless. It's just.......terrible.

So I've just emptied my summer tops drawer and removed four tops that are the same (shopaholic here could never just buy one - I had to have 'it' in every colour!)

In addition, yesterday I wore a little top for the first time as I'm trying not to reach for the trusty favourites every time I get dressed. It was......ok. Sort of. Nice summery colour but not my colour. Nothing wrong with it, but I felt kinda frumpy. Decision made....off it goes....along with the other three exact same tops in other colours.

Another expensive lesson learnt, but gradually I'm learning what suits and what really doesn't. And if it doesn't......