r/declutter

I love videos where someone declutters lots of stuff, without gross stuff like mouse poop or worse.

Any recommended channels?

I've been doing a lot of clean purges for the past few years. This year I've had more of those days. I can't even tell you how many garbage bags of things I got rid of. Before I get rid of stuff, I buy a box of 32 gallon garbage bags. I bought a box which contained 14 bags last month.

I managed to use all of them in two months. It's just so insane to me how I managed to have so much stuff in my small apartment. About a year or two ago, one of my closets was the equivalent to an avalanche waiting to collapse. Storage totes, tote bags, and garbage bags filled with things, from the floor to the ceiling. I got rid of two garbage bags of things that were under my bed, and I had to stop at that point because I didn't have any garbage bags left.

I am in disbelief with how much stuff that I still need to get rid of. It feels like I've been cleaning up forever. Despite making significant progress, it feels endless. I can't wait until the day that I'm actually done with it entirely.

I have a massive collection of photopolymer stamps. I had grand ideas of hand making cards and people being wowed by them. I did it a couple of times and it was fun, but I'm too Type B to be bothered to plan ahead and too Type A to slap something together. I've most recently made some little name tags for my coworkers and that's fun and being able to go to my boxes of stamps and find just the right thing to use was fun. Then I made them for sixty people and it was much less fun.

The stamps are adorable, the marketing emails are fantastic, but they take up so much space and get so little use.

I managed to get my crocheting down to a single project (a blanket that I really want that's been in various states of non completion for almost 7 years).

Sewing is the new hyper fixation but I have container limit in place for that.

Needlepoint, embroidery, and cross stitch are here to stay, I love those the most.

So stamping is the one on the cut list.

I love the stamps, they're so cute, I just don't use them and getting rid of them (even if I donate them) feels sad/bad, but I don't really use them and I don't know how to feel about that.

I’m wondering whether I need a fat wardrobe and thinner wardrobe?! There is one size difference between the two.

Currently back in my fatter wardrobe as I’m on steroids for a bad lupus flare up.

I love the clothes I was wearing six months ago after losing some weight but they no longer fit. I feel gross in my current clothing but it’s not so much the clothes it’s because my body isn’t how I want it to be on several levels.

I need to be honest with myself that I’m probably not going to stay thinner.

I don’t want as many clothes in my wardrobe as I have regardless of what size they are. Can anyone offer advice on how to tackle both sets of clothing?

Thank you.

My garage is full of stuff, some valuable, some reasonable sentimental stuff and most sentimental stuff that is objectively trash or worthless. We’ve moved last minute five times and every time we throw stuff in boxes and trash bags so it’s impossible to find anything. It’s packed 5’ high and completely unusable.

On our last move we put our hot tub in the garage and didn’t realize it had mice in it until too late. We then temporarily left for the summer and the mice have took over. We’re working on reducing their numbers but even if we had no mice there is mouse waste on everything and they will have destroyed everything.

A local waste removal company will empty the entire garage (they know about the mice and came out to give their quote). I am scheduling them to drop the dumpster earlier so I have one weekend to save anything I can. The mice will still be in there. I don’t want to go in there but I don’t want to lose certain things, I don’t want to have to rebuy stuff and I don’t want to throw out valuable stuff I know I’ll never get around to selling anyway.

I keep going back and forward between how amazing it’s going to feel to finally not have the garage weighing me down, and how much I’m about to lose and what I’ll need to repurchase.

Idk why I’m even posting, I guess it will help to hear that I’m making the right decision. I’d love to read experiences and welcome any advice.

The question ive been asked 3x now. BECAUSE I WANT IT OUT OF MY HOUSE!! I want it off my mind. I want freedom more than I want the $8 I might get after shipping and selling fees from these sites 😭

This mindset of whatever it takes to make a 1$, even at the expense of your home and your space and your sanity. Believe me, I understand that every dollar matters and it all adds up, but so do the items. So does the lack of space. And so does the mental energy.

If you need permission today to just declutter (give, donate, trash) rather than keeping it around hoping it sells online, here you go!

I had a big oak desk taking up a whole corner of my garage for three or four years. I got it from my brother, who inherited it from our mom. For years I've been stressing out about what to do with it; it's kind fo beat up but I always thought it was a really expensive desk and it held a bit of sentimental value, so I was loathed to get rid of it. Also, it's like 1000lb, and hauling it away would be a huge pain.

Finally, I decided to salvage the top of the desk and use it as a nice solid worktable (the desk is all beat up, but solid wood that size can be worth hundreds of dollars). Today, I finally got around to breaking down that desk into pieces... and it turns out it wasn't solid wood. It was laminated particle board. The lamination actually makes it worse for reuse cus it'll just flake off under heavy use. So I've stopped parking my car in the garage, stressed out, and wasted all that space just to save a useless piece of wood that I could have made new for like $100 in parts at Lowes.

I feel like an idiot, but at least I'll have my garage back.

I put out a number of outdoor furniture items in excellent condition (my local charity shops don't have room to stage outdoor furniture) and a bunch of random household goods including a gigantic soft-sided dog travel crate. Within the day someone had come by to collect everything except for the dog crate.

I unfolded it and structured it properly so it was visible and clear exactly what it was. Since it was the only item out there I suppose, a nice young lady came up and actually knocked on my door to see if it was in fact available for the taking. After all the FB and ND flakes, I was delighted that someone would be so polite and conscientious! I thanked her for collecting it and wished her and her dog much enjoyment with the crate!

I have a bunch of plants in my kitchen, which is the only room in our house with natural light for growing plants. There are many jade plants and succulents. The plants were all babies, grown and repotted from plants that my cousin gave me just before she died. So I’m having a hard time considering giving them away to anyone who won’t care for them properly. I don’t want them to die. It would feel much better if I knew the plants were going to “the right people” who are good with plants.

I know I’m overly emotionally attached because of who the plants came from. However, at the same time, I really need to clear the space in the room, since my husband and I have plans to move things around. The plants have become the main obstacle for rearrangement of the space and are kind of taking over.

Any advice for giving the plants away but ensuring that they will go to good plant caregivers? I’m having a hard time separating my feelings from this practical decision.

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.

When I first became a mod here, I did a few Friday Challenge posts. I didn't find they got a lot of engagement (which, to me, means people weren't that interested).

I have a few ideas for upcoming challenges, but instead of doing them weekly, I would do monthly. Would you be interested in something like that? I could pin them to the top of the sub, so they stay visible for longer.

Upvote and / or comment if this is something you would like to see, or, um, ignore if you don't!

I will take and all the tips on decluttering with kids.

I have 2 elementary aged kids and they never want to get rid of anything. I already have a rule that if it’s broken, we don’t keep it.

One is also very craftsy so we have tons of art and art projects (not just flat things but like ceramic stuff, etc). They both love legos too. They also do stem summer camps every summer where they make all these motorized things, big projects, etc.

I just feel like we have no more surfaces to display things anymore. And their closets are full of things they’ve made. They will sob when I sell things. I still have been but man is it hard. My almost bigger problem is the things they’ve made and what to do.

this past month it feels like i keep getting rid of things after things and it doesn't end ! i guess part of it is due to the change of season and i've got 2 kids who have outgrown clothes and shoes but still. i am experiencing an intensity of idk how to put it... decluttering that feels odd. there's been clothes and shoes and then toys and a piece a furniture and dishes and random bits i stumble on.. like whenever i stop somewhere and have a minute i look around and there's like a basket worth of stuff to get away.

have you ever experienced sthg like this ?

i have had intentional periods before when i was looking to declutter but this is something else.

during the summer i got rid of several bags that were in the attic bc we needed to work on insulation there. since then it's been filled all over again with a lot of toys my kid dont want in their bedroom anymore but arent ready to part with (so this is a compromise of kind so i can help them learn to let go) & clothes im waiting a bit to see if they sell & other bits.

idk it's a bit overwhelming. why is there so much stuff we dont need in the house and i didn't notice before?

I’m at a stage where what clutter I do have is what Dana K. White describes as “procrasticlutter”. That’s the clutter where you know exactly what to do with it, but you just haven’t yet.

So I’ve decided that today is my Procrasticlutter Reduction Day. I’m going to include not only physical things, such as folding the laundry, but my ever-growing to-do list (errands, paperwork, chores, etc.). I think that making it a formally named day will greatly help my motivation.

I have two big boxes and only use few of them each year. I prefer not to throw them out in the garbage but not sure how to donate them.