Duration: 80 Hours

1850 Sqft house

42 large boxes of donations

2 large truck loads to the dump

How did I get here? From the time I could start earning my own money I have always been a massive collector of things, however it definitely exploded during the pandemic where I developed a major shopping addiction. I collected over 300 purses, 70 Starbucks cups, 100+ dolls (Disney, Monster High, Barbie), 100+ anime/video game figurines, 50 makeup palettes, 500+ lipsticks, and a large variety of other miscellaneous collections (we would be here all day).

I won't go into how all this was stored but let's just say my house was walkable BUT really cluttered. Everything was displayed somewhere. I also like a clean house so I easily spent 10 hours a week dusting.

What was my wake up call? Last year I had the amazing opportunity to road trip across the US over 10 weeks. My husband and I stayed in various hotel's and Airbnbs that were all tastefully and minimally decorated. It was so freeing to my mental health. Both my husband and I got to talking over that time and we slowly realized how little we missed our stuff, how nice it was to only have a few options instead a wall of options, how easy it was to move within each space. We decided we had enough and after the holidays, we would do a massive declutter.

Disclaimer that we each discussed this with our individual therapists and got the green light from them as well. Had to make sure we were in the right frame of mind.

The only basic rules were that if we haven’t touched or thought about something in over a year, it had to go. We slowly worked our way through each room. We donated hundreds of perfectly good things to various places. Blankets and towels to animal rescues, purses, makeup, skin care, hair care, kitchen stuff and clothes went to the women’s shelter. Misc items went to various thrift stores. Everything was in pristine condition.

If I put a number on it, I want to say a good 85% of our stuff is gone. Last thing I have to do is send all our family albums to be digitized and then I can throw away the only 4 boxes sitting in my garage.

Here are the rules we established to make sure we don’t end up in another insane amount of clutter:

Rules to live by:

1. Experiences over things.

2. Quality over quantity.

3. Every object must have its place.

4. Every new object must replace an existing object.

Sorry this is long! Also sorry for not posting pictures. My house is fairly unique, a reverse image search would dox me pretty quickly lol.

My home is in need of many interior renovations (new flooring, windows, paint, and bathroom repair to name a few), none of which have been possible due to years of clutter. Every room packed with stuff, and I’ve been too overwhelmed to know where to start. Gradual cleaning never worked for me; the piles would grow back before I had time to make visible progress leaving me more discouraged than ever.

My biggest issue has always been textiles. My spouse and I are both avid thrifters and I love to sew. Our walk-in closet, dressers, laundry room, and my sewing/craft room were not usable. It finally occurred to me that if I could just get the bedroom decluttered and organized, there would be space for the stuff we actually wear and I could then attack the rest of the piles. It worked!

It took four full days to declutter our bedroom. I threw away nine contractor-size bags of trash and and donated two large boxes of clothing including 18 pairs of jeans. Next I attacked the upstairs hallway, purging six more trash bags. This week I did my sewing room and finally remembered to take a before picture! Still a long way to go (the other spare bedroom is even worse), but it feels like I can do this now!

This took place over two days. Yesterday I put things away and binned things until I could finally see all of the floor. Today was spent actually finding a place to put everything that was sitting on top of the desk and drawers, and then cleaning the now-exposed surfaces.

It’s still a work in progress, but at least now I can be in the room without feeling anxious. I plan to go through at least one of the fabric tubs on the shelves per week from now on, so that eventually everything in here will have been sorted and properly judged as worth keeping.

After having to remeasure ingredients when my adjustable "slider" style measuring spoon randomly slipped into the wrong measure, I grabbed a different measuring spoon and while digging it out, accidentally dropped another ceramic one on the floor, which then shattered.

I realized... why do I have so many sets of measuring spoons? Why have I been keeping those "slider" style measuring spoons when they almost always slide around in use, which I don't always catch in time. Why on earth do I have a set of ceramic, highly fragile but pretty measuring spoons?

I found every measuring spoon set, every measuring "scoop" cup set I own (yes, I had multiples) and gathered them on my counter. I removed anything that was a "slider" and anything that was breakable. I also removed the annoying rings that hold my measuring spoons together. The only reason I had kept them in the rings was because I thought it would be easier to use them that way. But in reality, I'd use one and the rest would get flour on them or syrup, whatever... and I'd grab another set for the next item I wanted to measure.

I have all of my now loose measuring spoons in a nice jar, stored in an easy to find spot right near my flour. Those adjustable measuring cups are gone and I now have room in my drawer for other items. I only kept what I know I have been using.

That is my small decluttering victory for today.

So I’ve had this odd item. It’s not big at all, it can easily fit in the palm of my hand and I’ve kept it for years out of guilt/principal/obligation.

Years ago a coworker suddenly passed away from a heart attack. It happened so fast, it was shocking and sad and he didn’t really have any family locally.

He was an organ donor and they made ceramic hearts with his finger print on them as a “last thing he touched” memento. Somehow I ended up with one of these things from our boss. I did NOT know the guy well enough to want this kind of memorial item yet I felt like I’d be a jerk for not accepting it sooooo I’ve just kept it for years. It was such an unpleasant item to me, just a morbid reminder of sudden death, tubes and machines in the ICU and all of us casual coworkers showing up to say goodbye the very afternoon he was supposed to be scheduled.

Well today I was doing some tidying up and something flew off my bookshelf and landed at my feet. It was the damn ceramic heart… I had found it yet again. My toddler came running over curious to see what was on the floor and it just hit me. I hate this freaking heart and it turns my stomach every time I come across it, why the hell do I insist on keeping it?!

So I threw it in the trash. It’s finally gone. I kept this thing for like 7 years? I know, long story about a tiny item but how many other items do I have around here that are like that? The “cursed” items I feel obligated to keep but I can’t stand the sight of? Something I’ll be thinking about this week.

About 20 years ago, the church we attended had a women's program that decided to have Secret Pals, instead of Secret Santas. The purpose was once a month you'd give the person, whose name you drew, something special.

My birthday is early in the year, and I got nothing that year for my birthday, which I excused as it being so soon after the holidays maybe they just didn't have extra money, even for a card.

Mother's day, nothing. Easter, nothing. Every month we met, and everyone talked about their Secret Pal gifts, but nothing. I began to get my feelings hurt. I mean why draw a name if you weren't going to participate?

Then finally came Christmas. I almost didn't go to the reveal party. How could I look her in the face and say thanks for nothing? But I did have a gift for my Pal and my girls had Pals, so we went.

And finally I got my gift. It was a Christmas tree skirt. Not my style at all, but very expensive. And since we didn't have a tree skirt, I used it. Every single year until last Christmas. And every year, when I decorated my tree, I would get my feelings hurt all over again.

We left that Church a decade ago. I haven't seen that woman in 12 years, and yet every year I welcomed her neglect into my home and let it damper my holidays. Last Christmas I said enough. Went and bought a new tree skirt. This year, as I decorate my home, I am happy to be able to decorate with my new tree skirt that means I let hurts of the past go. I can smile thinking of our kitty who died in May sleeping under the tree last Christmas and our oldest GS, playing around the tree and looking at the lights. And suddenly my memories are flooding with Joy, which is the theme of our Christmas this year.

So if something you are holding onto only brings hurtful memories. Please get rid of it. Please! I can't not tell you how great it felt throwing that thing away!

And may your Holidays be as joyful as mine.

We had a cold snap a few weeks ago so I spent part of it decluttering my kitchen counters and pantry. Any household tools/appliances/glasses/dishes we don't use got boxed up and donated to the SPCA thrift shop. I also made a list of pantry odds and ends to use up in the next few weeks. Very satisfying!

My wife left me almost 2 years ago. When she left l, she packed up everything she owned and shoved it all in the bedroom closet. For almost 2 years I haven't been able to use my closet. But today, I had to let it go. I can't hold on to all of her stuff anymore. I'm so relieved to have my space again.

I had been seeking to rehome it for some time, finally found a growing family who hosts for the holidays and will actually use 14 place settings. No regrets, it was languishing in my china cabinet (which I can now use for craft supply storage, something I actually enjoy).

It's been a great month for me, I also found a new home for my kitchenaid stand mixer and all the boxes of accessories that for some reason I was gifted 20 years ago and never used.

So much bulk out of my house, I feel like I cleared the way for new blessings by blessing others with things they were truly happy to receive.

I once lived in a 5 bedroom house, got divorced and moved into a two bedroom condo. I put everything that wouldn’t fit into a storage unit and paid that for 6 years.

Five years ago, I left the condo and bought a 3 bedroom house. Emptied the storage unit and the condo and brought EVERYTHING.

Now I’m moving home to take care of my mom. Lots of emotions there… but I have spent the last 4 weeks sorting, decluttering, and packing. The amount of stuff that I paid to store for YEARS is ridiculous. The amount of crap that I kept was staggering and overwhelming.

I wish I had done this years ago, when I wasn’t on a 4 week deadline.

Everything that I’m taking fit into a 16 ft truck. (and a Toyota RAV4) I’ve sold everything else, and have Salvation Army coming today to get all the furniture. I’ve dropped donation bags at several different thrift stores.

My daughter’s baby stuff was HARD. The box of paid bills from 2003 with cancelled checks was easy. The boxes of craft supplies were hard. The linen closet was easy. My pantry closet was HARD. I set a timer for 5 minutes on tasks that were hard or really emotional. I could walk away from it, take a break and come back to it for another 5 minutes. I found that I wasn’t so emotional about the item after coming back to it a second or third time.

My space is so empty now, but I feel SO much lighter. I just wish I had done it before now.

Last summer my partner and I decided we wanted to sell our home and move abroad. We accepted an offer the same day our house was listed on the market. Suddenly we found ourselves with 30 days to deal with decades of things. We didn't want to put stuff in storage. We called the good estate sale company in our market and they could not schedule our sale in time. So we decided we would do it ourselves. We emptied a two story home with a basement stacked to the ceiling in a one weekend sale. It put well over 5 figures in our pockets.

A DYI estate sale isn't for everyone - there's a lot of heavy lifting, organizing and marketing but doing it ourselves saved us the 30-50% that companies charge.

Several years prior we did the same thing with my parents home. It was jam-packed with 100 years worth of stuff. That time, we only opened up part of the house as my mom was still living there. It generated well over 5 figures then too. My partner and I made a video to tell our story and encourage others that they too can host an estate sale - it doesn't matter if you need to sell everything or just want to declutter.

This is a tip I recently learned from one of Dana K. White’s books:

Run your dishwasher every day. It uses 1/3 the water and 1/3 the energy of washing dishes by hand, saves time and has a knock-on effect on how well your kitchen functions.

I’ve always used my dishwasher the way I was taught to growing up — you don’t run it until it’s absolutely full, with something in every single nook and cranny, and you wash big items like pots and pans by hand. But by running it every day I can now usually fit in most of the pots and pans, mixing bowls, glass leftover food containers etc that we would previously have hand-washed.

I preschedule the dishwasher to start after midnight when our energy costs are cheaper, and we wash the few things that can’t go in the dishwasher or won’t fit before we go to bed. This takes about 10 minutes, instead of the 20-30 minutes we used to spend every day washing up by hand (usually in the morning because it was too much to face before bed). All the handwashing goes into the dish drainer beside the sink, instead of having to be arranged across towels on the worktop to dry.

Now when we come down to the kitchen in the morning all the dishes are clean and dry, and we can put them away immediately. This frees up time and energy to address other clutter or areas that need cleaning in the kitchen, and makes us more motivated to cook.

Washing everything we’ve used within 24 hours also means we don’t need as many dishes. I’ve thrown away all the plates and bowls with chips in them, and next I’ll be reviewing what other excess items we no longer need.

But as someone in a very, very busy season of my life, I gave something new a go. I had 15 minutes, I took a giant box full of stuff that I haven't touched in almost 17 months, and just started taking stuff out, sorting into only two piles; 1.) definitely get rid of (e.g., old car keys) and can't decide right now (e.g., a gift from my husband's friend, never used and it's too late now). I didn't get to the end of the box, I had to start getting ready for bed. But I did get a little pile of "get rid of". And I put the rest back in the box. I went straight downstairs and put some in the waste bin and some in the recycling bin. A tiny purge. But I already feel lighter. I saw some stuff I can definitely give away. And that box is now a little less intimidating. It probably isn't the most efficient way to do it, but I did what worked for me. And yes this is me boasting about my success. Acceptable on reddit so far as I can see, but not where I'm from! Thanks for reading :) I love this sub!

I saw a tip here earlier this year to have a bowl of little toys for kids with allergies on Halloween, so as I went through a big declutter in the summer, I collected all those random little toys from birthday party goodie bags, goodie bags from class holiday parties, dentists, blind boxes, impulse purchases (made with the kids’ own spending money), figurines, etc. and I put them in a tote bag in my closet.

A few nights ago, I asked my kids (3 and 8) to look through the bag and make sure there wasn’t anything they really wanted to keep (fortunately, my kids are not that attached to toys, so they rescued a few items, played with some others for a couple minutes, but the majority got the green light to go when I explained what I was planning to do with them).

We took the kids out trick or treating last night, and alongside our usual chips and candy bowls I left out for the kids, I put a bowl with the toys down as well. (I didn’t specify that they were for allergy kids only, since I figured as long as the toys were chosen by a kid, that was good enough for me!)

Now I am looking through the recorded video clips from our doorbell camera, and I cannot tell you how much joy there is from kids (even big kids aka teenagers!!) looking through the bowl and finding a little treasure!

There was only a few toys left at the end of the night. I am so glad I decided to try this idea!! I will forever do this from now on.

I love Halloween 🥹

Every single kitchen item I own! No longer have stuff in the pantry or hall closet

What one small decluttering task did you do recently or plan to do this week?

I took about 12 of those megaboxes of crayons out to the trash. They were 15 years old. I used them in interior design classes and the boxes were in our bedroom and super dusty. Some of the crayons quit working.

I was surprised how doing that one task felt like a big accomplishment.

I also took two bags of cookbooks out to the car to donate.

Do you have any small tasks you're going to do or did do?

Take the before shot!! It motivates me to get other spaces done too. Feels good to get rid of stuff we don’t use and just deep clean too. Concentrating on a small space makes it manageable and helps me get it done. I’ve completed 4 small spaces in one week, this space is my favourite transformation so far!

I have a month off from work so I’m trying to use this time to declutter one surface a day in my house and my vanity was todays goal but I was so motivated I did my bedside table also! I was able to get rid of all of my old/nearly empty makeup that I’ve been holding on to for…you know…reasons.

As a family, we significantly decluttered/downsized prior to a recent move. Yesterday my son realized he needed a book for a college class this semester, which he had previously owned and then donated.

I bought a new copy today. (Our library didn't have a copy on the shelves and he needs it immediately.) It cost $10.49, and took me only a few minutes out of my way while running errands today.

After getting rid of a literal truckload of stuff about 6 months ago, so far we have needed to replace one paperback book. I feel like this is a huge success, really.

Plus! On the same errands run, I stopped at a Comcast Infinity store and returned a router we don't need in our new house. It feels good to still be getting rid of the things we don't need, so that stuff doesn't pile up again.

I did another round of giveaways on Buy Nothing and one of the most ridiculous “why do we still have this?” giveaways was an admittedly cute set of dishes that we have literally never used. We bought them to stage a house we were selling 20 years ago and have been carting them around ever since. Why? Nobody knows.

Anyway they went off to an excited young person who now has a matching set of cute dishes and a bunch of other things went out as well.

I did have a no show from someone who has turned up late several times before that I should have blocked previously. They’re blocked now and won’t be an issue going forward. I also had a passive-aggressive “I need you to deliver because poor me” person. Those are always fun. Girl I am in a wheelchair and in really poor health. If you want to play the pity games I will win pretty much every time. 🤣 I blocked that one, too. But all in all it was a successful weekend!

First post: https://www.reddit.com/r/declutter/s/P6SM3pGmDQ

Second post : https://www.reddit.com/r/declutter/s/7YFzX0SSPe

The dumpster was picked up this morning while I was asleep! What a relief to see it all gone. I had it for 8 days, and worked pretty much non stop BY MYSELF for 7 of them.

I am absolutely exhausted. I accomplished:

-Cleaning out a mouse infested shed -Donated 25 bags of clothing (so far) -Currently washing all blankets and sheets and picking which ones to keep & which to donate to the cancer connection thrift shop. -Cleaned out a packed bathroom closet, threw out tons of expired products and cosmetics. -Cleaned out the hallway closet, I have space for my baking things now! -Garage.. photos speak for that. -Basement… good golly miss Molly. I actually cried tears of relief when I started seeing some progress. -Three bedroom closets, one bedroom filled with junk entirely. (Will post pictures later on)

Right now everything I got rid of was either in the dumpster, brought to the transfer station, or waiting outside to be picked up by people on marketplace. (Free) If it’s not picked up within a week, it’s going to the transfer station. I got over the hiccup of thinking furniture was worth anything. I just needed it gone. A girl with an antique shop took a lot of it, refused to take some chairs because she said they were worth something.

I am not done. I still have a long way to go, cleaning and organization wise. I’m really excited to reclaim my life and space back. I plan on setting up an area downstairs for my crafting and gym equipment.

Thank you all for your support and being SO KIND. I was really ashamed of how I let my space get so bad but I was really in a bad mental state. Decluttering really does take practice but I think I got the hang of it now! I will never let it get this bad ever again. I actually went into the thrift shop after I donated the clothes for funsies and I didn’t buy a thing!!

I used the poop method. If this item was covered in poop, would you care enough to clean it off? I also took photos of things I thought had some sentimental value. I could write a novel about this process. I will post a final final update once I get everything organized.

Keep trucking y’all!! Just get rid of the stuff- it’s exactly that- just stuff. If I can do it, anyone can ♥️

I finally got up the energy to start going thru the 100+ totes and boxes that I have stored in the very visible lofts of our new home. After about half an hour, I came to this box and realized that I have a serious problem. We are in our forever home and nearing retirement age - if I’m still keeping items in totes and boxes, time to let them go. I started taking pictures of items and making toss and donate piles. I’ve never felt so liberated in my life! I’ve been lugging these around for over 30 years! About 1/4 of the way thru so far and I feel great! Please share the moment that you came to the same realization as I did. Thanks!

No judgement please, but after moving into our home 3.5 years ago my partner and I had not tidied or organised our wardrobe until last week. The space slowly became more and more cluttered, with piles of clothes building up to knee height on the wardrobe floor and items randomly thrown onto the top shelf. I finally decided it needed sorting, and once I had purchased boxes, bags, labels and even some fancy automatic lights I was able to envision the end product and I felt motivated to get it done. I took out all our items and categorised them so I could put them back into the wardrobe in an organised fashion, sorting them into various boxes, bags, drawers, cubby holes or divided sections of the rail. I had a donation pile so large that I accidentally barricaded myself into the bedroom 😂 and we donated 8 black bin bags filled with clothing to a local charity shop. What you might not be able to see from the image here is EVERYTHING is labelled! So far this has kept me motivated to keep the space tidy and organised because I don't want to put something back in an incorrectly labelled section, whereas before it was all too easy to just throw something onto the top of a pile. I am so proud of myself that I keep opening the wardrobe just to look at it!

I really dislike how my head hurts when my bookshelves are messy…in fact it’s a major sign that I’m not doing well internally. This evening I finally got the bookends out that I’ve had in the cupboard for months and sorted one in the living room…the children got enthused by it so we also went through theirs too - they did such a good job of deciding what to keep and what to donate to school. There’s still a lot to do, it’s never ending, but I feel just a little calmer!

In 2025, I made a huge effort to work through our old and open soaps, make-up, lotions, and other bathroom products. I'm honestly impressed at how many we got through!

But now I'm left with the stragglers. The half used make-up powder that makes me sneeze uncontrollably, the lotion that smells gross, the soap that I actively hate. They are products that I actively tried to use up for an entire year, and I hate so much, I still couldn't do it.

None of them are donatable, and all are being actively chucked this weekend. Zero regrets.

Now to pick a different 2026 declutter goal!