How to Declutter When You Want to Keep Everything

Knowing how to declutter when you want to keep everything is hard. Decluttering can be uncomfortable. It can be difficult to know what to keep “just in case”. It can be hard to find the motivation or to remember why you were doing it in the first place.

I’ve never been one to feel deeply sentimental towards possessions or have a lot of hesitancy to get rid of things. But even with myself, there were certain things that I never thought to declutter or had trouble with and it was these 6 key mindsets and pieces of advice that stuck with me most and helped me declutter every area of my home.

Does It Spark Joy?

Of course I have to reference Marie Kondo and her book here who I credit a lot of my original decluttering origin story to. Her instantly-classic advice to hold each of your items and ask yourself if it sparks joy will forever be a staple for me. I’ve applied this mostly to clothing though I’ve also found it useful with sentimental items and home decor. And while it’s incredible advice, this mindset alone wasn’t enough for me to declutter EVERY area of the house.

Does It Lead To Decision Fatigue?

I’ve referenced this one before in my “How I Overcame my Shopping Addiction” post, but for me, this was huge. Do these possessions add stress or a sense of anxiety when I see them because it contributes to that decision fatigue?

Decision fatigue is the idea that we have to make hundreds, thousands, (millions?) decisions every day and when we have to make all those decisions, the mental stress of it all adds up leading to us feeling drained at the end of the day, overexhausted and overwhelmed.

So how can we minimize these decisions in certain areas of our life to avoid that monsoon of exhaustion when the sun goes down? For me, clothing was the largest contributer of my possessions that led to this, but it could also be things like shoes, jewelry, kids toys, kids clothing, hair accessories, nail polish colors, etc. So ask yourself as you go throughout your day, where can I make decision-making easier in my life?

Can I Repurchase for Under $10?

The biggest reason I hear people not get rid of something is because they MIGHT use it in the future at that big dinner party they’ve yet to host, or that birthday party they might throw in the future, or that morning where they’re inspired to serve unicorn waffles. I hear you. Nothing’s worse than feeling like you wasted money. But for certain items, let’s start challenging ourselves and really examining if we truly need it. And maybe if you still feel iffy on whether you’ll use it in the future, use the criteria of “can I repurchase/thrift this for under $10?” If the answer is yes, donate. If no, hang on to it for a little while, but keep a more critical eye on it.

If It Broke, Would I Feel Relief?

This one’s easy. If a piece of home decor broke, if an article of clothing ripped, if a kids toy fell apart, would I be upset? Or would I actually feel relieved? (For me, it’s the Play-Doh!) If you’d feel relief, pass it along. That should be a clear sign that you’re only holding onto this thing out of a sense of guilt or resignation.

Would I Move With It?

If you had to move to a new house tomorrow, would you go through the trouble of packing up this thing and paying with your time and money to store, lift, unpack, and reorganize this thing? No? You have my permission to donate (for whatever it’s worth!).

Does It Take More Time to Clean or More Stress to Store?

But Jessie. I actually do use this thing.

Ok, sure, but when you use it, or you more annoyed at the end of it because of what a pain it is to clean up? Is it so big that it takes up way too much space in your cabinets? Does it give you blisters or make your skin itch?

This is why I’ve hesitated to buy all the handy kitchen and cleaning gadgets. While they would be wonderful to use and maybe save me some time on the front end with cutting my vegetables or mopping and vaccuming at the same time, does it actually end up taking more of my time on the back end with how many pieces I have to clean, how many extra parts I have to store, or how much extra money I have to sink into it for replacement parts or solutions?

So if you’re finding yourself huffing from annoyance after scrubbing that super handy dandy kitchen gadget for ten minutes, maybe it’s time to let it go and put in the little bit of extra time on the front end to finish the task and avoid all the extra annoyance.

Have you used any of these in the past in your decluttering journey? What worked best for you? And what else is there that I haven’t mentioned that you’ve found useful in your own journey? I can’t wait to hear about it!

Happy simplifying and decluttering!