While I typically invite you to think rather than tell you what to do, it would be a dereliction of duty to deprive you of my favorite decluttering principle.
Rather than agonize over emotional, space, and financial considerations, I recommend a simple use standard. If I have not used it in a year, I free it from the confines of my home by repurposing it or performing an interment.
The Dispassionate Way
Remove the contents of a storage area and do not return them until used. After a year, dispose of anything not returned.
You can start by selecting one drawer or cabinet in your kitchen. Do you perish at the thought of not having eight spatulas, ten serving spoons, and different shaped platters for every occasion?
Every year, we spend a month at a well-appointed rental home in Florida with less than 1/3 of the stuff in our home kitchen. Despite the “deficiency,” my beach bod proclaims I never miss a meal. Our friend, an award-winning chef accustomed to a fully equipped kitchen with every conceivable gadget, cooked a wonderful dinner with the meager tools available during his visit.
We improvised, we made do, and the absence of any inanimate utensil did not diminish our dining pleasure.
You can replicate the process in your closet. Reverse the direction of the hangers (hook opening facing forward instead of to the back). When you wear the garment, hang it back in the usual manner (opening facing wall). One year later, donate anything that has not turned around. Someone needs that clothing more than you.
Too Far?
I do not suggest taking a hatchet to your possessions; keep all you use. If you never wear the same shirt twice, you could have 365 in your closet. If you only wear 40, what is the rationale for having more? It only denies someone who could use them.
My only concern is not having enough shirts to avoid too much repetition in my videos. Is this an irrational fear? Do you remember my attire any more than my words? Fortunately, the situation inspires creativity. That is why you have seen me in a Halloween costume, a towel, and Cathy’s bathrobe.
Do you ever hear someone truly regret releasing an object? If a brief, profoundly fond memory from many years ago associated with an object is the standard, you could justify keeping everything with the skeletons in your closet. Remember, the value is in the memory, not the object.
Tall Task?
With so many hangars, drawers, closets, and garages containing so much unused stuff, how could we hope to achieve the ideal uncluttered home? You have already taken the most crucial step by not making the problem worse by acquiring more unused stuff.
Approach the endeavor in whatever way works for you. Is it canceling a vacation and disconnecting from the grid for a week or attacking it a half hour at a time whenever the mood strikes? Anything done represents progress.
Despite my proclamations, last week’s video in my garage exposed how much work I have left. I may not eliminate the need for a dumpster, but it will be smaller than the one required when I started this process, and others now use my formerly languishing possessions.
If you want more specific advice, Google “declutter my house,” you will find thousands of results, such as Swedish death cleaning and experts like Marie Kondo.
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Despite writing 2,000 words over the past three weeks, I could pen 2,000 more (ask me about my uncle’s basement, my Turkish carpets, or my cousin’s self-storage units). No need to write further; I suspect you have enough stories to fill in any gaps.
I also realize the futility of written words for those who require spoken words from a licensed therapist.
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Put your possessions to the test. You will unburden yourself and benefit another.