The Ultimate Guide to Decluttering and Editing
There is a lot that goes into successfully getting organized. There’s decluttering & editing, space planning, the right layout, systems, materials to support said systems, and of course the maintenance/upkeep of it all. All of these aspects of home organization matter in equal measure.
However, there have been so many times that we’ve met people who are attempting (or have attempted) to get organized only find themselves unsuccessful at varying phases. And the very truthful answer as to why this is, is that they simply have too much stuff. That is solely what it boils down to. And there are a lot of people who think they don’t have a lot of (or too much) stuff. But, if your stuff can’t all fit comfortably in your space, then simply put— you do. There is no magical system or material that will organize you out of clutter. This tough love is the difference between between actually getting organized and not. If your goal is to get organized, you must work within the limitation of your spaces, whether that’s the square footage, a shelf, a cabinet, and so on and so forth. If you have more belongings than your space can store— you will never be organized. Furthermore, layouts, systems and materials can help create more space, however that is not the case 100% of the time; in fact, there are times when organizing materials actually eliminate available space. And we always say this is for the better, as the organization is more valuable than the space we’re losing when done right.
Getting rid of things is so much easier said than done. We humans put so much emphasis on our belongings and possessions. They represent our successes, memories, hard work, traditions, routines, comforts, interests, security and money spent to name just a few. And no matter how motivated or well-intentioned people approach decluttering and editing (our clients included), roadblocks are frequent. “What if”, “one day when”/“some day”, “that time when”, “costly/expensive”; we’ve heard it all. But I often say that the ability to own things has become more of a burden than the ability to afford or acquire them. It begs the question, “Why do we buy more than we need?” We live in a culture that pushes constant consumption, often leaving people overwhelmed by the excess they’ve created in their homes and lives. But these marketers, advertisers and companies are only half of the answer because ultimately we (the consumer) are the ones making the decision to purchase. So, looking inward, why do we do it? Asking this question can be difficult as it forces us to admit weakness and insecurities in our lives. But self-exploration is always worth the effort. Consider (and wrestle) with some of these possibilities: We believe possessions will make us secure. We think stuff will make us happy. We are more susceptible to advertising than we believe. We are hoping to impress other people. We are jealous of people who own more. We are trying to compensate for our deficiencies. We are more selfish than we like to admit. I’ll expand more on these ideas later in this article, but here are a few staggering statistics from Forbes:
The average American home size has grown from 1,000 square feet to 2,500 square feet.
Personal storage generates more than $24 billion in revenue each year.
Reports indicate we consume twice as many material goods today as we did 50 years ago.
All while carrying, on average, nearly $15,950 in credit-card debt.
Now, don’t get me wrong here: I am a consumer myself. I believe in capitalism. I make purchases. I love beautiful, well-made things. I love making my home my version of a comfortable place to live with things in it. We share products and things here that we use and love and recommend for you to purchase, too. The point of this all is that there is a balance to be achieved — known as conspicuous consumption, and when things are out of balance, that is when disorganization, clutter and excess occur, among others.
When getting organized, we must look at our possessions with a different eye than when we were purchasing or receiving it. When decluttering and editing, we must approach our excess with severity and committed action. And after getting organized, we must change our ways with vigilance— or we will continue to experience the same result. The point here is to live thoughtfully in your home and to truly enjoy it. You will be amazed at how easy it is to get and stay organized when you don’t own too much. Read more below for our ultimate guide to decluttering and editing.
Why Do We Buy More Than We Need?
Circling back to this from our introduction earlier in the article, there are many potential possibilities as to why we over-consume.
We believe possessions will make us secure. Our logic goes like this: if owning some material possessions brings us security (a roof, clothing, reliable transportation), owning excess will surely result in even more security. But after meeting our most basic needs, the actual security derived from physical possessions is much less stable than we believe. They all perish, spoil, or fade. And they can disappear faster than we realize.
We think stuff will make us happy. Nobody would ever admit they search for happiness in material possessions—we all just live like they do. As a result, we pursue bigger, faster, cooler, newer, and trendier things—all the while hoping we will become happier because of it. Unfortunately, the actual happiness derived from excess physical possessions is temporal at best.
We are more susceptible to advertising than we believe. Some studies indicate we see 5,000 advertisements every day. Every ad tells the same story: Your life will be better if you buy what we are selling. We hear this message so many times and from so many angles, we begin to subtly believe it. This is a call to realize their messaging affects us more than we realize.
We are hoping to impress other people. In a wealthy society, envy quickly becomes a driving force for economic activity. Conspicuous consumption is a phrase invented years and years ago—but it’s never been more prevalent than today. Once all of our basic needs have been met, consumption must become about something more than needs. Unfortunately, it too often becomes an opportunity to display our wealth, our importance and our financial success with the world.
We are jealous of people who own more. Comparison appears to be a natural state of our humanity. We notice what other people are buying, wearing, and driving. Our society encourages these comparisons. And all too often, we buy stuff we don’t need just because people in our friendship circles have done the same. But if you need nice things to impress your friends, you have the wrong friends.
We are trying to compensate for our deficiencies. We mistakenly look for confidence in the clothes we wear or the car we drive. We seek to recover from loss, loneliness, or heartache by purchasing unnecessary items. And we seek to satisfy our discontent with material things. But these pursuits will never fully satisfy our deficiencies. Most of the time, they just keep us from ever even addressing them.
We are more selfish than we like to admit. It can be difficult to admit that the human spirit is hardwired toward selfishness and greed, but history makes a strong case for us. Unfortunately, selfishness continues to surface in our world and our lives even today.
Excess material possessions do not enrich our lives. In fact, buying things we don’t need keeps us from experiencing life-giving and life-freeing benefits. Buying an item is only a fraction of the expense. Accumulating physical items requires space, time, and mental energy to manage, clean and organize. We would be wise to realize the cause and become vigilant in overcoming it. There is so much freedom in contentment.
Determining What Stays and What Goes
During the decluttering and editing process, you are deciding what to keep and what to get rid of. In order to properly declutter in phase one, you must touch every item and make a decision on it; push past the resistance and avoid delaying it for later. We know it can be hard to get rid of things, but when you hold onto items that you don’t like or use, you are perpetuating clutter, and when you multiply that single item by an entire household…. You see where we’re going with this. At the end of the day it will cost more energy to look at something and know you should be doing something with it, than to just take action in the first place. Decluttering is a process that is meant to help you live more intentionally in your home. This is the time to be a bit ruthless. The idea here is not to carelessly or thoughtlessly get rid of things just for the sake of it, to only to fill that space again. Decluttering’s purpose is to create space in your home, and the process is intended to show you and help you to live with less; and to purchase with intention moving forward.
As you try to clean out a space in your home, you may find yourself stuck, as many do. We’ve all been guilty of hanging onto things we don’t love or use. If you truly want less clutter in your home, but feel overwhelmed or resistant to parting with your stuff, you may simply be focusing on the wrong questions as you assess each item.
Unhelpful Questions:
Could this be useful one day?
Did someone give this to me?
Did I pay a lot of money for this item?
Did I get a good deal on this item? / Did I buy this on sale?
These questions are rooted in guilt, obligation and fear, and will provide you with the justification to keep just about anything!
Helpful & Clarifying Questions:
Does this item support my current values and priorities?
Is this item adding value to my life now?
Does this item fit in with the vision I have for my ideal home?
Does this item feel important and meaningful to me?
Would it impact my daily life not to have this item?
Is this item worth the space it takes up in my home?
Does this item energize or drain me?
Do I like this item? Is it useful to me?
These questions will help keep you focused on creating a space that supports your current goals and lifestyle. They are rooted in abundant thinking. The goal, of course, is not to be careless, or get rid of everything, but, rather, to remain focused on keeping things that are truly meaningful and functional for you in the present.
Bonus tips for making it feel extra good to get rid of your clutter:
When getting organized alone, we recommend clearing clutter from your home in manageable chunks – one small space at a time. Even if you limit yourself to cleaning out only the junk drawer, completing a job you start brings tremendous satisfaction.
Chances are, if your initial gut feeling tells you you don’t want it, don’t like it or don’t use it, then that’s telling. Lean into your intuition!
Chances are, many of the item you are ready to part with can be useful to and loved by other, and there are meaningful ways to make that happen. Reach out to a friend, family member, or connect with a local non-profit or charity that can benefit from your donations can also prove helpful and motivate you to let go of more while helping your community. A win-win.
Create a Pinterest board of your ideal space. When you get stuck in the editing process, use the board as a reminder of what you are trying to create. If you keep the destination close, the journey of decluttering will feel shorter and less fraught with anxiety.
Getting Rid of Your Unwanted Items: Sell or Donate?
How do you decide what to sell and what to donate? Between all the options available, your clutter could turn into cash. But, is it worth the effort? It depends. Depending on the type of item that you are selling, the juice may or may not be worth the squeeze. When deciding whether you want to sell or donate, check in with your current priorities and pick whichever option most aligns with your values. Values and priorities can shift – do whatever feels best to you right now. The most important thing is to make a final decision and then take action. Decide and do it!
Things to Consider First
Time or Money What do you need more of in your life right now – time or money? For someone who’s maybe a bit younger with more time and eager to earn extra money – even an extra $20 feels like a major win no matter how much time it took to earn it. However for someone who works full time, and/or has a family and a packed schedule, time is the resource that feels more scarce, and therefore more valuable. I’m sure some of you would actually pay to have more time in your day. Because of this, it may not be worth it to sell unwanted items. In that case, I suggest donating (and not looking back or lamenting the sunken cost- onwards!).
Current Value Most people overestimate the value of their belongings and are shocked to learn how little they will earn by selling them. Most consignment stores sell your clothing for a third of the original value and then give you roughly 50% of the selling price. So a sweater you paid $100 for will be sold for about $33 and you will make about $16.50 if that sweater sells. One option is to opt to take the time to list and sell only your high ticket items. To do this, decide what potential dollar amount is worth your time, and only sell items that will sell for that amount or higher – i.e designer bags, or new-with-tags items in original packaging. You can also pick and commit to a specific number – i.e “Items I can get $100 or more for I will sell – everything else will be donated.”
Ways To Sell
Online There are so many apps, platforms and sites available to sell your used, no-longer-treasured items, and I think this is such a great way reduce waste, free up that surface real estate in your home we talked about earlier, and of course, make money selling things that are ready for a new home, but only if you’re up for the task and find it to be worth it. For things like furniture, antiques, collectibles, clothing, shoes and more that you want to sell online, photographing the item, inputting item details, managing the listing and negotiating pricing could end up taking a lot of your time. There’s of course Facebook Marketplace (locally-oriented, but you can ship on here too); you can also explore selling on eBay, Mercari, LetGo; and for clothes: Poshmark, ThredUp, Vinted and The Real Real, among others.
For those interested to go the selling online route, you’ll want to include these details in the listing. Having this information on hand will make the process smoother and avoid a lot of back and forth/follow up during the selling process, which can add extra time to the process and make your clutter stay in your home longer than necessary.
Take clear photos from multiple angles
Document and disclose any signs of wear and tear or damages
Provide as many details as possible, including color, dimensions, style or item #, original retail price
Provide clear pickup instructions (i.e. available only for pickup on X date at X time; available for delivery within 20 miles for an additional $25; cash only, etc.)
In-Person For items that you want to sell in person, consider the time it takes to load your car, drop off items, and then create a plan for what to do with any items that are not accepted or successfully sold.
Furniture & Housewares: Local furniture consigners include Treasures (Old Lyme), Past to Present (Niantic), and Vintage Home Decor (Centerbrook). Facebook Marketplace makes it easy to list online and sell in-person with no listing fee. You will need to take pictures of your items, list a detailed description and coordinate a time for the transaction to take place. Just remember you’ll have to deal with hagglers, no-shows, and sometimes spam or scammers when you post online. Make sure it feels worth it.
Clothing: You can sell brand name clothing in great condition at your local consignment store. Most stores give you 50% of the selling price which will be well below the retail price you paid. You’ll need to drop off your items, fill out a form, and then remember to check back in to see if your items have sold. Local clothing consigners include Fantasia (Old Saybrook), Cinderella’s Attic (Madison), Marijane Boutique (Guilford), Tova’s Vintage Shop (Old Saybrook). You could always go the traditional route and have a yard sale.
And if the end goal is to just rid your home of clutter, there are so many donation spots to either come pick up your clutter or for you to drive and drop off so that it’s out of your house immediately.
How to Donate
You can bring items to centers like Goodwill, Finders Keepers (Old Saybrook), The Estuary (Old Saybrook), Habitat for Humanity ReStore, Pandemonium Thrift Store (Deep River) which are quick and easy ways to facilitate those donations, as well as meaningful and community-based. You can also explore these alternative options:
Thoughtfully offer specific items to family or friends. You can offer specific items to people that you think they would like. Just be sure not to push anything onto to someone with the expectation that they have to take it.
Post items on your local town or “Buy Nothing” Facebook group for free. To make things as streamlined as possible, post a grouping of items where the recipient has to take everything (instead of listing and coordinating pickup one item at a time which will end up taking up a lot of your time).
If you’re looking for help with a home organization project, learn more about our organizing services and filling out a project inquiry form (at the bottom of page). We look forward to hearing from you and the opportunity to work together.