After getting rid of things so frequently, my apartment is starting to feel more like a home than a storage unit. I had so much junk when I moved in 6 years ago and I only added more to it as time went on. During those years, I was in a depressive state of mind where I didn't have any energy to get rid of things, or I was too attached to said objects. My home seemed nice and organized until you looked inside the hidden areas. My 3 closets, kitchen cabinets, dressers, storage totes and underneath my bed became victims of excess amounts of stuff I haven't seen or touched in a long time.

I don't even remember exactly when I had started to purge items. I was slowly building up towards it last year and, then the beginning of 2026 I made a new years resolution to actually get my shit together. I slowly got rid of things and decided what to keep. After my cat died in August, cleaning and organizing became one of my coping mechanisms. I was full on purging endless 32 gallon bags of stuff. It took a lot of time and energy. I went from 3 plastic totes and 2 dressers worth of clothing, to an average sized stock of clothes. I no longer have to switch out seasonal clothing from the dresser to the tote under my bed. All of my bottom wear fit into 2 dressers and all of my tops are hanging on the closet rack without overflowing anywhere else.

These past two weeks, I got rid of a slow cooker, a floor gaming chair, an old iPod stereo, plus the contents of a plastic storage tote + the broken tote itself. The big main closet near the front door actually looks normal and somewhat organized. Beforehand, you couldn't even see the floor tiles in there. I can open it up without worrying about something getting jammed in between the sliding doors. Nor do I have to worry about things falling on my head. The cabinet under the kitchen sink is empty. There's a normal amount of stuff under my bed, which makes re-ranging it much easier. The junk drawers that once ruled a plastic dresser, not longer resides there. The random plastic cart drawer no longer contains random junk and is now my nightstand that holds useful things.

I no longer have dozens of unused cookbooks that I kept in totes and the rest are actually reside on a bookshelf. Still got a few more to purge, but I'll get to that later. I got rid of a lot of collectable items such as stuffed animals since they no longer provided me any enjoyment. The more I got rid of, the more stuff I uncovered and forgot I even owned in the first place. I found things that I was looking for years ago.

Despite making so much progress, it's just not enough for me. Yeah, I still have things to get rid of.

• I want underneath my bed to be completely empty. The one kitchen cabinet is like Mary Poppins purse and I don't even know what's in there because of how far back it goes.

• There's also a few smaller kitchen drawers that could use a good purging.

• I want my home to be a plastic tote free space and I still have 4 to go even though I constantly organized them.

• Getting rid of the small things that clutter up my bookshelf, computer desk and dining table.

I have pictures. Lots of photos that didn’t make it into a photo album and are just in the drugstore envelope from where they were developed. Probably most of these photos are random pics of people, places, pets and animals from my childhood.

I feel so overwhelmed I want to just take the Rubbermaid container to the dump without opening it. Will I regret this??

I feel sad because I am the only one living that will be able to reminisce about these photos. My parents passed away at a young age (53) and my grandparents have long since passed as well. I have no siblings. I feel like I will be throwing away memories that literally no one else alive will care about, no one will look at these photos with me and say oh yah I remember.

I have not looked through this bin for at least 15 years. My husband and son may look at them but I realize they really won’t be impacted by or care about what they are seeing. This bin takes up a huge spot in my living room and I just want it dealt with but feel too overwhelmed to even start looking at and sorting through it to keep a few good photos.

Has anyone just pitched a ton of sentimental stuff without going through it just to have it done with?

A while back I was thinking about how when you’re trying to change your habits you have to lean into things that don‘t feel great.

I’ve been applying it to decluttering. When I‘m looking at a container I haven’t used in forever, I’ll think “haven’t used it, but it’ll for sure come in handy at some point.” We all know that’s the trap… the possibility of usefulness keeps us weighted down with too much.

so I’ve been following up that thought with “Since I can see a possible use for it, I’m going to get rid of it.”

It’s been helping me donate and toss more.

Thanks to whoever mentioned the Space Saver Method YouTube videos here a few weeks ago... I've been watching the recent series and finding it really helpful.

I'm wondering if there's anything like that for dealing with digital clutter (decluttering and organizing email, dealing with files on computers / cloud storage / external drives / old backups, and so on) and physical papers/filing. I like the process of seeing other people navigating the decision-making, and ideally I'd like to see someone tackle the clutter of physical and digital spaces together.

I've posted here recently about my decluttering experience and how I've started doing it slowly.

I woke up this morning with no plans to declutter anything, only to realise that I've ended up decluttering three items!

• A chopping board – I'd just washed it and was putting it away when it broke on me.

• Toothpaste – I finished a tube as part of my project pan journey.

• Socks – I've worn them fewer than 10 times, but they've already ended up with holes in them.

Just a little highlight of my day! What makes it feel even better is that I don't have to replace any of these items.

Has anyone else found themselves decluttering things without even planning to?

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.

Interesting article on the our minds and clutter. And how to understand this in order to deciliter.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/11/opinion/clutter-spring-cleaning-psychology.html

By Emily Falk - a neuroscientist and a professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

Here are some parts that I found interesting:

"we feel that what is ours is good, and we increase the value we attach to objects, ideas and behaviors from our past."

"Such research helps make sense of why when I held my old notebooks, they felt like pieces of me — objects of real value that I didn’t want to throw away."

"One way to make change easier is to switch from the standpoint of possessor to buyer. Instead of asking, “Do I want to keep this?” ask, “Would I buy this today?” Modifying the decision-making framework allows a neural calculation in reward and self-relevance systems to shift, too. A teakettle becomes something you can choose — or not — rather than something you stand to lose."

"Another way to think about things from a different perspective is to borrow someone else’s eyes. In my team’s research, when we asked people to imagine another person’s perspective, it altered their behavior to be more similar to that imagined person’s. Brain scans show that taking another person’s perspective also changes our brains’ reactions to unpleasant situations and can even affect how we think of ourselves. When I showed my partner my old notebooks, he reminded me that he isn’t enthusiastic about storing musty old papers in our basement. He’s less sentimental because his brain doesn’t treat the old notebooks as part of me, as mine does."

Did you have spaces that felt empty when you finished decluttering? I certainly did! Just sitting with that sensation for a few days was a good suggestion from r/declutter

In one spot, I moved something into the (literally) empty space. Two other spots are still under consideration. There is no rush to make any decisions right now.

I just got into decluttering because my home became overrun with too much stuff, and unfortunately I still have too much. Anywho, every two to three years I do specific themes for each holiday. This year I threw away a good portion of my Halloween decor and props, but there's still some I haven't thrown out. I'm struggling to let them go, despite knowing they won't likely be used again or of they do, it wont be for years. Does anyone else still run into issues with letting things go?

Fighting a home-bounding disability, I can’t currently just drive to the thrift store and drop off things, nor drop off a sale item at the shipping store if I were to want to get cash for stuff. This has made decluttering very challenging and mostly the clutter just has to sit there.

I made a few bits of progress when help came in, finally getting a bin of donations out of my room. But now they sit in the back of my car, awaiting a driver. All those cutesy and plain tote bags I had plans to decorate and use.

Help came in and rotated my bins so I have three fresh ones to declutter these coming weeks. I’ve already cleared a gallon ziplock of easy peasy bye-byes. So much great progress!

Except yesterday, I needed a bag for library books to swap out. And I needed a bag for go-backs. And the one bag I bought which is really too big for anything could easily be resold to sit for awhile until someone decides to buy it, plus I do have other things to sell. . . And they are worth the time and effort to do so.

Ahhh! Do I dive back into the Pending Box of Regret that is now my trunk and try to find the bags I need for the occasional use, let them go to make do with other not as useful bags, sew the zippers on a few to make them really useful, or hold my nose and let them go?

The zippers are to keep contents contained vs. spilling out during turns and handling.

Aren’t we silly for holding on to things, finally deciding to let them go, and immediately finding their use afterwards?

Ideas?

Edit: Thanks so much for the insights! Writing out and reading my objections that have been playing in an endless loop for a week has helped me to close them so I can start the next round. “Get rid of it, no keep it! No, go! But I can use it! Yes you can just not now and it’ll be spoiled/old/broken by the time you can use it or so buried you won’t be able to find it-so either way you’ll just buy a new/used one.”

I have recently been trying to get serious about declutterring and have been searching for relevant content. I have found some helpful things and got a little momentum going but am wondering if there may be content (or content creators) out there that would apply to me / my situation better. The two ways that I struggle to identify with content I have found is:

First, I don’t ever have any trash to declutter. Sure, there might be a small pile of unsorted mail, but aside from that, trash always goes straight to the trash in my home. (This is not a point of pride or a judgment on people who struggle with trash, trust me, I have my own issues!) I feel like a LOT of declutterring content spends a lot of time on trash and I am just kind of left twiddling my thumbs through those parts.

Two, I don’t have children. I wish I did, but that is a post for a different sub. I have noticed that a lot of people who need help with decluttering do have kids and a lot of the “mess” tends to be kid stuff. Again, obviously no judgment, it just doesn’t really apply to me.

I know there isn’t magically a creator who EXCLUSIVELY helps people just like me, but if there are creators who lean more that way or specific videos or playlists you would recommend, I am open to all suggestions!

My issues are sentimental clutter and inherited items, too many decorative items that I truly love and want to enjoy, art and craft supplies that I intend to use (but haven’t), etc. I don’t actively buy or have a shopping issue except with clothes, so I am open to help with that as well.

Thanks so much for reading this far! Just put away 3 books that I got for Christmas last year and picked out 6 to get rid of to make room!

This has helped me immensely with "memorabilia guilt." These things do not automatically deserve to be kept just because I have held onto them for 20+ years. If it tempts me to feel bitter, it goes:

- The mobile my sister-in-law decided to make herself instead of gifting me the one I actually wanted, and then there was a whole to-do around getting it hung up.

- My solo ensemble and forensics medal and all the high school imposter syndrome they embody. I don't need mementoes from those "achievements."

- All the cheap holiday crafts that my neurodivergent kid didn't get into that I mostly ended up making myself.

- The mediocre ceramic plate I painted at a job that soured.

- College artwork. High school artwork. Writing I thought I would save forever. Anything that comes with a degree of embarrassment.

I can bin them, and it is okay. Sometimes I feel a little sad, but that usually dissipates, and the habit of decluttering gets reinforced.

I cut my sewing patterns in half by being brutally honest about whether the me of today will ever actually find time to make and sew those clothes. In my heart, I know the answer is "no."

Right now these things feel like a drop in the bucket, but letting go is becoming easier. And that is the real win.

Looking for motivational advice or suggestions, keep it positive please! I’m trying so hard.

6 months ago husband, 3 year old, and I moved in with family to save money to hopefully buy a house. Financially & emotionally it’s great! Clutter-wise, it’s atrocious. 3 adults, 1 teenager, 1 little kid in a 1,100 sq foot house with 3 small bedrooms and 1 working bathroom. The house needed a lot of work, so construction started when we moved in (this was *not* according to plan) so we also lost half our storage space in the house.

Title says it all. We decluttered 75% of our stuff moving in here, then realized it doesn’t all fit. I keep getting rid of SO much stuff only to feel like it’s a small, small dent in the mess.

If I didn’t have a small child, and everyone didn’t work full time, and we weren’t in an active construction zone (we’re months away from finishing), it would feel much more manageable.

Tell me what I need to do to *realistically* get all this done. Thank you!

I am very proud of myself for getting rid of a batch of Lego yesterday. I love Lego and have a massive collection but recently decided that I do not need to hang onto certain sets. Just making this decision took quite some time. So now I’m in the process of building those sets so I’ll have complete sets to sell. This is taking forever because of the massive collection. My plan was to just sell them myself but I decided that I’d rather take a lower dollar amount to just be done with them. So yesterday I took a bunch of sets to my local resale store and they took them all! And I only came with one tiny little bunny to add to my collection!

Where I live, anything metal disappears from the curb within a day. We have a number of scrappers patrolling our streets.

Electronics go quickly. Quirky items usually go fast.

A framed piece of art got picked up within hours. Two spare camping coolers lasted ten minutes.

Over the years, I have made a few curb rescues, myself. Nothing too memorable. It's fun to watch the whole drama unfold.

I have hit a bump in my decluttering journey. I am clearing out the space above my closets and came across my 2 kid’s cutest childhood tees. I originally saved them for their kids but at 30 and 43, childless and unmarried, I know it’s not going to happen. I feel sad getting rid of them although most I have photos of.
As I write this, I am getting my answer. I have photos, I don’t need the actual item. They are also vintagey (Pikachu) so someone will appreciate them.
So I think I will post on our Buy Nothing group first, take to a shelter next.
Edit to add: I have 2 kids, but more than 10 tees.

I just rearranged my room and threw out a large bed pillow, a Christmas decoration I didn’t like, a white board we no longer use and a small basket. It feels good and my space is neater.

This is from a UK mental health charity's section on hoarding. The relevant section is 'helping yourself'.

*I am not suggesting that everyone with clutter is a hoarder.* It may also be helpful with people who are trying to declutter, not with the strong emotional attachment. So may be easier.

so;

'Living with hoarding problems can be difficult. But there are things you can do to help yourself cope. 

Not everything might work for you. It's ok if you need to try a few things before you find what works best.

Starting to manage your hoarding

It's not unusual to feel overwhelmed if you're trying to cope with a hoarding problem. You might feel like helping yourself will be too hard or take too long.

If you don't know where to start, taking small steps can help you make good progress. For example:

• Set yourself small goals. Try something like throwing away 1 thing per day.

• Set a timer and try to tidy 1 area. Or you could limit the time in other ways, like listening to a set number of songs.

• Make a plan. For example, you might schedule 1 hour a week for tidying. Try to plan where your items will go, such as in the bin or as a donation. As soon as possible, try to make sure they go exactly where you planned.

• Cancel things like magazine subscriptions or put up a 'no junk mail' sign. This might help to stop new things coming into your home.

• Come up with some rules. Some people use the rule that if they haven't used an item in the last year, they'll get rid of it. Different rules work for different people, but these can help to make decisions easier.

• Explore new activities that don't involve buying or saving things. This could be going for a walk, watching a film or visiting a museum. You could also talk to people close to you about gift giving. Try to agree on ways of giving gifts that don't involve physical objects, like having a meal out.

Staying motivated

You might have been trying to manage your hoarding problem for a while, but sometimes feel like you're getting nowhere. Because of this, you may find it difficult to stay motivated.

Some of these tips might help you keep motivated and notice how far you've come.

• Find ways to track your progress. You could try taking before-and-after pictures of the space you've decided to clean. This can help you see how much progress you've made.

• Make things easier for yourself. This might include using a litter-picking tool to pick things up without touching them. Or start with an area you find easier to clear.

• Find support for related issues. If you're experiencing other issues alongside hoarding, it might help if you look into support for these. This could take some pressure off you. You might be able to find help in our pages on money and mental health and housing and mental health. Or our pages on mental health problems including depression, OCD and trauma.

• Celebrate your wins. Try going out with friends or watching a TV show you like when you've achieved any goals – no matter how small they may seem.

• Ask for help. You may have someone close to you who could help you. Sometimes just having someone to talk to before or after you clear can feel useful.

• Get practical support if you feel you need it. Hoarding charities such as Hoarding UK or Hoarding Support can give you free advice. They can also put you in touch with professionals, though you may have to pay if you'd like this type of support. And if you experience difficulties with hoarding, you may be entitled to a needs assessment by social services. For more information, see our pages on social care.'

The page then has sections on dealing with difficult feelings, keeping yourself safe and how to speak to others who dont understand.

There is a section of the website for 'Helping someone who hoards'

I'm so fed up. I'm at the stage that I just want to throw things away without thinking as the clutter is mentally exhausting me.

I've always had a problem with too much clutter but over the past 18 months, work and life have been even more busier and so no matter how much I try, I'm not making any headway. I simply dont have the time or energy to go through stuff.

Annoyingly, whenever I arrange leave from work to give myself focused time to tackle the mess, I become sick. My work is demanding and I end up doing extra hours.

As the only adult in the household it can be a struggle to keep up with things. Because of the state of the house, I rarely have people over. It's my child's birthday today and I want family over but having just one small usable reception, I'm hesitant. I could move all the crap temporarily into my box room upstairs which is already packed with things almost ceiling high.

I'm too ashamed to ask for help from family and friends but I'm also drowning mentally.

And yes, I keep buying more stuff and struggle to get rid of old stuff. It's a big reason for the mess I'm in. Please give me some advice to make a breakthrough.

Edit 1: Thank you all for your encouragement and words of advice. I wrote the post at 4am, got less than 2 hours sleep. Made birthday breakfast for my teen queen, now I'm in the middle of sorting that other reception room for my guests. I've thrown stuff out but only got about 2hrs left so I'm moving some of the stuff to my junk room so I can close the door on it for now. Wish me luck!

Edit 2: All you lovely people, thank you so much! I can't reply to every comment but I want to send you all a big virtual hug 🤗. Your responses have been so wholesome. I cleared the room to the point I wasnt embarrassed. My fam had a great time. It really is amazing how much you can get done when you have to. I even tidied another room and the landing all before school was out. I feel so much better. I also slept 12hrs last night lol and was out and about today. I love having this energy.

Taking in your suggestions, this is what I'm going to do since I don't have a car or too much free time:

1. Every day after work, fill a small bag of clothes to donate. Then next day take it to a clothes recycling bank which is a 10min walk away. Bonus is I'll also get more steps in.

I think waiting to fill black bags and then wait for charity collectors to take isn't a good option for me. I used to fill at least 4 bags so it's worth their time coming out but it also means I'm holding on and wasting space storing the bags. Filling smaller bags I can carry to the clothes bank locally is a more manageable approach. I hope I can stick with it.

2. I will most definitely throw some things out though, and do it guilt-free🤞Thanks for telling me this is ok. Sometimes we just need to hear it from others.

The impact on mental health due to clutter is so immense, even if it's not full-on hoarding. It's so hard to explain to people who don't suffer. I'm so glad we have this community on Reddit.❤️

There is plenty of post-decluttering content available. But it usually focuses on household management systems & putting a stop to shopping.

But someone said step three was Upgrade.

This is where I am now. Decluttering is done. Organization is done except for a bit of puttering. Thinking about how to make my space nicer. Paint will go a long way and we have it booked for the new year.

Marie Kondo talks about a point at which it all clicks into place and we realize we have the right amount of stuff. Exactly the right amount.

Can't say I have experienced a magic moment like this. But I have seen decluttering morph from a big project into something smaller and ongoing. I won't have the "right" amount of possessions until I upgrade a few things and make some decisions.

After a significant decluttering project, I am sitting in the aftermath and deciding what comes next.

Many of the gurus seem to blame shopping addictions and overconsumption. Was this it for you?

My clutter entered my home primarily on the gift and inheritance pipelines. Sentimental clutter would be next, followed by "someday" things. You know. . . Someday I might need this. Some day I will do this craft again. Etc.

We put an end to all gift exchanges in the family, with the exception of buying for children. We phased it out by drawing names at Christmas for a few years.

Would recommend.

Holiday Prep Declutter

I’m going to repeat some advice I’ve given here in the past. As a working mom with school-aged kids, we’re coming up to the time of year where things start accumulating exponentially and time starts running short. The following routine is how I make the holiday accumulation go smoother:

Clothes/Shoes: Over the next week or so, I’m going to go through my kids’ closets and drawers, getting rid of anything damaged/stained or too small. I’ll also review everything with them to see if there are any things they don’t like. We’ll make a donation pile.

Front Coat Closet: I’m also going to go through our front coat closet. Reassess if we need gloves and hats, if coats are too small, etc. 

This also helps if I realize they need something in these clothing/outerwear categories, I can let the grandparents and other relatives know, as they are always asking what the kids want/need!

Basement toy storage: we keep a lot of board games, miscellaneous art supplies, etc on shelves in the basement. Will do a quick run through and see if they would like to donate or get rid of some of these items as they have hardly been using them.

The above are categories of gifts my kids will receive, so I’m focusing on those areas to make room for incoming stuff.

Donations are made early December to remove whatever was decluttered above from the house!

——-

In addition to the above, I’ve done the following over the last bunch of years and it has really kept the clutter at bay over the holidays:

I designate an area of the basement to make my “staging ground”. I clear the area and set up a large folding table. (I highly recommend this if you have an area like a basement or garage which is easily accessible but outside your regular living space!)

Leading up to the holidays I use this nice open area for wrapping gifts. 

Then during Christmas week we always get TONS of gifts from relatives. I’ve tried telling them to cut back but they are rather insistent and it has become a burden. I know I’m not alone in this so really hoping this helps someone else here, lol…

Anyway, when we return home from seeing relatives I immediately put all of the gifts on the basement table. Like - literally car trunk straight to basement that night. If my kids want anything specific they can of course take it upstairs. But it really helps to have the boxes, bags and excess STUFF lined up on the table to deal with later.

A week or so after Christmas we kind of do a “once over” together. Clothes are gone through, tags removed on items we want to keep and those items are incorporated into my kids wardrobes. If there are clothes they don’t want, we start a new donation pile. We go through toys too. Anything they obviously don’t want gets tossed into the donation pile. 

Things they are on the fence about can stay on the table for a while, no pressure. As the next month or so goes by, they are free to take whatever items they want, often whatever is left for a while ends up getting donated. In this way, the clutter of the gifts is kept outside of our living space and items have to “earn” a spot in our home, without a rush to make that decision and without staring at boxes and packaging in my living room. 

I hope this process is inspiring and helps others in a similar accumulative stage of life!