Blog post: 5 decluttering methods you haven’t tried (but should!)

[tanaqui]

Jennifer at Simply + Fiercely has written a great blog post with 5 "non-standard" approaches to decluttering. It's a really fun post with some interesting ideas. (She also discusses why "standard" approaches don't work for her.)

https://www.simplyfiercely.com/decluttering-methods/

Comments

[the_broken_tower]

I'll have to think about what helps in decluttering the local apartment.

So far, a lot of it does come from minimalist preferences and keeping things either in a designated, accessible place, and in an obvious place if they're used regularly. Over the years people have gotten a lot more willing to let things go even if the items could be used eventually. If it's in a place where it's used regularly, and you're seeing exactly how much time it takes for in-use items to be used up, it becomes a lot easier to decide to trash or donate what isn't being used. Or avoid getting more of it until the stash is depleted.

The apartment is still going through a soap stash started in 2017-ish (really). The unusable ones or overly-perfumed ones have been trashed. What's left is being used to scent drawers or as hands soap. We won't need to buy any for another year or more.

As that's been going on, decluttering has become less of a huge event and more something that's done casually. When the realization comes that an item isn't going to be used and is just taking up space, it goes in the trash without much ceremony.

This is a little more fitting with the 'unusual methods', but wanting to support local makers has helped avoid the accumulation of Stuff. Frex, it's nicer to have a couple bottles of nice olive oil from the oil shop in old town and come back every couple months to restock, than buy a larger bottle from the grocery and still want to get the fancy artisan kind. Only having a couple at a time makes them feel more special, too.

- Tern (he/him)

[shreena]

I think something that isn't talked about as much as it should be is identifying where your clutter comes from and stopping it at source.

I have implemented a few things in this space:

My mum has a tendency to turn up with a huge amount of random stuff - I put it in one spot, go through it within a day or two and just get rid if I don't want it

When the kids go up a clothing size, I get rid of/store the previous size straight away

When I buy Christmas and birthday presents for the kids, I identify and remove things beforehand so there is space for the new stuff

[adafrog]

Neat article. Thanks.

[vysila]

Nice article. The psychology behind hanging on to things and then trying to get rid of them is fascinating. She had some really good suggestions.

I am inadvertently using one of her methods, the inconvenient one. Moved some furniture around and put a small table against the sofa because I wasn't sure where to put it. And now it is in the way every time I want to use the sofa, so am realizing that this small table can just go away. It is not needed in my space.

[vriddy]

Those tips and ideas were really interesting, thank you for sharing the link!