Background: I'm an avid thrifter who needs tall sizing, and I've spent a decade finding pieces that fit my body that couldn't easily be purchased new. I have 3 generously sized closets, a dresser, 4 bins of underbed storage, and 4 other large bins totally filled with clothes and shoes.

Now that I know I will be moving in 2 months to a place with much less storage, I've been trying to ruthlessly pare down to moderate success. Using some of the mindsets I've read here, this is the approximate progress I've made:

• 75 long sleeve shirts to 50
• 40 pairs of shoes to 25
• 70 t-shirts to 55
• 40 pairs of pants to 30
• 40 dresses to 25
• 35 skirts to 20
• 20 shorts to 10
• 60 coats/jackets to 40
• 30 sweaters to 20
• An uncounted number of scarves, belts, bras, handbags, swimwear.

Now, this is still clearly way more than a single person needs, but I'm getting to the point where it's getting really tough to let go of anything else.

Can you please tell me I'm doing okay so far, and help motivate me/suggest tips to keep going? My mom recently said that I shouldn't declutter too much since it'd likely be anxiety-driven about moving to a smaller space and I've worked so hard to find all these things, and hearing that really slowed me down!

Unrelated, but I'm a bit of a savant about my thrifted clothes: I know where/when I bought it, for what price, whom I was with. These memories, particularly the great finds while thrifting with my mom, have been a mental block.

Idk if this is the case for anyone else, but give me a couple glasses of wine & a trash bag on a Saturday night, and I’m ready to clear out!!! Suddenly my peace is more important than any stuff I’ve got lying around LOL. Anyone relate?

How do you get past the guilt of throwing away nice or expensive things? It's not about the money, I don't need the money and selling things is such a pain I just don't have the energy to deal with it. But for instance I have a hard tonneau cover that is in great condition, but I got a new truck so I have no use for it anymore and no one I know wants it. I have a motorcycle race suit, again in great condition, it just doesn't fit anymore. This thing retails for $1300. I just feel guilty throwing something worth that much (obviously I wouldn't get that much for selling it) into the dumpster. I would give them away on FB Marketplace but I don't have and really don't want to make a facebook account. So I'm not sure what I can do with them besides just throwing them away.

I don't necessarily have any goals just want to get rid of junk and declutter and be more minimal. I'm going to allow myself to have some things I like but limit them to a few instead of a bunch. I'm literally looking through my stuff and finding things I don't recognize. Some things that have been gifted to me over the years that are junk. At first I felt bad throwing them away. Then I thought you know I wouldn't be in this position if it wasn't given to me. I wouldn't have gotten it myself and no one around me wants them either. I want to give things away but this weekend isn't a good time and I don't want to hold on to these items with the idea that eventually I'll give them away.

Not a complete success story yet, but I am working on it. I started decluttering Thursday night by going through 2 cabinets and a closet in my office/dog room. I then started going through all of my clothes, throwing out what was stained or not in good shape, and putting most of what doesn't fit in laundry bags for goodwill. I am now up to 3 full laundry bags, and also have a large duffel bag full of other things to donate. I still have more to go through tomorrow, but I've pulled a lot of it out into the open so that I have to deal with it sooner rather than later. I am pretty sure my dog thinks I have lost my mind, but a few more weekends of this and I can start fresh.

I have three young kids and we are done having children, so one perk is being able to finally donate or resell clothes everyone has outgrown.

My mom held onto a lot of clothes from my childhood and gave them to me, but the quality of a lot of them is not great (think weird polyester pajamas with stretched elastic). Obviously I’m tossing those, and clothes from places like Feltman, I’m choosing to hang onto just a few. For everything else in between, what’s your advice for figuring out what’s worth keeping to possibly pass down?

I realize there’s no guarantee they will be used (or if my kids will have kids), so any advice for how to decide what to keep? I’d like to limit what’s kept to just one box.

I'm currently in the process of getting rid of alot of stuff and trying to declutter, since my shopping addiction has basically left my room a cluttered mess, but I'm finding it so much harder than I thought. I get anxious about "what if I need this in future" or "what if I regret tossing this?" and simular thoughts. I know my experience isn't unique at all but I don't know how to reassure myself it's for the best.

My husband and I both have ADHD and we have a lot of stuff. We have a lot of hobbies we cycle in and out of. We have a 2yo and I'm pregnant so we want to keep all our baby stuff. We also have a garage absolutely filled with I don't even know what. Oh and an attic too.

Circumstances have changed and we will be moving in just 3 months. Can't really take time off work and don't have family around to help.

Where do we even start? Going to get a skip (what's this in US, a dumpster you can rent? I'm in UK), mostly for garage and garden stuff, but we just have so much and so little time to do it all.

I follow Dana K White and have learned so much so I'm not too worried about the emotional side, just practically, literally where do I even begin, how do I approach it, I need a game plan! Help!

Story time! My New Year’s resolution was decluttering. My goal was to declutter an item a day, so I’d at the least have gotten 365 things out of my house. I set a daily habit on Hello Habit (an app) to “declutter” at 9 AM. I set the rule that I could put as many items as I wanted in my donation area on any day, not limited to one item. I also like data, so I started a spreadsheet to show what I was donating; I was curious what my biggest category would be, or if I had any trends I could identify.

On January 8, I gave up on tracking. Each morning, I’d look for something to give away, or trash, and that would take about 30 seconds. Then I would immediately see something in the same drawer, and put that aside, too. And then I’d realize, you know, I am uncomfortable in this itchy sweater, so it should be donated, too. I don’t have ADHD or anything, but I’d just catch the bug every time and realize I didn’t want to stop decluttering to update my spreadsheet.

What was I going to do with this data, anyway? I’d make one post here showing my findings, and then I’d forget about it. My time is better spent just continuing to declutter, post to my Buy Nothing group, and find better homes for the things I just don’t use. Before I stopped tracking, I had given away 45 items in just a week. My neighbors are benefiting from my huge clean-out, and I’m not slowing down.

Since the new year, when my husband goes to his mom's daily to get her mail in for her, he slightly sorts stuff from the basement, gets rid of mouse damage, and brings a box up for her to sort.

If there are dishes, he brings 1 dish as an example. She's already surprised at how much he keeps bringing. He has only been working in 1 closet!! The whole basement has her "collections". Not worth anything now. Plus she has cheap taste... 🙄 She's 90.5 yo. (We are on family farm, she's around the corner by car or across the field visually. She's only living alone bc we are here and her son checks on her daily. And she's stubborn! She can do her own care & heat a frozen meal.)

Today he told me he found a HUGE box of postcards. He took her 1. "I collect them." He put over 100 in a box to bring up for her to read and sort. He told me the box is still heaping full - didn't make a dent.

Then he told his mom, "You'll be dead before you sort through all of the postcards." Oh.wow!! 😲 This is the family that doesn't communicate but he communicated quite clearly today! 🤯

Does anyone else really appreciate curated, small collections? I find it a bummer when someone shows off massive collections as I feel it's no longer about having things that bring you happiness, it's about showing off how much money you spent. It also just doesn't look as nice. I love seeing peoples small, curated collections of whatever thing they're into, each piece selected for a specific reason. But when I see massive "hauls" or collections online it just starts to look like...stuff.

Just a thought I have as I've been very anti clutter for years and have recently started carefully, thoughtfully letting myself collect a couple things (physical movies and a certain small doll that starts with fadudu which also go with my existing weird creature collection). But I'm being sure to be mindful to only buy the ones that I will truly appreciate and enjoy AND have a designated place for.

My tip I'm sharing today as, I've been big on decluttering for a while, is to allow yourself a few things that you keep not because it has a function but because it brings you joy to see it. Then you will realize the clutter around it is distracting from the things you want to highlight, thus encouraging you to pair down and/or avoid buying things you don't truly love or need.

I'm finally doing the paper declutter I started and abandoned several years ago. I was working through the Marie Kondo method and got rid of a lot of books and clothes etc but found the paper decluttering to be endless and overwhelming.

I had a health scare last year that reminded me how short life is and to just get on with things I need and want to do. The paper clutter was making me feel overwhelmed, confused, anxious and depressed because it was lots of paper from old courses, unfinished projects, old bills etc. Stuff I'd not looked at in several years and didn't need but the process of going through it all always felt like a 'some other day' job when other things felt more important.

I have managed to work through lots of it in the past two weeks, I just have a few more drawers to go through. My recycling bin is already full and I've had to empty the shredder already. Our council gives us a small paper recycling bin and a big 'tins and bottles' recycling bin, I have fed back to them during their recent consultation that a big paper recycling bin would be much more helpful since the paper recycling bin gets full quickly of things like cereal boxes and envelopes etc. I think the small paper recycling bin was actually one reason I'd been delaying getting rid of all the paper (I can't drive at the moment due to an injury so I can't drive to the local recycling centre).

How do you deal emotionally with decluttering items you know you need to replace?

At the start of December, my family and I went through our kitchen, and basically did a whole clean out of everything to figure out what we didn’t/couldn’t use anymore.

Some of it was legitimately good progress, like the cooking pans that have bits flaking off, the wooden utensils, a cutlery set we don’t use, etc.

But one part in particular was a hard blow. We had a whole cupboard full of reusable water bottles, that has had to go in the trash, because they all grew mold. We’re talking 20+ bottles btw. Now matter what we did, we just couldn’t get rid of it (dishwasher, hand scrubbing, vinegar soaks, bleach, google hacks), so in the bin they went. Some of them were well over ten years old, so they didn’t owe us anything, but now we’re looking to essentially replace them all, and it just feels like such a waste.

Logically, I know, that interacting with mold is bad, so they HAD to go, but replacing them is going to be frustrating, and I’m trying to figure out how to get over that resentment and disappointment. Any tips? Also, if anyone has any brand recommendations, literally the only requirement is that it’s dishwasher safe. Thanks!

Someone made a post about vet bills and it was such a good question. I realized I've got whole drawers im avoiding decluttering because I have no idea what to keep, how to store it? Is there a good rule of thumb/resource/reference you use?

I am a little stuck with this phase of my declutter. I have all my yearbooks from high school and college. I never look at them but am conflicted whether to throw them. I also have about 20 + personal and old family albums. I don’t know whether to keep them as is or scan and toss. In total this is taking up a lot of space. Your thoughts appreciated.

https://www.reddit.com/r/LifeProTips/s/jI2mnwDWez

What hit me about this Life Pro Tips tip was when OP said they survived because they didn’t have a cluttered house!!! The firefighters were able to easily reach all parts of their house to extinguish the fire.

If you have too much mess and don’t know where to start, work on your entryways and your walkways inside your home.

Stay safe out there. Happy decluttering!

I just moved and after moving I realized how much unnecessary stuff I have. Especially clothes bc I find myself wearing the same things. When you recognize this and want to be more intentional about the things you keep, how do you tackle the mental battle of “I haven’t worn this that much” guilt and not feel “sentimental” about certain things? (Clothes or otherwise) I’m AuDHD so I am overwhelmed by the mental clutter but I tend to impulse buy. My goal this year is to eliminate a lot of that hopefully so any tips are appreciated.

Another issue I’ve run into is some things that are more personalized. How do you get rid of these things? One example I’m thinking of is a hoodie from when I played sports but it has my school, Jersey # and last name on it. Can I remove the vinyl? Or would you donate it as-is?

I decided to sort through my file folders today and I found a mountain of old vet bills, probably every single bill for every single vet visit from 2017 forward. I have absolutely no idea why I started saving them in the first place, it's just something I've always done, and Google wasn't much help, so I thought I'd ask you guys!

So, is there any reason I might need to keep the bills for my living cats? Half the bills are for cats who crossed the Rainbow Bridge at least 3 1/2 years ago and obviously they can go, but the bills for my living cats do detail the treatments they received, and that seems like it might be useful information. At the same time, that information would be in their medical files too . . .

What do you think?

I've committed to a no buy 2025 for clothes! I'm really excited to commit to it. Now I begin to declutter what I already have, however I find it really hard to clear out without feeling wasteful.

It's all the boring pieces, not the special/interesting pieces.

I have things that I don't use often (ie. so many plain colour t-shirts and long sleeve tees, scarves, pajamas) but I feel like I shouldn't get rid of. For example, I mostly wear black and white tees (useful for casual wear, office wear etc) but I have so many different coloured tees that I just don't wear, but then also feels wasteful to get rid of. Same with pajamas - so many old PJs that are still good in rotation but I don't need so many sleep singlets. Long sleeve tees - I live somewhere that's cold for 6 months of the year and have so many long sleeve tees, good for layers, but I only ever really wear the same 3-4 on rotation. But then it feels wasteful to get rid of perfectly good things! Like I feel like I should keep them for when the ones I wear all the time wear out. But realistically I should just get rid of them and then in a few years when I need to replace something, I can just replace whatever I need to.

Can anyone relate? How did you move past it? Thanks!

For instance - asking yourself if an item got extremely dirty - whether or not you would bother to clean it off.

Another that I like is that every item you own is another item to clean up.

Or- deeper than that. Thank you!

I have been decluttering for quite awhile, but am still not where I'd like to be. I want my kids to be able to clean their rooms easily and I'm tired of it taking so long (multiple days) to clean before someone comes over. I am getting better at letting go of things I am not using, but am still hung up on trying to sell things. I sell on FB Marketplace, Poshmark, and Pango. I price aggressively and give myself a week to sell it, but it still feels like it's slowing down my progress and the stuff stays in my house. For example, I have a pile of books and toys my daughter decided to declutter sitting around waiting for me to list. How can I get past this hang up with wanting to sell things?

I'm curious when do you guys declutter is it on the weekends or the weekdays. Do you declutter during the AM or the evenings. I usally declutter on the weekends if I'm not doing anything else. I've tried ti declutter after work even for 15 minutes and can barely do that.

Upcoming r/ChildofHoarder Discord Meetings – Join Us!

Hello, fellow COHs,

We’re excited to announce the next two upcoming meetings on our Discord server! These meetings provide a safe and supportive space to connect with others who understand the unique challenges of growing up with a hoarding parent. Whether you want to share your story, listen, or just feel less alone, you’re welcome here. We have two meetings every month.

Upcoming Meeting Schedule:

January 12th 2025 12 PM EST

January 21st 2025 8 PM EST

To join, simply hop onto the Discord server during the scheduled time: https://discord.gg/sePWHBapcs

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Take care, LBJ

Help! I have a ton of tank tops—spaghetti straps, muscle, tight/spandex, cotton, etc.—I still haven’t figured out the best way to organize them. I want them to be accessible enough for my ADHD to handle, while also being distinguishable. I don’t want to end up tossing them all into a bin or scattering them around, only to have a specific one buried or impossible to find when I need it. I just moved and have limited space so really need to figure out a functional way to declutter them.