I’m at that point in my life where friends turn to me for advice on things. What things? Anything. Everything. If I don’t have an answer, I probably know who does. To be fair, I’ve been at this point for years. Decades even. I’m famous (infamous?) amongst my friends for creating systems to keep things working.
In my defense, it’s all in my defense. My memory and attention are often scattered. (Example: I came upstairs to add something to the Amazon cart to consider, but forgot because when I sat down I saw that I’d left this blog post open for me to do today and started working on it before the Husband walked by and I remembered I was supposed to add the thing to the cart.) I have a stack of one, baby. If I don’t write it down or come up with systems, things don’t get done.
One of the most recent questions/requests for help was about decluttering for a move. I’ve been public about doing a series of decluttering rounds throughout the years, and how I’ve learned something new on each one. I’ve tried different methods. In the end, I’ve chosen the bits and pieces that work for me and come up with my own series of questions to winnow down my household.
- First and foremost, what is the reason I want to keep this? (Remember that “Because I want to” is always a valid answer.)
- Is this trash / expired / broken? (Yes? Easy toss.)
- Can I replace this for $20 or in 20 minutes or less?
- If this was covered in goopy shit, would I toss or wash it? (As in literally covered in feces.)
- Would I rebuy this?
- Have I used this (or even wanted to use this) in the last 6 to 12 months?
- Is this pretty, useful, or sentimental?
- If yes…Am I keeping this out of guilt? (Gifts you never use, inherited items you don’t like/want)
- If yes…How do I feel when I look at this? (If you feel terrible, you probably want to get rid of it.)
- Apocalypse question (physical media): If the apocalypse happened, and this was the only way I could consume this…would I miss this? If the answer is yes, keep.
Also, I find asking myself these different questions in the different ways gets to the heart of why I have something, want to keep something, or don’t. Now that I’m older, I don’t look for reasons to get rid of something, I look for reasons to keep something. It’s a subtle but important difference in mindset. Number 3 is very telling for me. I want to want/love everything I have. If I can’t do that, at least make it a necessary evil.
I hope this is useful to anyone who just wants to make sense of their belongings.
