Make Decluttering Practical Instead of Emotional to Beat Decision Fatigue

Here's the problem that can make decluttering feel like an ultra-marathon of decision fatigue....

When you pick up each item and ask "Does this make me happy?" you're suddenly confronted with all of the stories and feelings attached to that item.  Especially if you've owned things for a while, you inherited them, or you're in your empty-nest years, you have plenty of memories and emotions attached to your belongings.

Ask a different question.

Instead, ask yourself "Where will this fit?"  If the shelf in your linen closet will hold six bath towels neatly and comfortably, make that your "towel cap."  If the shelf in your kitchen will hold eight mugs without having to cram them in or play a frustrating game of Jenga, that's your "mug cap."  If your new, empty-nest-sized living room has space for a love seat and two easy chairs, it's time to donate or sell that huge sectional.

None of these decisions are emotional.  They're all about practicality.  You don't want to stuff in more because you "might need it someday;" you want to be guided by what fits today.

Don't worry that you'll have to trash your beloved memorabilia.  Instead, you'll choose the best, most representative items that can be attractively displayed or easily stored in your home, and the remaining items can be passed to other family members, sold, donated, or recycled.  You'll be left with the best of the best, and all of those wonderful mementos will surround you every day, instead of being shoved into the attic or left in off-site storage to molder away.

How I did it

Let me give you an example of the process I went through when I pared down a number of meaningful keepsakes while making what I kept easier to enjoy whenever I choose.

My grandmother wrote me approximately once every month or two from the time I was about 10 years old until several months before she passed away in 2005.  That's more than 30 years' worth of letters!  There were many I did not keep after I wrote a reply, but I still had several dozen when she died.

This correspondence was a lovely thing that Grandma did, and I knew, for all of those decades, that even though we only saw each other once or twice a year, she was thinking of me very often.  But truthfully, almost all of the letters were about the weather, or how her chickens were laying, or how her garden was coming along, or something about a trip to town, a service at her church, or a visit from one of my uncles or cousins.  Grandma was not a highly-educated or well-traveled person – she was simply a wife, mother, and grandmother with an 8th grade education, born on a California homestead in 1914.

I realized that it wasn't really the content of her letters that meant so much, but just the fact that she had taken the time to write and send them.  I'm not ever going to forget that!  So I was able to find one letter in which she told me about her experience of conversion and her life as a Christian, and a bit about what it meant to her.  I kept that one letter and put it in a scrapbook next to a 1950 photo of her, my grandfather, and their six children (my mom was the oldest).

If I had done what so many of us do, which is to keep everything, put it in a box with some other stuff, and then store the box somewhere, I would not be able to access this letter with such ease.  In fact, I might not be able to access it at all, especially if I were in the habit of keeping every card, letter, child's drawing, wedding invitation, thank you note....  I might not even remember what I had kept.  It would just be boxes and boxes of – let's be honest – junk.

Instead, if you were here at my home today, I could get to Grandma's letter in about one minute to show it to you.  That's because it's really easy to store my two scrapbooks on a shelf.

The benefits of less

When we keep only the most useful or meaningful items, we gain much more than space.  Now everything we own has a purpose.  The towels, mugs, furniture, and keepsakes we retain are well-used and meet our needs perfectly.  Each item has a place to belong and is easy to access and put away, which also makes homecare much quicker and simpler.

The next time you feel bogged down by decluttering, stop and check what's going through your mind.  If "Do I love it?" or "Does this spark joy?" is the question you're asking most often, try something different.  "Do I need this?" and "Where will it fit?" may be far more effective in your quest for less.

Related article:  How Reverse Decluttering Can Work Wonders for Your Home

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