Decluttering Help: The One in, One Out Rule

Clutter busting is a necessity in maintaining an organized home. Things can accumulate, multiply and pile up in the absence of active clutter busting. 

Our decluttering help articles give you tips, motivation, and small places to begin on what may be a little clutter stash or a huge hoarding issue.  Whatever your level of severity as a  hoarder, we can help you declutter!

Today, we’re going to focus on staying clutter free after you’ve put in the time and effort to declutter your home. This little rule is something I call the “One in, One Out” rule. How does it work?

Basically, for every new item you bring in to your home, you have to take one out. Give it as a gift, donate it to charity or put it into the garage sale/eBay box. It doesn’t matter where it goes, just as long as it goes!

More Clutter Help: Simple Decluttering Criteria for Clothes

Identify your top clutter areas and use the “One in, One Out” rule for just these areas. If the clutter level in your home is high, you can use the "One in, Two Out" rule to get things under control even faster. 

For example, if the kids’ toys and mom’s shirts are 2 things that are overabundant in your house, first pare them down. Once you get to the right number, the only way to keep it at or close to that number is to enforce the decluttering rule.

When you’re thinking of buying a new toy or shirt, think to yourself, “Am I really prepared to take an old one out and donate/sell it?”

More Clutter Help: Declutter This Today: The Bathroom Closet

Talk to your family and make sure everyone is on the same page. Only pick 2 or 3 areas to start with and make sure everyone knows what they are.

It will take a little reminding and a little getting used to, but even this small rule will get your children thinking about material things in a different light. They may think twice about asking for a new Elmo toy if it means they have to give up one of their other toys!  For help with this, read Minimalist Mom: Decluttering with a Big Family.

You may that this decluttering rule it helps eliminate the “more is better” attitude so prevalent in our society and teach them to value what they have.

The “One in, One Out” rule will help you to keep your fantastic results after decluttering by maintaining the level of your stuff. We don’t want our possessions to be in charge of us!  Just getting started on your decluttering project? We’ll keep you making forward progress.

  Next, you’ll want to read Declutter Your Closet: Why is it So Hard to Let Go of Clothes?

We originally published “Clutter Busting: The One in, One Out Rule” on March 16, 2008 on Home Ever After.  Now, it’s linked up to Works for Me Wednesday and 11th Heaven.

Wouldn’t you like to have more time this summer to enjoy yourself?  Would you like to have time to play with your kids, go on neighborhood walks, go fishing, go to the beach, have family bbqs,  or go to the park?  Maybe you’re dying to take the family on a summer vacation.  But who has time for all those things? 

How much free time do you really have on the weekends?  Just because it’s summer time doesn’t mean your life is any less busy than the rest of the year.  Between summer camps, the kids’ summer sports, work, dishes, laundry, and other necessary home chores that keep our families dressed, fed, and clean, who has time to schedule fun activities?

If you’re like my family, having time to play in the summer is a huge priority.  We live in Alaska and are stuck indoors all winter long, so making the most of our short summer months is really important to us.  At the same time,  your weekends may be busier than your weekdays.  Just because you have the day off work doesn’t mean you don’t have a dozen projects at home on your to-do list that you haven’t had time to start yet. 

The Connection Between Possessions and Freedom (Things and Time)

There is a concrete relationship between the things you have (or possessions) and the free time you have (freedom).  For example, buying a bigger house adds extra bedrooms and bathrooms that have to be cleaned.  The more toys your kids have, the longer it takes them to clean up and the longer it takes you to help them organize.  Finding places for all of our things is tough.  The more clothes your kids have, the longer it takes you to sort through what’s too small, wash and pack it all away, or try to sell it all on eBay, or take it to the donation drop-off.  Plus, then you still have to dig out the bigger clothes from the garage for them to grow into.  Since your garage or shed is probably packed full, it will probably take you quite a while to accomplish that task too.

You see, any way you look at it, more stuff = the more time you have to give to your stuff.  Less stuff means you have more free time to spend doing things you enjoy, whether it’s an outing to the playground with your kids or just having a Saturday morning to have coffee with your spouse. 

Do you want to spend more time with your stuff or with people and on activities you choose?  We already know the answer.  Choosing time over stuff is the easy part.  The hard part is letting go of the stuff and emptying your house so you have more time.

Start With a Good Declutter – And be Ruthless

So you want to have more time this summer?  Start with a good declutter of your house, and be absolutely ruthless!  This means using some very strict guidelines and getting rid of at least 10% of your stuff.  10% might seem like a lot to give up at the outset, so let’s break it down into simpler terms.  Have 20 lipsticks?  Get rid of 2.  See?  That wasn’t so bad!

Pick a spot in your home (the middle of the floor in your garage is a perfect spot) to start building a mountain out of all the decluttered items. 

Now, I realize decluttering is challenging because it can be difficult to let go of your stuff.  I’ve been through the decluttering process many times and it goes much better if you have a good plan in place.  Here are a few tips for different kinds of decluttering that you might find helpful:

• Decluttering the Bathroom Closet
• Declutter Your Closet: Why is it So Hard to Let Go of Clothes?
• Simple Decluttering Criteria for Clothes and Criteria part 2
• Declutter by Returning Borrowed Items
• Clutter Busting: The One in, One Out Rule
• Decluttering All The Paper – Week 1, Week 2 and Week 3
• Decluttering with a Big Family

Next Comes the Garage Sale

Take all your decluttered items and smile!  Your house is about to get emptier.  First, sort all your items that you intend to get rid of into what can be sold at a garage sale and what needs to be thrown in the trash. 

One big, heavy duty garage sale should do wonders for clearing out all the unneeded items as well as bringing in a little extra cash for your efforts!  Plan your garage sale and get it listed on Craigslist for free for extra traffic.  It helps to take pictures of some of your big items and put them in your garage sale listing with prices. 

After the garage sale is over, its really up to you what to do with the leftovers.  Do you have the stamina to have another garage sale with the leftovers?  If not, find a place to donate your unsold items, such as Goodwill or a local homeless shelter.

Evaluate Your Progress

Did you really declutter enough?  Is there a remarkable difference in your house that you and your family can both feel?  If you still feel congested in your home or find yourself spending time looking for things or moving and organizing stored items, it’s time to go through the house for yet another purge.  Remember that each item you give up now gives you extra time to spend with your family doing things you actually want to do!

Remember the all important 1 in 1 out rule so you make your progress and your clean house permanent.  Good luck on your decluttering process, and enjoy all the extra time you just freed up this summer!

With every round of decluttering, I longed to be rid of all the items surrounding me and have a clear, mostly-empty house.  Every time I decluttered, I sent tons of bags to the recycle, the thrift store, and the trash.  How, then, did my house always still feel like it was swallowing me up and tapping all my energy?

There is a word that I was trying to work towards, I just didn’t know what it was called.  It’s called minimalism.  When I told my husband each time, “I just want everything gone,” I didn’t know that I was really telling him I was crying out for a minimalist lifestyle.

I’m a minimalist mom trying to strike a balance between big family functionality and a peaceful and productive house.  Is that even possible?

Is It Possible to Be a Minimalist With a Big Family?

Is it possible to be a minimalist when you have a large family?  With myself, my husband and four kids in the house, it seems someone is always bringing more items home.  As fast as we declutter, more junk shows up to be dealt with.

Then, add to the mix 2 babies and a toddler and all the large specialty gear that comes along with those ages.  Add loads and loads of laundry due to 3 kids without full potty training.  Toys, bottles, board games, trash, strollers, books, clothes to hand down, clothes to grow into, decorations for every holiday, craft supplies, homeschool supplies, still-packed boxes from a move 6 months ago, items which didn’t sell at the last garage sale…

Does this list sound familiar?  Are these things choking your house too?

While having young children does add a lot of stuff you must keep around until it’s outgrown (car seats, bouncy chairs, play gyms), you can still set reasonable limits and make sure you don’t duplicate gear or keep too much of one thing. 

As the household manager, it’s your responsibility to set limits for what can be in your house.  Just because there is room for more stuff, it doesn’t mean that empty area should be filled up.  This is often the hardest with kids, who seem to accumulate clutter like magnets.

How Do I Get My Kids to Declutter?

First of all, you’ll need to set limits for each person and space in your home.  It can be a simple limit for your teen, like all  makeup has to fit in one cosmetic organizer.  Or that your kids’ dress up clothes all have to fit in one dress up bin. 

Once you set these space requirements for possessions, it becomes your kids’ responsibility to declutter (with your teaching and guidance in the beginning).  They must make sure everything fits it its own space. 

If they want to get something new, they’ll have to get rid of something old to make room for it.  The kids will be deciding what stays and goes to stay inside their limits, so they can’t blame mom or dad for getting rid of all their “favorite stuff”! 

Start teaching kids to declutter at a young age and they’ll develop an attitude of appreciation for what they have, not a craving to accumulate more and more.  When they have to be responsible for making choices about items, they’ll be less likely to ask for new things every time you go to the store.

How Do I Streamline the Necessary Items for a Big Family?

While you can’t cut down to the absolute bare bones when you have a lot of kids, it is possible to streamline your house and its processes to free up your time and space. 

Laundry: Laundry is a huge space and time sink if you don’t set limits.  The old “1 outfit per day” rule is a great starter for those with tweens and teens. This means they need less clothing in their closet as well.

Assign each child a beach towel for their bath towel.  Have them hang their beach towel up to dry after their bath instead of going into the laundry every time.  This trick cuts down significantly on the loads of towels you’ll have to wash each week.  Plus, you just eliminated the need to own more than a handful of bath towels for your kids.  My family has 4 kids and we have only four bath towels in their bathroom.

Dishes:  Assign each child a special cup, sippy cup, or water bottle each day that they can have their drinks in.  It’s up to them to make sure their cup is rinsed after drinking from it so the same cup can be used for a whole day.  If each person in the house only has 1 drinking cup per day, your dishwasher’s loads won’t fill up as quickly. 

Plus, you won’t need to own stacks and stacks of kids’ cups if each person has only 2 (1 to use for a day, 1 to use for the next day when the first one is in the wash).

It is possible to have a minimalist outlook towards your possessions, even if you’re a mom with a big family.  Remember that just having more things doesn’t make people happier.  If you have 50 board games but the tall stacks make them so hard to get out that you always tell the kids no to game time, it’s time to trade in some things in favor of people.  Happy decluttering!

There are a certain number of plastic bags my family has to keep because we use them in the diaper pails and small trash cans.  Remember when I showed my new plan to save money on trash bags?  It worked like a charm and we whittled down our grocery bag stockpile.  Then, I just needed to find a more compact way to store my plastic grocery bags.

Previously, I used a slimline white plastic trash can to store only plastic grocery bags.  The system worked alright, but most of the time it was completely full and overflowing.  The bags were so puffy that the lid just wouldn’t stay closed.  Then I came upon a storage container called SimpleHuman Upright Bag Holder. 

At right, you can see the difference in size between my old container and the SimpleHuman container. 

The SimpleHuman bag holder is quite a bit smaller, and it’s so compact that it can sit on a shelf or countertop.  I’ve now got it tucked into the spacenext to my microwave on the kitchen counter, which is space that would have been wasted anyway. 

It’s stainless steel and has openings both on the top and the front so that it’s easier to put the bags in and get them out.  I wanted to see if the SimpleHuman bag holder could really store as many bags as my large container, so I challenged my son to move them over.  He got to work…

…and what do you know?  All the bags which were in the large white container fit into that tiny stainless steel one.  There is definitely something to say for confining stored items.  I found out a little later that SimpleHuman also makes a bag container similar to this one which mounts on the wall.  I’m thinking of getting one of those to hang on the wall in the pantry for when they’re needed in rooms other than the kitchen. 

I’m loving this handy plastic grocery bag storage solution (which we call the bag hutch – the kids love it)!  What have you found to corral your plastic grocery bag clutter?  Let us know in the comments.

Cut Down the Grocery Bag Clutter is linked to Works for Me Wednesday, 11th Heaven, and Tackle it Tuesday.

Disclaimer:  This post has no material connections.   ISWM may or may not make money from anything you see, read, or click on our family of websites, including affiliate links. 

Today’s chore is to declutter your bathroom closet.  It’s fast and easy to declutter a bathroom closet, and you know you’ve been meaning to get that closet cleaned for quite a while!  If you don’t even know where to start, don’t worry.  Whether you’re a hoarder or just haven’t kept up on your organization, our step by step directions below show you exactly how to declutter a bathroom closet.

How to Declutter a Bathroom Closet: The Quick Version

Get the old clutter out of the bathroom closet!  It’s time to pare down the contents to what you actually need to keep in the bathroom closet:

• The items you use on a daily basis
• The items you use weekly
• The items that belong in the bathroom but rarely get used

We’re not cleaning today, just decluttering and getting rid of things you’ve been hoarding in that bathroom.

How to Declutter a Bathroom Closet: Complete Directions

Supplies:

• Trash bag for garbage
• 1 container or box for items that belong in a different room
• 1 container or box for items to keep

Decluttering Guidelines:

• Holes: Toss all bath towels and washcloths that are ripped, torn, frayed or stained.  These can also be moved to a cleaning closet to use as cleaning rags.
• Limits: Keep only 3 towels per person in your family.  This means a family of 4 should have no more than 12 bath towels in the bathroom closet.
• Expired: Throw away anything that has passed its expiration date.
• Old: Throw away any health or beauty items that are so old you don’t remember when you got them.
• Not sterile: Throw away all first aid items that are opened or no longer individually wrapped and may be contaminated.
• Cosmetics:  No old makeup gets to stay.  If you haven’t used it in 6 months, it goes in the trash.

Directions:

1.  Start with the very top shelf.  We’re going to work from the top down, one shelf at a time. 

2.  Take everything off of the shelf and line the items up neatly in the floor, on a counter, or even in the bathtub.

3.  Set up your 3 containers: one for items that belong in a different room, one for items to keep, and a trash bag for the garbage.

4.  Pick up one item at a time and decide on which container it goes in.  Take no more than 30 seconds for each item; this is a fast decluttering process.  Put each item in its proper container.

5.  When you’ve finished with all the items from one shelf, start again with the contents of the next shelf.

6.  When all shelves in the bathroom closet have been emptied, you’re ready to deal with your containers.

7.  Take the trash bag out of the bathroom, tie it up, and take it outside.

8.  Take the container of items to keep and put them into the bathroom closet neatly.  Items you use every day go on the middle shelf (this likely includes towels and washcloths).  Items you use weekly go on a higher or lower shelf.  Items you rarely use that really belong in the bathroom (like a curlers set or humidifier) go on the very top shelf.

9.  Take the container of items that belong in a different room and go on a walk through the house.  Put back all items in the correct rooms until the box is empty.

Now you’ve got your declutter directions for the day.  Go tackle your decluttering your bathroom closet with confidence.  Don’t miss our next edition of Declutter This Today for transforming your house into your Home Ever After!

 Declutter This Today: The Bathroom Closet is linked to Tackle it Tuesday, Works for Me Wednesday and 11th Heaven.

What Do I Do With All the Paper?

I get asked this question all the time by readers and clients. Even with all the technological advances in the world I don’t think our society will ever truly be paperless.

In fact, the recent technological advances seem to have created more paper to deal with in many cases. We have receipts, bills, insurance policies, certificates, investment statements, health records, and more. Then added to that is the daily influx of junk mail- magazines, catalogs, sweepstakes entry forms, etc.

Over the next three weeks we will learn how to overcome paper clutter and learn what to do with paper that is necessary.

Decluttering Mail

Your mail needs to have a designated spot. When you pick it up from the mailbox each day, bring it into the house and put it in the same spot. This can be a basket, a designated space on the kitchen counter, or on your desk in your home office.

Your goal should be to handle mail as soon as it enters your home. But at the very least try to have a set time each day that you go through the mail and deal with it, so you don’t end up with piles of mail and magazines spread throughout the house.

• Magazines- Only keep the current month’s issue. If there are articles that you want to keep for future reference or for a recipe, etc., then invest in a 3 ring binder with plastic page protectors. Tear out the article that you like and throw away the rest of the magazine.
• Catalogs- When a catalog arrives at your home and it is not one that your regularly order from call the 800 customer service number on the back and request to be taken off the mailing list.
• Junk Mail- This should be immediately thrown away. If you like the coupons from the ValuPak, etc., then clip the ones you like and throw the rest away. This will cut down on the amount of paper clutter lying around the house. To stop junk mail from coming in the first place, do a Google search for a way to get your name off company mailing lists. When you receive a catalog in the mail there is usually a number on the back to contact if you don’t want to receive any more.
• Bills- Have a place for all the bills that need paid to be filed until it is time to pay them. This can be a plastic shelf divider, a basket, a file folder, an accordion file, etc. Whatever works for you is the best system to have.
• Invitations, fliers, etc.- We all get the invitations to weddings, special events at the senior center and family goings on. Have a place that you put all these and weekly go through and sort out what has already happened and throw it away. As soon as you receive any type of invitation or reminder with a date in the mail you should check your calendar and if you plan to attend go ahead and write it on the calendar so that you don’t forget in the future.

Catch Organizing with Melissa next Wednesday for “Decluttering All the Paper – Part 2”.  Visit Works for Me Wednesday for more life organizing tips.

We sometimes go through our daily lives doing things we don’t want to do but feel we have to do.  We spend our time wishing we had more free time and less to worry about.  Or maybe we get paralyzed by our houses full of stuff that we have to clean, store, move, organize, work around, and wade through to accomplish what we need to do.  Sound familiar? 

If you answered yes, then you may want to learn more about simplifying the different areas of your life.  Simple living at first consideration might seem restricting, or give you the feeling that you’ll be missing out on things you and your family members enjoy now.  In reality, a simple life can be liberating in more ways than one.

If you found yourself nodding as you read the first paragraphs, take comfort in knowing that it doesn’t have to be this way!  Deliberately simplifying your life to give you more free time, less stress, and more of what you want with less of what you don’t, is well worth the little bit of work it takes in the beginning.

We’ve listed several broad areas below that people often wish were less complex.  Not everyone chooses the same areas to simplify in, since everyone’s families and situations are very different. 

Consider these possible areas that could be simplified:

• Kids’ extracurriculars, afterschool activities and sports.
• Decluttering your home to eliminate unnecessary items.
• The processes we use to accomplish things.  Systems that work can cut out work that’s not needed.
• Placement of furniture and other items in your home.
• The flow of incoming information (emails, instant messages, mail, media, etc.).
• Your work and professional productivity, accomplishments, and progression.
• Family obligations, events, holidays, and other family time.

Questions to ask yourself when you’re considering simplifying an area listed above:

• Am I happy with how much time I spend on this?
• Does this activity make me feel happy? 
• Do I feel like the doing this activity is a good use of my time?
• Is this an activity that only I can do, or could I outsource or delegate this to someone else?
• Am I doing this in the most efficient way?  Is there a faster, easier, or better way to accomplish the same thing?
• Do the items in my home make more work for me or less?
• Do I spend time cleaning, organizing, and managing items that I do not want, do not use, or do not like?

“Declutter Your Life” will be bringing you specific tips, how-to use, and strategies for simplifying many of these common overly-complicated areas of life. 

I hope the first half of Simple Decluttering Criteria for Clothes was helpful to your wardrobe and your peace of mind! Make it easy (well, easier anyway) to purge your closets with our handy decluttering criteria for clothes. Wondering why the black and white rules? Read on to find out!

A YES answer here means make it go away! A No answer means stay:

1. Is anybody embarrassed when you wear it?
2. Does it have holes, rips, tears, stains, spots, frays, underarm scarring or seams coming undone?
3. Is it missing buttons, beads or jewels?
4. Is the tag still on?
5. Socks: Are there holes? Are they threadbare?
6. Is it an “obligation keep”?
7. Is it a souvenir?
8. Are you saving it for just in case?

It can be difficult to give clothing a firm decision of “stay” or “go”, so we often make excuses for our clothes. We’ll move them to a different place or pack them away to delay making a real decision. No more! The above rules are simple and finite, and this is why:

Is anybody embarrassed when you wear it? You might be laughing about this one, but it is meant to be 100% serious! If your spouse, children or even complete strangers are embarrassed to be seen around you wearing a certain article of clothing, you should NEVER wear it again! The shame factor should not enter your wardrobe. You want your family to be seen with a beautiful hip parent that looks put together, not embarrassing. Toss your embarrassing pieces now.

Does it have holes, rips, tears, stains, spots, frays, underarm scarring or seams coming undone? One little flaw is all it takes to look unkempt and sloppy. Think nobody notices that stain or hole just because you’ve forgotten about it? WRONG!

Is it missing buttons, beads or jewels? Missing pieces = shabby, and not in a good way. I’m sure there are 50 other shirts in your closet not missing a button that fell off in 1992. If pieces are missing from clothing and you don’t have the pieces in your hand to reattach right now, make the clothing go away.

Is the tag still on? If you’ve held onto something so long without wearing it that the tag is still on (proof positive that it’s never been worn), pass it on to its next life. Someone else may love it so much they wear it every day! It deserves to get use by someone before it’s out of style.

Socks: Are there holes? Are they threadbare? If you can see skin through your sock, it’s only a matter of time before a complete blowout. For crying out loud – holey socks belong in the trash! You can even use holey socks for cleaning or dusting cloths.

Is it an “obligation keep”? Are you keeping it because someone gave it to you and you feel obligated? Do you feel guilty or unappreciative to give it away? Don’t! Even your friend or relative that gave you something wouldn’t want you to keep it only because you feel you have to.

Is it a souvenir? Vacation t-shirts, bridesmaid dresses… you get the idea. You have the photos and the memories of these items, you don’t need to wear them. Keep the pictures, donate the souvenirs.

Are you saving it for just in case? In case of what? In case you ever visit the white house? In case you meet a celebrity? In case you ever attend the Oscars? In case you dress up as a purple tap dancing alien for Halloween? Get real! We all have hundreds of scenarios in our minds of things that might someday happen. Until they are planned and scheduled, don’t put clothes in your closet to wear to a hypothetical event! Use the space for something you can wear right now.

There you have it: 16 quick criteria for keeping or purging the clothes in your closet. I hope this list is helpful in keeping your closet functional and clutter free!

Make it easy (well, easier anyway) to purge your closets with our handy decluttering criteria for clothes.  Wondering why the harsh black and white rules?  Read on to find out!

A YES answer here means keep it! No means go…

1. Does it fit now?
2. Is it in style?
3. Does it make you look great?
4. Does it make you feel good when you wear it?
5. Does it look good from the back as well as the front?
6. Socks: Does it have a match?
7. White clothing: is it still white?
8. Have you worn it in the last year?

Now we get down to the nitty gritty…

Why such harsh Yes or No criteria for our clothes?  It can be difficult to give clothing a firm decision of “stay” or “go”, so we often make excuses for our clothes.  We’ll move them to a different place or pack them away to delay making a real decision.  No more!  The above rules are simple and finite, and this is why:

Does it fit now?  Not five years ago, not 5 months ago… right now.  If you look at it and say, “When I lose 5 more pounds it will look great,” it’s purge-worthy.  If it doesn’t fit right now, make it go away so there is room in your closet for clothes that serve you NOW.

Is it in style?  If it’s not in fashion now, don’t keep it!  Limit your purchases of fashion fads to keep this from happening repeatedly.  Stick with timeless classics that never go out of style.  In the meantime, stop keeping that red leather Michael Jackson jacket in your closet!

Does it make you look great?  If your clothes don’t make you look great, replace them with clothes that do.  Clothes that make you look good give you power, clothes that don’t erode your sense of authority and dampen your abilities in all areas.  Look great, feel great!

Does it make you feel good when you wear it? You know the answer already.  You should feel unstoppable, beautiful (or handsome) and great when you put on your clothes.  If they don’t work for you, you can’t work with them.

Does it look good from the back as well as the front? Just because you can’t see your own rear view doesn’t make it okay to wear clothes that look bad from the back! Half the world sees you coming, and the other half sees you going.  Do them a favor, and make parting a “sweet sorrow”!

Socks: Does it have a match? Come on, we all know those strays from 6 months ago really do not have a mate anymore!  Toss them out – or use them for dusting or cleaning cloths (yes, really).

White clothing: is it still white? If it once was white but now is yellow, tan, stained, or has yellow underarms, do everyone a favor and put it in the trash!  Those whites do not look fresh and springy, they just make you look dirty and unkempt. 

Have you worn it in the last year? If not, you probably won’t wear it in the next year either.  Replace it with something you’ll love to wear often.  One item doesn’t need to take up that valuable space in your closet for the hope of “someday” being worn!

Read Part 2 of Simple Decluttering Criteria for Clothes for 8 more tips!

How to Declutter Your Closet

Why is it So Hard to Let Go of Clothes?

Those memories may be in our minds, and they may be attached to those clothes, but if that attachment isn’t serving us then it’s time to move on. Be in control of your life! Start with your closet!

You have the photos from your sister’s wedding; giving up the dress won’t make you  forget the special day.

You have photos from your Disney vacation; you don’t need the souvenir t-shirts.

You have the sentiment that someone thought about you and gave you a gift from the heart, but even they wouldn’t want you to keep something just because you feel obligated.

Too small clothes? It’s time to face the facts: you’re not that size anymore. If you become that small size in the future, celebrate by buying new clothes that are in style (not retro from your old skinny days!).

Whatever your reason, it’s time to let go of it. If you must have the clothing memory, take photos of the items before you purge them.  Print out the decluttering criteria for clothes (don’t forget to print clothes decluttering part 2 also) and go to the closet to get started.

1. Repeat the mantra: “The only clothes that belong in my closet are clothes I wear that make me look and feel great.”
2. Take a deep breath, and put the bad clothes in a bag to donate.
3. Put the bag in your car without a second thought.
4. Feel the burden lift as you let go of attachments and items that don’t enrich your life.
5. Feel good to be in control and choose to be clutter free!

Remember:  Be in control of your life, your decisions, your closet, and your clothes!

• CDs and DVDs
• Books, magazines
• Dishes and food containers
• Library items
• Maternity, baby or kids’ clothes
• Tools

If someone lent it to you and it is not being used, do the right thing and pack it up! Empty your full laundry basket, put the items in grocery bags and label where each bag goes (Aunt Rachel, Grandma, public library), and leave them next to the front door. Take them out to your car the next time you go out, so they are ready to return while doing your errands. You just got rid of some clutter and became a good borrower by remembering to return!