Eight Questions You Should Ask Yourself When Decluttering Your Home
There are a number of decluttering methods you can try, but no matter which one you choose, at some point you’ll be faced with the difficult task of collecting and examining every item in your space to determine if it’s right for you. . it must stay or go. Ideally, you should do this with certain criteria in mind, and for many people this means following the KonMari principle of thinking about whether “what you look at sparks joy.” But this does not work for everyone and not for every object.
Perhaps you are less sentimental and more practical. Perhaps you’ve already decluttered and found that too many things “spark joy” so you’re still overwhelmed with stuff. Perhaps you just want to change your approach and find a different way to deal with your things.
Here are eight more questions you can ask yourself if assessing your feelings of joy isn’t helping.
“When was the last time I used this?”
This is my favorite decluttering question. This is not based on any established method or book by a cleaning guru. It’s just a smart, simple request that can tell you a lot about the usefulness of the items you own. I find this most useful in the kitchen because I’m not a very good cook or baker, but I have a habit of buying things like cake pans “just in case.” big bear shape.
When you ask this question, you have two options: first, you can consider it as a general survey to determine how often you actually use certain items to better understand your own habits; You can then use this to develop a more structured decluttering plan. Or you can be a little more strict and set a clear schedule to determine what stays and what goes. For example, you might declutter your closet to donate or throw away anything you haven’t used in three months.
“Do I want to control this item?”
This question comes from Tessa Hughes , a decluttering pro who posts helpful tips on Instagram Reels. I like it because it’s similar to Marie Kondo’s infamous joy question, but a little more realistic. You’re still considering how interacting with the item will make you feel in the future, but instead of wondering if it will bring you some happiness, you’ll also consider if it might make you feel some fear or feel overwhelmed. It’s easy to hold on to things with the optimistic hope that they will make you happy, but considering whether they will drain your resources, space, or time (another “job” you have to keep track of) can help you figure out whether you should you really need to keep them. After all, owning and using things takes mental energy: you have to put your things away, you have to store them, you have to move them around when you move. All of this takes responsibility and effort, and frankly, some of the things you own just aren’t worth it.
“Does this item work or function as it should?”
It seems obvious that you should get rid of broken or damaged things, but as someone who constantly makes vague promises to myself to fix everything, I know that’s not true. Just as you ask yourself if you want the “job” of managing an item, be realistic about what fixing a broken item will actually entail. I’ve finally come to terms with the fact that I’ll never actually take my 15-year-old shoes to a cobbler to replace the broken sole on my right, and I’m unlikely to be looking for a replacement part for my broken SodaStream. I inherited it from a friend who was cleaning out his own apartment. I recently threw both in the trash. It was nice.
“Is this conducive to the life I want?”
This question is based on Peter Walsh’s decluttering method, which is similar to , but not the same as , Kondo’s method. Instead of thinking about the “joy” an item brings you, you should think about whether it plays a role in the vision you have for yourself and your space. To use the Walsh Method, you first create a vision for a space in your home and set an intention for it. For example, you might want to declutter and overhaul your home office so you can imagine how it would look and function if it were as functional as possible and you were as productive as possible in it. Having a clear purpose for the space and keeping that vision in mind will help you get organized, because every item you look through will either fit into that vision or it won’t.
“Would I know I had it if I needed it?”
This question is inspired by Dana K. White’s ” Tidying at the Speed of Life ” approach, which encourages you to ask yourself two questions: “If I needed this item, where would I look for it?” and “If I needed this item, would it occur to me that I already had it?” Even if you don’t follow White’s five-step method, simply asking if you know if you have a particular item if you need it can be really helpful when you’re decluttering. This happens to me all the time: I find, say, a bottle opener or allen key in a junk drawer or some other mysterious place, think to myself, “Wow, I didn’t even know I had that,” and then justify , that you keep it, even though I probably have more hidden somewhere. But if I take a minute to ask if I even remember having an allen key in my junk drawer, when I really need an allen key, the answer is usually no, which makes getting rid of it much easier. thing without making excuses for keeping it.
“Can I replace this if I need to?”
This question is a simplified version of the famous “ 20/20 rule ” of minimalists. These decluttering experts suggest asking yourself if you can replace a particular item for under $20 and in less than 20 minutes if you find you need it. This works best for small items and things you don’t use often. As stated, there’s no need to hang on to something you rarely, if ever, actually use in case you need it again, especially if you can’t even imagine a scenario in the near future that would require it . It’s much more likely that you’re just making excuses for not getting rid of something, so by deceiving yourself into believing that you can easily get a replacement, you can sever those ties.
“Do I have anything that could replace this?”
Another important question to ask when decluttering is whether you have another item that could serve the same purpose. I had great success with this when I cleaned my kitchen over the summer. Turns out I had too many scissors. They came in all shapes and varieties, so I justified keeping them by saying they “did different things” but that wasn’t really the case. Simply put, they all cut things up. I can only cut one thing at a time, so I can only use one thing at a time, which means I only need one. Another example I came across in my decluttering journey: bottle openers. Firstly, I can’t remember the last time I drank from a bottle that didn’t have a screw cap (see also: “When was the last time I used one?”), and secondly, my wine opener has a twist-off mechanism bottles handle so there’s no need to hold on to the keychain and knick-knacks strewn across my bar table.
“Can anyone else get more benefit from owning this than I do?”
This is a question I ask myself when I’m looking to donate or list clothing or accessories , but it works for any item. When I carefully get rid of, say, a nice bag, I think about how much I enjoyed using it, wonder how soon I’ll pick it up again, and, most importantly, imagine how happy the other person might be. to have this instead. Applying this approach to potential donations is really important: it’s easy to selfishly hold onto something “just in case” you need it or because you have a sentimental attachment to it, but the idea that someone else benefits from it , can shake you out of this state. pretty quickly. Clothes that no longer fit you or your children, school supplies, old kitchen appliances, furniture, and items you have duplicates of may all serve someone else better.