Best way to quickly declutter and organize the house

[ThankYouJack]

We've lived in our house for a long time and with a growing family have accumulated a bunch of stuff.

I'd love to declutter and organize but hoping it won't take a ton of time so am looking to do things as efficient as possible and give a bunch away -- thrift stores, friends, etc.

Organizing techniques I've heard of are:

Marie Kondo (seems too extreme and not sure people stick with it)
Home Edit (seems time consuming)
Swedish Death Cleaning (will be tough to convince my family)
Hire an organization consultant (seems silly but with limited time and financial resources could make sense for some)

What has worked well for people on here?

[rockstar]

Moving.

That’s what works best for me. Or buying books on my Kindle instead of actual books. That saves a lot of space.

Throw out old stuff that is bad. Dumped a bad cooking sheet yesterday. I’m sure you have old stuff that’s broken that needs to go.

Buy cooking stuff that you use instead of sets with stuff you don’t. How many pans and skillets do you actually use?

What’s your house cluttered with?

[jebmke]

Move. Move to a house with no basement and/or no attic.

We now have a rule (followed mostly). If you buy something that isn’t a consumable like food, you have to throw out, donate or recycle two things, Shoes count as one.

[PoppyA]

Target a place to attack daily. Plan to clean out something small like a drawer on busy days, & something large like a closet on days when you have lots of time.

Don’t spend a lot of effort trying to get paid for your stuff(junk). Donate, donate, donate.
Keep the stuff to donate in your trunk or bags in your backseat. Drop it off at your donation spot as soon as your car is full.

[Mr. Rumples]

I read this book and used the guidelines to determine what was important and what wasn't. Not really into the Feng Shui stuff, but the process of evaluating objects was very helpful. https://www.amazon.com/Clear-Your-Clutt ... 713&sr=8-1

The other rule of thumb I have used for years is that if you think about doing something three times, you are wasting time thinking about doing it instead of just doing it. This is as valid for cleaning as it is for thinking about what to do with an object.

[stoptothink]

Target a place to attack daily. Plan to clean out something small like a drawer on busy days, & something large like a closet on days when you have lots of time.

This. Do it piece by piece. I get in the mood every few months and will dedicate a day (it never takes >1/hr) to each room to go through and declutter.

[pizzy]

Quickly? Throw it all away.

Whatever you decide, do everyone a favor and don't donate junk. It's a burden, not a benefit.

[jebmke]

^^^

Target a place to attack daily. Plan to clean out something small like a drawer on busy days, & something large like a closet on days when you have lots of time.

Don’t spend a lot of effort trying to get paid for your stuff(junk). Donate, donate, donate.
Keep the stuff to donate in your trunk or bags in your backseat. Drop it off at your donation spot as soon as your car is full.

A lot of places really don’t want your old junk. I try to recycle as much as possible rather than send stuff to the landfill. I’m struggling with what to do with hundreds of vinyl records — could be over 1,000. Hate to put that much plastic in the landfill and no place I know recycles PVC.

[mega317]

I don't know much about the specific methods you asked about. But there are multiple potential factors which may or may not be a problem. A lot of it is attitude.

Most commonly people just have too much stuff. With lots of effort you might be able to "organize" it into something that feels neater or less cluttered, but it's a band-aid and won't last. Most people just need to get rid of lots and lots of stuff. Some people just can't do that, or take a long time to make decisions. If you're going through a junk drawer and asking questions like "would I use this eraser again?" you're dead meat. A house that's been lived in for a long time has thousands of those decisions to make and its exhausting. The better way to do it is decide ahead of time what you want to keep from the drawer--e.g. the new pens, post-its, etc. etc.--and then toss everything else with only a cursory glance to make sure it's not like a passport or something impossible or difficult to replace.

Another problem is people get locked up deciding what to do with things to get rid of. Hmm do I know anyone who might want this, could I sell it, will goodwill take it etc etc. No one wants your crap and unless it's like a laptop, it's not worth it to sell. Even then. Obvious things like good condition clothes, books go directly in the car for a goodwill trip, everything else garbage or recycle. It's not bad for the planet to toss it, it was bad to buy it in the first place. Storing it in your home accomplishes nothing.

Once you've gotten rid of all the junk you don't want/need, then you can think about a consultant. But if you do a good job eliminating then you might not feel the need.

[pizzy]

^^^

Target a place to attack daily. Plan to clean out something small like a drawer on busy days, & something large like a closet on days when you have lots of time.

Don’t spend a lot of effort trying to get paid for your stuff(junk). Donate, donate, donate.
Keep the stuff to donate in your trunk or bags in your backseat. Drop it off at your donation spot as soon as your car is full.

A lot of places really don’t want your old junk. I try to recycle as much as possible rather than send stuff to the landfill. I’m struggling with what to do with hundreds of vinyl records — could be over 1,000. Hate to put that much plastic in the landfill and no place I know recycles PVC.

Find the guy/girl at the local flea market that sells old vinyl (there is always one and popularity has returned lately) - he/she will take them all.

[fposte]

What works for me is not to do it quickly. I'd be even slower if I had to get buy in from other people in the house and to convince them there was going to be a household pivot on acquisition going forward. And I also accept that it's not likely any of this is really permanent.

My inclination would be to start with the family and get their input and discuss some possibilities, and then decide on a course of action. The actual system matters less than the investment of the family in it.

[celia]

Move. Move to a house with no basement and/or no attic.

Ha ha. When we moved to our current house ages ago, we decided on the spur of the monument to move during a holiday weekend while both houses were in escrow. We dumped eveything into boxes and bags and rented a uHaul to move ourselves. Then we took our time going thru everything to discard or find a shelf, drawer, or closet for it.

We’ve also re-purposed our rooms several times by moving everything out of a room and move furniture from another room there instead. This has caused beds and hobby stuff and odds and ends to sit out in a (central) family room for months at a time. I think of it as internal “moving” and some things get discarded then.

[ThankYouJack]

Thanks for the suggestion so far. I'm the more organized one in the family so am looking to convince my spouse and kids who never want to get rid of anything.

What’s your house cluttered with?

A lot of kids stuff. Toys, clothes, and hobbies. We keep the house well picked up but the storage areas are filled to the brink.

Quickly? Throw it all away.

Whatever you decide, do everyone a favor and don't donate junk. It's a burden, not a benefit.

I agree, but some of the stuff I'd be giving away people would definitely want.

[Kenkat]

Pick an area and divide everything up into three categories:

Keep
Donate
Throw Away

Reorganize your storage for the keep items, go to the thrift store and put the rest out with the trash or have it hauled away.

[Chardo]

Flamethrower. And good insurance, just in case.

[H-Town]

We've lived in our house for a long time and with a growing family have accumulated a bunch of stuff.

I'd love to declutter and organize but hoping it won't take a ton of time so am looking to do things as efficient as possible and give a bunch away -- thrift stores, friends, etc.

Organizing techniques I've heard of are:

Marie Kondo (seems too extreme and not sure people stick with it)
Home Edit (seems time consuming)
Swedish Death Cleaning (will be tough to convince my family)
Hire an organization consultant (seems silly but with limited time and financial resources could make sense for some)

What has worked well for people on here?

Print a label of time & date and put it on household items, clothes, shoes, etc.. If you don't use those items in a year, you won't miss them. Time to get rid of them.
For bills and other mails: have a folder for 1 year files. Recycle them every year. For tax forms, keep it for 3 years.
Put time on your calendar for organizing and decluttering. If it's not on your calendar, you may forget it and put it off.

But the most important thing: try not to buy more stuff you don't need.

[GAAP]

Get a moving estimate. Then, when you see just how expensive that has gotten, ask yourself what you would really pay to move.

Point of reference: my neighbor got a quote for $36K to move from Washington to California (about 700 miles). They sold or gave away nearly everything, and the rest went in a single panel van rental.

[campy2010]

I did a big reorganization of my house recently and targeted one room/space per weekend. Before starting make a plan and decide what belongs in the space versus what happens to be stored there for no reason and measure for some organizational solutions. I bought a few organizational things in advance and ultimately returned some of the options if they didn’t work out. Then go through the process of 1. Remove stuff, 2. deep clean if necessary, 3. install organization, and 4. put back the items you have decided belong in the space. The rest goes elsewhere in the home, donate, sell only high value items, put stuff out on the street for the neighbors to claim, or trash.

As an aside, Marie Kondo is a good solution for sentimental people. Watch a few episodes of her show on Netflix as inspiration and to get in the decluttering headspace. As a bit of a minimalist, I found the amount of stuff these people had in their homes to be insane. So much unnecessary spending on things.

[jebmke]

Get a moving estimate. Then, when you see just how expensive that has gotten, ask yourself what you would really pay to move.

Point of reference: my neighbor got a quote for $36K to move from Washington to California (about 700 miles). They sold or gave away nearly everything, and the rest went in a single panel van rental.

I grew up in a career army household. For each bug out the army had a weight allowance based on rank. My father made sure we always made the allowance.

[Freeadvice]

I’ve used the Facebook local buy nothing group and have given away all sorts of random things. People come pick up the stuff right away.

[TheHiker]

When you are moving and finding multiple boxes you never unpacked from a previous move, it is the right time to toss them out.

[Artful Dodger]

I read Marie Kondo’s book a few years back and thought she had a lot of helpful ideas. Her big thing is to evaluate every item to determine whether it brings you joy. I found it helpful, and still use it. I have lots of stuff with all kinds of reasons to keep. It was a gift. I might fit into it soon. I like to wear occasionally. Etc. But, does it bring me joy? That determines whether it stays. she also noted it’s really hard and time consuming to go through personal mementos, photos, etc.

My challenge is my SO has lots of past and present hobbies and doesn’t see the need to de clutter or throw away stuff. She works at it but slowly. Her mom passed away ten years ago a she still has a lot of her stuff including fifty or sixty cashmere sweaters.

[ClevrChico]

Quickly? Throw it all away.

Whatever you decide, do everyone a favor and don't donate junk. It's a burden, not a benefit.

This is the way. Toss what you're not going to use in the near future without regret.

When you're gifted/given things you'll never use, toss/recycle asap. Don't take them to your attic or basement for long term storage. Gifting culture seems to have reached the same level of craziness as tipping culture.

[NotWhoYouThink]

Flash flood

Arson

Mostly it's about motivation and temperament. I could load up a full dumpster from our clutter in a few days and lose no sleep over the loss of stuff. My spouse fights to save every item.

If both of you really want to clean out but one of you can't, maybe the other could take a trip for a few days and not watch things go.

I spent a few hours in "antique" stores this weekend. Many collectibles going for a pittance, clearly the result of cleaning out a house after a death or move to senior housing. Could one of you open a booth in an antique mall?

[H-Town]

Remind me of the saying: "You own the things that you own, and they in turn will own you."

Get rid of unused stuff is the first step. And then need to think twice before you buy other stuff.

[Jack FFR1846]

I got rid of a ton of junk using the app decluttr. You won't make a ton of money, but if you're able to drop a box off now and then, and use your smart phone to scan UPC codes, you can get rid of bulk. I very much believe in "let someone pay you to take out your trash" and I use craigslist for the bigger, valuable stuff but for DVDs, books and CDs, I fill a box with declutter, print out a shipping label and when I'm near the shipping place, dump it in there and in a week or 2, there's a small check for me. I emphasize that this is to get rid of bulk, not make money.

[Beensabu]

Give everyone (including yourself) 24 hours to rescue whatever they want from a specific room. Then throw away anything left in there in line of sight that's not furniture. Then clean it. Then put back only those things you think belong, no more than 3 to a surface. Then issue the warning for the next room.

Some things will get hot-potatoed from room to room - but eventually, most will be parted with.

Then you can tackle drawers, dressers, cabinets, closets, and any other "hidden" storage spaces one by one from room to room as well.

Don't be afraid to throw away other peoples' stuff.

[alex_686]

I agree, but some of the stuff I'd be giving away people would definitely want.

Then tell those people that it is time to pick things up. If they truly want it they will find the space.

[fposte]

Don't be afraid to throw away other peoples' stuff.

I dunno; if a parent or partner had done this to me it would have really damaged the relationship.

[Beensabu]

Don't be afraid to throw away other peoples' stuff.

I dunno; if a parent or partner had done this to me it would have really damaged the relationship.

There's only so long you can beg people to clean up their own stuff before you realize they're just not going to.

24 hour warning. They can rescue it if it matters.

[fposte]

Don't be afraid to throw away other peoples' stuff.

I dunno; if a parent or partner had done this to me it would have really damaged the relationship.

There's only so long you can beg people to clean up their own stuff before you realize they're just not going to.

24 hour warning. They can rescue it if it matters.

Sure, but that's making one person the boss of what's allowed in the house. And there are households where it might work that way but a lot of them where it doesn't.

[ThankYouJack]

I agree, but some of the stuff I'd be giving away people would definitely want.

Then tell those people that it is time to pick things up. If they truly want it they will find the space.

By "people", I didn't mean my family...but friends or strangers.

[j.click]

Things most young people do NOT want today: 1) fine china, 2) crystal glassware, 3) sterling silver and 4) 'brown' furniture (walnut, oak, cherry, mahogany, etc). Think simple, white Ikea as their model. We are donating a LOT of stuff to Salvation Army, Goodwill, Vet groups etc that will come and PICK UP for a tax deduction. Win-win for us....

[vxdx]

Marie Kondo has some good ideas, but no method needs to be followed strictly.

The biggest thing is to mentally be ok with getting rid of things. I have no problem, my mother is the opposite. What I see is you have to realize that gettin rid of an item won’t reduce any associated memory, and in fact helps to appreciate more the important things you keep. Don’t make more work for yourself trying to sell every item or scanning recipes or whatever.

Practically, a day per room works for most rooms. Don’t organize, get rid of things. Be ruthless. I’ve done this several times and never once regretted getting rid of anything.

[StevieG72]

Every time I watch an episode of Hoarders I feel compelled to throw a few things away!

[pizzy]

Every time I watch an episode of Hoarders I feel compelled to throw a few things away!

I get so uncomfortable that I have to change the channel.

[alex_686]

I agree, but some of the stuff I'd be giving away people would definitely want.

Then tell those people that it is time to pick things up. If they truly want it they will find the space.

By "people", I didn't mean my family...but friends or strangers.

Well, you can gift your friends now. No need to wait for birthdays or next Christmas.

As for strangers, are you sure? My father felt he had a trove of priceless goods but most were just of ordinary value. Garage sales and eBay. Or find a good adjacent charity or hobby group. I have ideas for my wife’s half dozen spinning wheels.

[ThankYouJack]

I agree, but some of the stuff I'd be giving away people would definitely want.

Then tell those people that it is time to pick things up. If they truly want it they will find the space.

By "people", I didn't mean my family...but friends or strangers.

Well, you can gift your friends now. No need to wait for birthdays or next Christmas.

As for strangers, are you sure? My father felt he had a trove of priceless goods but most were just of ordinary value. Garage sales and eBay. Or find a good adjacent charity or hobby group. I have ideas for my wife’s half dozen spinning wheels.

I'm not going to gift my friends my used stuff for their birthdays But I have one friend that I give a lot to and some of the stuff he keeps, other stuff he sells. It works out well.

I personally don't want to bother with eBay, Craigslist or garage sales unless I can get hundreds for an item.

For strangers, I've taken stuff to our dump before and they have a swap section where people are typically browsing. I've had stuff picked up as soon as I put it down before.

[vxdx]

Every time I watch an episode of Hoarders I feel compelled to throw a few things away!

This is actually a legitimately good suggestion. After binge watching the first few seasons, I did one of my first deep declutterings of an apartment.

[nisiprius]

No quick or easy answers, but I find that a certain amount of things that I save are related to "identity" and "memory." For example, certain textbooks and reference books that I haven't used in year but keep because I think of them as part of my (former) "identity." Or equipment for things that we no longer do, or planned to do but no longer did.

Now that digital photography is essentially cost free, I find that for some things it is much easier to dispose of them if I take a picture of them, first. I don't mean scan a whole book or anything like that. But not necessarily just one picture, either. Maybe the spine as it sits on a shelf, and the jacket, and a couple of interesting or characteristic interior pages.

I think you also have to discard old ideas of "thrift" and "waste not, want not." You have to accept that you can't make perfect decisions, and that the only way to declutter is to accept the fact that some of the things you get rid of, you will need a few years later and need to buy again.

Moving is not a perfect solution! We have just moved, and I must tell you that we moved a lot of stuff because it would have taken several hours to sort through some chunk of stuff and it was faster to let the movers pack and move it than to make the necessary decisions.

[somedays]

I recommend The Minimalists. Here is their Ted Talk which gives the background on their story.
A rich life with less stuff | The Minimalists | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgBpyNsS-jU

If you scroll through their YouTube channel you will find a plethora of ideas on decluttering.
https://www.youtube.com/@theminimalists/videos

[DebiT]

If you’re on Facebook, find and join your local Buy Nothing group. I have gotten rid of so much that otherwise would have gone in the landfill. It’s a truly great thing

https://buynothingproject.org/
Drill down and find your community. It’s hyper local, meaning your smallish town may still have several groups.

[IowaFarmWife]

Every time I watch an episode of Hoarders I feel compelled to throw a few things away!

This is actually a legitimately good suggestion. After binge watching the first few seasons, I did one of my first deep declutterings of an apartment.

Me too! Hoarders even motivated my kids to clean their rooms!

[leeks]

Schedule a dinner party or overnight houseguests.
We are not very good at managing clutter, but we do a lot better when guests are coming. It creates a deadline.

[VanGar+Goyle]

Moving.

The quickest way would be to hire a professional.
If you are cheap, that might motivate you to start cleaning up yourself.

What ever you do, do not rent short term storage space.
You will touch everything more than once,or keep paying for it, long after you remember what you put in it.

[LunarOpal]

The short term answer is Marie Kondo. There is no other short term answer.

You can't organize your way out of too much stuff. Organizing is a lie! There is only getting rid of stuff.

The sooner you realize this, the better off you will be.

*After* you've gotten rid of the excess, you may then be able to organize a bit so that things are out of sight be readily accessible. But to get to this point, you really do need to just get rid of a lot of stuff.

[DoubleComma]

Throw it away, don’t bother passing your clutter on to others and certainly don’t dump junk on a charity that has to pay to dump your junk.

Get past the idea that anything that once had value still has value.

[Savvy]

Don't worry about organizing - focus first on getting rid of stuff.
If you haven't used it for 12 months, almost certainly you can get rid of it.
I would focus on Goodwill donations vs. finding specific users for every item.

[Beensabu]

Don't be afraid to throw away other peoples' stuff.

I dunno; if a parent or partner had done this to me it would have really damaged the relationship.

There's only so long you can beg people to clean up their own stuff before you realize they're just not going to.

24 hour warning. They can rescue it if it matters.

Sure, but that's making one person the boss of what's allowed in the house. And there are households where it might work that way but a lot of them where it doesn't.

Every household needs at least one person who is willing to throw things away, especially if another person is a packrat. When clutter gets in the way of keeping things clean, it's a problem. I'm not heartless. I'm not going to toss tools or cherished personal items or books or anything like that. But like... a bag of papers that has literally been sitting in the same spot for 4 years? I'm not supposed to throw that away? I thought I wasn't supposed to, because they weren't mine. And then... I did. You know who noticed? Nobody. Every single little piece of might possibly be used as art/craft supplies? Gotta not throw that away? Just let it all live on the couch and everywhere? I did. Until I didn't. Years' worth of worn out shoes that aren't quite fallen apart and yet have not actually been worn in years, because there are new ones for that? Just keep collecting those, right? Since they're not mine. Four years of dusting a child size drum kit scattered throughout the house that nobody has even gone "dink" on with any kind of stick in most of that time, who knows where the foot pedal is, and that I stub my toe on some part of at least once a week?

The thing about "clutter" is that at least half of it is actually trash. It's trash someone has to keep clean and "organized" because you're keeping it around for no reason. If that someone is you and you don't mind, then fine.

[2Scoops]

I actually enjoy decluttering and throwing things away. A few times a year we involve the whole family in the activity. It goes like this - each evening after dinner we tackle two rooms. We have two trash bags - one for trash, the other for donation. We go through closets, drawers, storage containers, cabinets, etc. The whole process takes less than 15 minutes per room (the kitchen is a bit longer) once you make it a routine.

It's amazing how much stuff accumulates despite everyone's best intentions. We're really good about not having clutter out in plain view but things tend to build up in drawers/cabinets/closets. If your storage containers and organization pieces are constantly full then you're likely holding on to things you don't need and won't ever use.

Break it up in to small chunks and it's extremely manageable. Donate/throw away things that haven't been used in a long time. You won't miss them!