A dresser drawer and an open box of keepsakes on a kitchen table with old photos, a book, reading glasses and a mug of coffee

Things Nobody Tells You About Decluttering After 60

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If you’re about to start clearing out your house, I’d like to tell you a few things first.

Nobody told me these. I learned every one of them the slow way, one drawer and one closet at a time.

Some of them made me laugh. A couple of them made me cry. All of them would have made it easier if I’d known sooner.

So here are the things nobody tells you about decluttering, from one woman in her 60s to another. Pour a cup of coffee and pull up a chair.

1. It’s More Tiring Than You Think

Old flowered and spiral diaries spread across a carpeted bedroom floor beside a floor pillow and a mug

The first time I sorted my old diaries, I sat on the bedroom floor for two hours. When I finally stood up, my knees ached and my head felt foggy.

I hadn’t lifted anything heavy. I’d just made one choice after another. Keep it, toss it, give it away, keep it, toss it.

That kind of work wears you out, even sitting down.

So now I work in short sessions, about 10 or 15 minutes at a time. I sit at the kitchen table, not on