It was a Saturday morning years ago, and I had made up my mind. Today was the day I would clear out the spare room.
I picked it because it was the worst room in the house. If I could fix that one, I figured, the rest would be easy.
I sat down on the floor with the first box. It was full of my kids’ old school papers.
On top was a drawing my youngest made in second grade. A house, a sun and five stick people holding hands.
That was as far as I got. I spent the whole morning on that floor, reading spelling tests and crying a little. By lunch, I had cleared nothing at all.
I didn’t try again for a long time. (I told myself I was busy. I wasn’t.)
When I finally did, I started somewhere else. I started in the bathroom, and I was done in twenty minutes. That small win got me to the next room, and the next.
The order you go in matters more than I ever knew. Start with the rooms that hold the fewest feelings, and save the hardest ones for last.
This is the room-by-room decluttering order that worked for me after 60, from easiest to hardest. You don’t have to follow it exactly. But if you’ve been stuck, it might help you get going again.
Why Easy Rooms Come First
Every time you pick something up, you make a choice. Keep it, or let it go?
In some rooms, those choices are quick. Nobody cries over an old bottle of shampoo.
In other rooms, every single thing has a story. A sweater from a friend who has passed. A drawing from a child who is now 40.
Those cho