Declutter Archives

Reading chair, small bookshelf and a side table with a glass lamp and a cup of tea in a quiet spare room

Four Years Into Decluttering: What Changed, What Didn’t and What I’d Tell Myself

There are two pictures of my linen closet on my phone. In the first one, the towels are stuffed in so tight that one shelf bows in the middle. In …

Small glass dish of single earrings that do not match, sitting on a wooden bedroom dresser

Single Earrings, Keys to Nothing and Every Empty Box: Things I Stopped Keeping After 60

One gold earring with a tiny blue stone. A brass key that didn’t open anything in our house. A delivery box folded flat behind the hall closet door, “just in …

Open bedroom closet of blouses and slacks, with a give-away bag holding two folded blouses on the bed

Clothes to Let Go of After 70: The Ones That Pinch, Itch or Take Two Hands to Button

Every fall, when the weather turns cool, I switch my summer clothes out for my winter ones. Last month I caught myself doing something new. I held up each blouse, …

Heavy black cast iron Dutch oven with its lid on, sitting on the back burner of an older white electric stove

What to Let Go of After 75: The Pots, Boxes and Chores That Got Too Heavy

The worst birthday gift I ever gave my mother weighed more than ten pounds before you put anything in it. It was a big cast iron pot with a heavy …

Clean older bathroom with a grab bar and non-slip mat in the tub, three bottles on the ledge and a nearly empty sink counter

Bathroom Decluttering Checklist for Seniors: Clear It So Mornings Are Easier and Safer

It was still dark on a cold morning last winter, and I hadn’t had my coffee yet. I reached into the shower for my shampoo, and three other bottles slid …

Dining room table covered in stacks of papers and folders, with winter coats piled on two wooden chairs

Half-Done Everywhere: How to Finish Decluttering When You’ve Started Five Rooms

“Are we moving?” my husband asked. He was standing in our dining room with a sandwich, because there was no place left to set it down. It was a few …

Open cardboard box marked Misc on a metal basement shelf, with an envelope and a bag of old keys inside

Don’t Throw These Out: What to Look For Before You Clear a Parent’s House

The envelope was plain and white, and it sat at the very bottom of a box marked “Misc.” The rest of that box looked like trash. There was a bag …

Older kitchen with oak cabinets, a wooden chair pulled out from the table, four mugs and a small box on the table and a trash bag on the floor

Kitchen Decluttering Checklist for Seniors: One Cabinet at a Time, Sitting Down

It takes me about 15 minutes to clear one kitchen cabinet, and I sit down the whole time. I didn’t always work this way. Years ago, I spent a whole …

Pull-down attic ladder open in an upstairs hallway, with a cardboard box and a wooden chair at the bottom

What I Wish I’d Decluttered 10 Years Sooner: The Attic, the Basement and Everything Heavy

I waited too long to clear out our attic. At 54, I could have gone up those pull-down stairs on a Saturday and carried boxes down all by myself. I …

Plain index card held by a small strawberry magnet on an older refrigerator door

Decluttering for Women Over 85: The Short List That Really Matters

By the time my mother turned 85, her whole decluttering list fit on one index card. We wrote it at her kitchen table, the winter she stopped making soup. She …