Declutter Archives

An open oak kitchen cabinet crowded with an old bread maker, a small slow cooker, a hand mixer and a yellow popcorn popper

What to Do With Old Small Appliances Nobody Wants: Bread Makers, Slow Cookers and Mixers

My old bread maker sat in my cabinet for two years, and it left my house in four hours. My sister gave it to me, so I felt bad about …

A wooden kitchen chair pulled up to an open bedroom closet with a box and folded blankets on the high top shelf

If You Only Declutter 5 Things After 70, Make It These

I helped my mother clear the wrong closet. She was 84, and I drove over one Saturday to do something useful. I picked her linen closet, because it was easy …

An old chipped white bathtub with a rust ring around the drain lying on its side in a driveway next to a stack of cardboard boxes

Decluttering Before a Remodel After 60: New Floors, a Walk-In Shower or a Kitchen Refresh

The old bathtub sat on its side in my friend’s driveway. It was white and chipped, with a rust ring around the drain. She is 69, and we go to …

A white tablecloth draped over an ironing board with an iron standing on the rest in a home kitchen

Things That Aren’t Worth the Upkeep After 70

“I’m not ironing another tablecloth as long as I live.” My mother said that the fall she turned 74. She was standing at her ironing board with a big white …

A red cardigan sweater folded on a floral quilt on a bed, a gift from a friend who has passed

Gifts From Friends Who Are Gone: What to Keep and How to Let Go

The older I get, the more of my friends live only in my memory. Nobody warned me about that part of getting older. We lose our parents, and we know …

Big soup pot with its lid tipped open on a white stove in an older kitchen, with a wooden spoon on a saucer on the counter

Decluttering in Your 60s, 70s and 80s: What to Do in Each Decade

Sixty-four. Seventy-eight. Eighty-four. Those three numbers have been on my mind all fall. Sixty-four is me. I’m in the middle of my 60s. My calendar is busy, and we’ve lived …

Box lined with white tissue paper holding nine small teddy bear figurines on a kitchen table, with the lid beside it

Giving While Living: Handing Things Down Now So You Can See Them Enjoyed

Every Mother’s Day, when my daughter was a little girl, she gave me a small bear. She picked each one out herself at the card shop. Her dad helped her …

Upstairs hallway with an open bathroom, bedroom and linen closet, and a laundry basket of towels and a box of old bathroom bottles on the carpet

Easy Rooms First: A Room-by-Room Guide That Makes Decluttering Doable After 60

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 …

Paper grocery bags, a marker and a box of things to give away on a kitchen table

Decluttering on a Fixed Income: Free Pickups, Free Help and What’s Worth Selling

The bins were clear plastic with blue snap-on lids. I bought six of them before I had cleared a single shelf. This was years ago, back when I thought getting …

Three handwritten lists taped inside an open kitchen cabinet door, with a cup of coffee and a pen on the counter below

Good Days and Hard Days: Matching Decluttering Jobs to Your Energy After 70

“Some days I can clean out a whole closet. Some days I can’t open a jar of pickles.” My friend from church said that to me over coffee last month. …