Declutter Archives

A stack of old colorful mixing bowls on a wooden kitchen table beside a box of trash bags, with a chair pulled out

Decluttering on Your Own Terms After 60 (Before Anyone Pushes You)

The biggest mistake I ever made with my mother happened in her kitchen, with a box of garbage bags in my hand. She was in her late 70s. Her house …

An open bedroom closet with a few navy, gray, cream and light blue clothes spaced on hangers and a small navy carry-on suitcase in front

The Flight Attendant’s Packing Rule I Use on My Whole Closet

My closet has fewer clothes in it than it has in thirty years. And somehow, I have more outfits to wear than ever. I owe that to a friend from …

A jar of twist ties, a bag stuffed with plastic bags, rubber bands, glass jars, old margarine tubs and folded wrapping paper on a kitchen counter

Electronics Boxes, Twist Ties and Every Receipt: Things Our Generation Was Told to Keep

If you grew up with a mother who washed out bread bags and saved them in a drawer, this list is for you. My mother saved everything. Twist ties, rubber …

Extra lamps, a wall clock, nesting tables, folded TV trays and a footstool gathered on a spare room floor to sort

Lamps, Clocks and Little Tables: The Small Furniture Nobody Wants

Seven lamps. Three clocks. Five little tables. That’s how many we had sitting around our house that nobody was using. I counted them one morning this fall, with a cup …

A wall of wooden bookshelves full of books in a spare room, with a quilt-covered reading chair and a floor lamp by the window

The Librarian’s Rule for Books: How I Weeded My Shelves Without Giving Up Reading

My friend from church was a school librarian for thirty-one years, and she couldn’t give away a single book. At school, she cleared out old books every summer. She knew …

A lighted ceramic Christmas village with a steepled church, a mirror skating pond and bottle-brush trees on cotton snow on a dining room buffet

Christmas Villages, Nativity Sets and Santa Collections: What to Keep and Who Wants the Rest

Every year on the day after Thanksgiving, my mother turned her dining room buffet into a little snowy town. She spread out cotton for snow and set a small mirror …

Two coffee mugs on a wooden kitchen table by a window, with a box of books, a tie and an old lamp on the floor to give away

Swedish Death Cleaning for Couples: When Only One of You Is Ready

There’s a yellow legal pad on our refrigerator, held up by a magnet. My husband wrote every line on it, and every line is crossed off in blue pen. It’s …

A cup of tea, reading glasses and a work badge on a lanyard on a clear kitchen table, with a work tote bag on the chair

Decluttering for Women Over 60 Who Still Work (You’re Not Lazy, You’re Tired)

“I’m not lazy, Alison. I’m tired.” My friend from church said it at my kitchen table one Saturday morning, and then she started to cry. She’s 66, and she still …

A small wooden table by a back door with keys, a purse and sunglasses, and three wall hooks holding a jacket, a tote bag and a shoulder bag

Decluttering for the Healthy, Busy 70-Year-Old (This Isn’t About Slowing Down)

My friend from church is 73, and I can barely keep up with her. On Mondays she walks three miles with a group from church. On Tuesdays she volunteers at …

Plain moving boxes in a front hall beside a small table with a folded handmade quilt and a cup of coffee

What a Military Wife Who Moved 14 Times Taught Me About Keeping Less

I’ve lived in the same house for more than thirty years. My friend from church has lived in fourteen. Her husband served in the Army for twenty-six years. Every two …