Declutter Archives

A long row of old red encyclopedia volumes with worn gold bands on a wooden shelf next to a cup of coffee

What to Do With Old Encyclopedias, Reader’s Digest Books and National Geographics

We bought our encyclopedias in 1988, and we paid for them a little at a time. They came in heavy boxes, two dozen books with gold letters on the spines. …

A yellow legal pad list with every line crossed off in blue pen, next to a cup of coffee on a kitchen table

What My Husband Let Go of After 60 (He Made the List Himself)

The best decluttering in our house this fall wasn’t mine. It was my husband’s. One Sunday evening in October, he came out of his den with a yellow legal pad. …

A wooden bookcase with a few keepsakes, a folded dust cloth and a white kitchen timer on one shelf

Less Stuff, Faster Chores: How Decluttering Cut My Cleaning Time

My Saturday dusting used to take an hour and forty minutes. Last Saturday, it took thirty-five. I didn’t buy a fancy duster. I didn’t learn a new trick. I just …

A late mother's clock, recipe box, wristwatch, yarn basket and wooden spoon on a kitchen table, each with a small name card

How to Divide a Parent’s Things Between Siblings Without Hurt Feelings

I almost gave away the one thing my sister wanted most from our mother’s house. It was a wooden spoon. The handle was worn thin, and the tip was stained …

A pot of homemade vegetable soup on the back burner of an old white electric stove, with a ladle on a spoon rest

What I’m Clearing Now So This House Still Works When I’m 85

“I haven’t made soup all winter,” my mother told me the year she turned 85. She loved making soup. But her big soup pot lived on the bottom shelf of …

An open cardboard box on a kitchen table with old church bulletins, curtain hooks, recipe clippings and an envelope beside it

30 Things to Clear Now So Your Kids Don’t Have To

The box on the shelf in my mother’s basement said “Misc” in black marker, and nothing else. Inside, I found a bag of old keys, a church directory from 1979 …

An open kitchen cabinet door with a handwritten house notes sheet taped inside and a spare key hanging on a small hook

The House-Sitter Test: Could Someone Find What They Need in Your House?

My phone buzzed at seven in the morning, a few hours’ drive from home. This summer, my husband and I drove to my daughter’s house for a long weekend. My …

A kitchen table in an older home covered with sorted piles and labeled boxes, a mug of coffee and a notebook, with a drawer pulled open

The Hundreds of Little Decisions: Clearing a Parent’s House Without Wearing Yourself Out

Nobody tells you that the hardest part of clearing out a parent’s house isn’t the lifting. It’s the deciding. When my mother passed, my brother and I had thirty days …

A kitchen table with a canvas tote of things to donate, a mug of coffee, reading glasses and a notepad, beside a half-cleared drawer

The Decluttering Myths I Believed Until My 60s

For most of my life, I believed nine things about clutter that weren’t true. I didn’t know they weren’t true. They just sounded right, so I never stopped to question …

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

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 …