A few years back, I decided to declutter my whole house in one weekend.
I’d read that you had to be ruthless. Rip the bandage off. Pull everything out, make fast decisions, fill the bags, and don’t look back. So that’s what I set out to do.
By Sunday night, I was wrecked.
My back ached. My feet hurt. I’d made so many decisions that my brain felt like mush. There were still half-filled bags sitting in the hallway, waiting for a trip to the donation center I was too tired to make.
And this is the part that really got me. Within a month, the house looked almost the same as before. The clutter had crept right back in, and I didn’t have the energy to fight it again.
I felt like a failure. I thought I’d done it wrong.
But I hadn’t done it wrong. The method was wrong, at least for me. That big, all-at-once purge was never built for a woman my age, with my energy, and my knees (my knees have opinions these days).
It took me a good while to find a better way. A slower, kinder way that I could actually keep up with. And once I did, my home got lighter and stayed that way, without wearing me down.
If you’ve ever thrown yourself at a huge decluttering weekend and ended up sore, discouraged, and right back where you started, I want you to know there’s another road.
It’s called slow decluttering. And for those of us past 60, I think it’s the only way that truly works.
The Big Purge That Left Me Worn Out
For years, the advice was all the same. Be ruthless. Go hard. Clear the whole house in a weekend and be done with it.
You’ve probably heard it too. Dump every drawer onto the bed. Touch each thing once. Decide fast, no dawdling. Make three piles and don’t second-guess yourself.
And look, the big one-day clear-out works fine for some people. Younger folks with energy to burn, or anyone with a rare free weekend and a strong back.
But for a lot of us, it’s just too much.
An all-day purge asks your body