Have you ever felt the urge to really de-clutter your life?

As for decluttering clothes, I find the easiest time to do that is Spring and Fall, when I'm packing away winter clothes (or summer clothes in the fall) If I didn't wear it, why pack it away to pull out and not wear again the next time it's hanging in my closet. As for a major overall, I did that 2 years ago, when I moved 1600 miles and brought what I could pack into a Plymouth Sunfire! I gave away most of my big items (furniture) to my daughters, and packed away stuff that I really wanted to keep and stored it at my mom's (she has 2 storage buildings). I went back to my mom's after a year and half and went through all of the boxes there, and so much stuff that I went through, I was asking myself why did I keep this?! That trip, I kept what I could pack into a Mustang and brought back with me. Hmmm, seems to be a trend there, go in a small car and you can only keep so much! LOL

Decluttering your life is a very important move, a positive one, if you can keep it that way. Some people who do this end up replacing their clutter with more things. They have a need to have clutter around them. I've decluttered my life. I called it, 'weeding my garden'. I got my life down to the bare minimum. It feels so good when you do it. You don't have all that stuff in the back of your mind. It's a great stress relief too. Lot less to clean and keep and a lot less to think about. Have a big garage sell. Make some extra cash. I made a bundle when I decluttered our home. Don't stop there. Think about decluttering you life in every area, letting people who aren't necessarily positive move on. It allows you to move on too. Great post.

I do this quit often. If I haven't used something for a couple of years I get rid of it. Then sometimes I wish I had it back. Oh well. I got this from my grandmother that raised me. every time it rained she would clean out a closet or cupboard and I would get new dishes or curtains and sometimes canned goods. Now My son and his daughter are entirely different. I don't know where they get from. He keeps every screw he puts in his pocket from work and even drags stuff (Junk) home. I live with him and helped raise his kids while he was in the army. He still had pants he wore in high after 15 years. They didn't fit any more but there they lay in the bottom of the drawer. My granddaughter is a hoarder too. She keeps every thing that any one has ever given to her. She has enough stuffed animals to start a stuffed animal store. And plastic bags She has one from every store in the mall. And soda bottles. If it looks a little different she keeps it. There is no ro00m for her to sleep on her bed she sleeps on my sofa. This is the last week of college and if I have to stand over her with a whip (lol) She will be getting rid of some things. (I hope)

Oh I'm hopeless when it comes to giving things away, I've got dresses in my cupboard that are donkey years old. But getting myself to throw out, Hmmmmmm I start by making little heaps, one heap for clothes that I don't like then one a bit closer home, then I go through them again, and normally there are only a few items left, then I put them in a cardboard box and put it back into the cupboard, to sell later on. Needless to say it never happens. I am like that with all my stuff, my husband tells me I'm a basket case, but he is just as sentimental.

I de-clutter our lives every three months. I sort through all of the childrens and my clothing to remove the ones we no longer wear or the ones that are too small. I put those into plastic bags to give to my SIL for her to sell at her yard sale.I also sort through my childrens toys to take out all the ones that are broekn or have missing pieces, of course those are thrown away. I set aside toys that they no longer play with for the yard sale as well. I also do this with dishes in the kitchen and other items as such.

I always want to have fewer stuffs in our house. I find it really messy when the room is filled with so many things. Since we have just moved to a new country, we only have the basic stuffs in the house acquired through the generosity of other people. And I like it this way because the house looks larger and it is easier to clean and organise. The kids have more space to move around because we only have the basic pieces of furniture. The only thing that is piling up are the toys. We have three or almost four boxes just for toys. To let go of things we have is sometimes hard because some may have sentimental value. But when we part from our stuffs, we usually sell them to close friends or office mates so we know where they are going.

I have moved enough times that I try not to hoard stuff. My wife likes to de-clutter her closet and dresser draws once a year. I do it once in a while. I know that the next time we move we will get rid of some stuff again.

Im in the processes of de-cluttering right now lol after being at college for a few years I have collected quite a few items, ring binders and other things like that! I'm having to go through everything thoroughly and make sure I dont throw anything important away that might be in them files! But most of it is going into the re-cycling bins in the next day or two. When those ring binders are empty I will give them to my neighbours kids to use for thier school work. Lynn-Marie

I don't really enjoy it and actually dread it but I'm going to start in the basement. I have one corner thats filled with holiday stuff , clothes my kids wore , old games. I would really love to unclutter most of the rooms in the whole house to very little.

Yes I am going through this very thing now! I have been putting all my clutter on freecycle and passing it on to new homes. Even stuff thats not at its best can help someone with nothing. Thats how I started out. Also unwanted items of furniture can be picked up by organizations that deal in redistributing them to people in need. Or have a boot/garage sale. You'll be surprised what people will have.

I love to keep my life simple and organized and I dislike clutter. I always donate all my old stuff to Goodwill and other charities. I get a good feeling about helping those less fortunate than me and at the same time I get a good tax deduction. I love to decorate and I only like to keep those items that I really love.

Sometimes I do take things out of my closet and shelves to sell or give away to charity. Mostly, for charity. Not also I feel the urge to simplify my life physically, but mentally too. I think I'll take some time to do that, hmmm.

My sister and I are in the process of trying to declutter twice a week here. It often feels like an overwhelming task to me, and one I can't work up a lot of enthusiasm about, even though I know it needs to get done. I'm probably more doing it just to keep her off my back about it. Organizedhome.com and flylady.net have good tips about de-cluttering. Somewhere I read if you want to get rid of stuff quickly, just put a sign out that says "Free Stuff" or junk or treasure, however you want to word it and it'll all disappear in no time. In my case I'm thinking just starting a nice big warm bonfire in the living room might be easier and quicker. Anybody care to bring the marshmallows? lol. But I do like throwing things away. I just don't like sorting though all the junk and having to make decisions about it all.

Oh gosh I am so guilty of hoarding! I've tried several times to de-clutter my life but I have a big problem with letting go. I have this blouse which my cousin gave me years ago, it's something I would never wear but since I love that cousin of mine, I just don't have the heart to throw something she gave me. As a result, I have a lot of things piled up everywhere. I'm 8 months pregnant now and I have decided to really let go. I guess de-cluttering is all about letting go, same as letting go of the past and moving on to the future. With my new baby is a new beginning and it's about time I let go(besides a cluttered home would be really bad for her).

Actually I regularly de-clutter but unfortunately in between times I just accumulate stuff again! Try as I might I just can't keep things simple and organised. I let it build up again for a while and then get fed up and shove it all on ebay. I've actually made quite a lot of money from ebay over the years just by doing that.

Yes I most certainly have had that urge before. Looking at the mess around my house just makes me feel so uneasy and disorganised. And you know what, reading this discussion and typing this response has got me motivated to start with all that decluttering. Adios~!

oh... i so wold love to declutter my house too.. specialy my kitchen.. i have kept a few things aside to give away.. and have been putting off going to the secondhand market to sell it for the past 2 weeks.. will try to do it this weekend..

I have had this urge for decades. It seems difficult to follow through and really get rid of all the junk. It is like I need to be in a new place before I can get rid of the clutter. I am not that much of a packrat, but i do tend to keep some things and never use them. This is some trick of the mind, I think.

I am going through this at the moment. I am moving house in a couple of weeks, so its great for a massive clean up, and get rid of all the junk...lol.

My husband and I go thru a cleaning spurt every few months and toss a bunch of stuff and/or give stuff away we don't need. We seldom keep it that way, even though we promise ourselves that we'll keep it up. Life happens and things add up again. We usually get a wild hair, for whatever reason, and just start massively cleaning a specific room. Generally we only do one or two at a time, since it can be time and energy consuming. It's nice when it's done, though. I just wish we could keep it that way! :)