What To Do With Everything Once You Declutter

Wondering what to do with everything once you finish decluttering? Well, if you’ve ever started a big decluttering project, or even a small one, you might realize you have a lot of “stuff” just sitting around. And might not know what to do with it. At least that’s how I felt. The last big decluttering I did in my kitchen left me with a pile of extra boxed food. And what do you do when you have bigger items like clothes or even furniture? I’m going to share how categorizing your items while you declutter will help you along the way. But before we get started, go ahead and join my FREE 7-day decluttering challenge called Take Back My Space. You’ll receive pro tips and daily prompts to quickly knock out the clutter around your home. Now let’s get started.

Where To Start Decluttering

I don’t know about you, but one of the things that holds me back with getting rid of clutter is not knowing what to do with the things around my home. So, setting up your categories ahead of time will make you less likely to hold onto things that you don’t really need. This way you won’t hesitate getting rid of something that you know you don’t like, want or need just because you don’t want to throw it in the trash. When you can tell yourself “there’s somebody out there that could really use this” then you’ll find yourself having an easier time saying goodbye to your extra “stuff”. Yes, there are seven different things that you can do to the clutter you find in your home.

While you declutter, I recommend setting aside storage bags and boxes and labeling them (I have printable labels in my Take My Space Back Action Guide) appropriately. I’m about to explain the below categories that you’ll use while decluttering your home.

Donate – these items will go to charity. This is the category I think about when I have extra clothes I don’t wear anymore or household items that I no longer use. But really, you can donate almost any item that’s in good condition. One of my hang-ups with decluttering is it makes me think of all my “wasted money”. But donating makes me feel better because someone in need can get use out an item I no longer use.
Give – these are the items you plan to give to family or friends. Every once and awhile, I’ll have a duplicate of an item, or something that I no longer use that I think would be perfect for someone else. If this is the case for you, ask the friend or family member if they’d like to have it, and if so, set it aside to give it to them. Is this a good time to point out that my teenage daughter seems to “give” herself some of my sweatshirts? I think that’s another topic for another day. LOL
Sell – yard sale anyone? These are the things you plan to sell online or in person. My neighborhood is fairly new, so a few months after most everyone moved in, we decided to have a neighborhood yard sale. It’s really surprising how much “stuff” you won’t actually use ends up going with you to the new house. But even if you’ve been in your home for a while, it might be a good idea to host a spring-cleaning yard sale so you can make a few bucks selling extra furniture, hobby equipment or other items that you aren’t really using. My tip here is to just make sure that everyone in your family is onboard with what you’re selling. Before we moved from our last house, my kids decided to sell my bike. While I had made a run to the store. And I didn’t find out until after it sold, and it was too late.
Relocate – these are the things you find that should move to another room in the house. Let’s say you have a pile of laundry sitting in a chair in your bedroom. This isn’t necessarily something that you plan to get rid of, or sell. But it is something that belongs somewhere else. If this is the case, simply move the item into the relocate box. Then once you’re done with decluttering, you can take it to the appropriate space. A tip to the wise, please don’t stop decluttering to actually go and move the item to its final resting place. If you’re anything like me, you’ll get distracted. The way I teach decluttering in the Take Back My Space Challenge and Action Guide is to declutter in super-short 15 minute spirts of time. Keeping with this tip will help you stay on task and get the decluttering done.
Trash – this is pretty easy to understand. And items that aren’t useable or expired can go into the trash or recycle bin. Where I tend to get held up here is when I have papers that I feel have important notes on them and I don’t want to get rid of them.

So, here’s what I recommend you should do:

File them – read the “store” section below for more tips on filing or storing your extra papers
Save it to your phone – yep, use your phone a take a picture of the note or letter so you can always have it handy. You can even use the note app on your phone to jot the note down
Consolidate notes – take a few minutes after you declutter and put all of your important notes on one piece of paper

6. Store – these are the items that can be put in storage or placed in a cabinet, file or drawer. The first thing that comes to my mind is storing papers and filing them to away, like I talked about above. But to keep your house clutter free, you should actually store more things than not. So, all of those items on your kitchen counter? The crock pot, the air fryer…the mail. Yes, you can designate a cabinet or drawer to tuck them neatly away. My family and I have what we call a “homework drawer” where the kids keep their paper and pens (and we sometimes place mail there). It’s pretty much our catch all in the kitchen for non-kitchen items we use a lot but don’t want sitting on top of the kitchen counter.

7. Repurpose or Fix – this is for all the DIYers or Fixer Uppers out there. This is for anything that can be glued, stapled or nailed back together. If this item can somehow be fixed repaired and sold or reused, this is the category for you.

What To Do With Everything Once You Declutter

We just went over seven different things you can do with your stuff once you finish decluttering your home. Hopefully this gave you comfort knowing that everything you find doesn’t have to go into the trash pile. If you’re ready to text the next step in kicking clutter out of your home, then it’s time to join my FREE 7-day decluttering challenge called Take Back My Space. You’ll receive pro tips and daily prompts to quickly knock out the clutter around your home.

And please, take a few minutes and leave a comment below and let me know how these tips have helped you.

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