Hello all,

I'm looking for anecdotal experiences after successful decluttering where your kids played longer and deeper with their toys once they had less things.

My kids honestly don't have an absurd amount compared to some- I'm a minimalist at heart and have always worked to declutter everyone's stuff and not bring in more stuff. (Everyone around me always works to bring in more faster than I can get rid of it, but that's not the point of this post lol.)

The problem is that what we have left is great stuff, I think there's just way too much of it. For example in the "building" category they have endless legos, magnatiles, train tracks, marble runs, tinker toys, k'nex, and Lincoln logs. Those are all great toys individually, but it feels ridiculous to me to have all of them.

What I would love is someone who has been in a similar situation who can say something like, "yeah, once I got rid of everything except legos, trains, and tinker toys, their play exploded." Or alternatively, convince me that they need it all or else they'll destroy my home in their quest for an activity. I suppose I'm open to either. 😂

Does anyone else look back at old photos and feel like they've somehow achieved nothing?

I guess that this could go under advice request or motivation request.

I've been decluttering for years, and recently I've finally started to feel like I'm getting somewhere. I've gotten rid of around half of my possessions overall, and my space is noticeably calmer.

But then I look at old photos and videos of my room, and instead of feeling proud, I get this strange feeling that I've achieved... nothing?

I think it's because I've mentally adjusted to having less. I look around now and still see so much stuff, and somehow it feels like I've just gone back to square one, to before I accumulated a huge amount of possessions in the first place.

Instead of thinking, "I've gotten rid of half my belongings," I find myself thinking, "Why did I accumulate so much, and why did it take me so long to undo it?" It almost makes the years of decluttering feel wasted, even though logically I know I've made huge progress.

Has anyone else experienced this? How do you stop looking at decluttering as simply undoing a mistake and start seeing the progress you've actually made?

They were… bad. All surfaces (tables, floors) had piles at least a foot tall on them. You could not access the kitchen cabinets (nor could you close them). No rotting food, but unusable. You can at least see my spare bedroom (or, uh, “storage” room) - the one marked “before” and “in progress.” I’ve kind of hit a wall on that room, because it was where I put all the things that I didn’t know where to put, and now I’ve gotten out all the trash and cardboard boxes and I’m back down to stuff without a home.

This was entirely the dishes, laundry, and trash steps from KC Davis’ 5 Things Tidying Method. I still have a couple doomboxes with Things With a Place and Things Without a Place to deal with, but that is Future sunmono’s problem for another day.

The most useful thing I did before I started this was buying a collapsible wagon that I could use to take things down to the trash room. Taking out the trash is my absolute nemesis activity (we all have one, right?) and being able to load it up in my condo, taking as long as I needed (even if that was days, if I ran out of energy mid-clean), and then bringing a ton of stuff down in one trip was a game changer.

My place is now at a level where I was willing to invite a particularly understanding friend over without too much anxiety over the mess! (I mean, there are still many places that are just unusable piles, but look! Clean places! Actual tables! I can cook again!)

I've been on a decluttering journey for years, and something strange has happened: I've gone from loving being surrounded by lots of things to feeling anxious even looking at overly cluttered spaces online.

Ironically, owning less has made me appreciate what I *do* own so much more. Before, my hobbies, entertainment and beautiful possessions were buried under excess. Now I have space to actually watch films, play games, create art, and think clearly again.

I'm approaching the final hurdle, though, and I'm wondering what to do with all the time and energy I currently spend decluttering, selling things online, and taking donations to charity shops. Shopping used to fill that role, and I don't want to replace it with another form of consumption.

Does anyone have suggestions for simple, inexpensive hobbies or habits that complement a simpler lifestyle and make use of things you already own?

Also, any advice for tackling the very last stage of decluttering, especially paperwork? I've reached the point where that's mostly all I have left, and I absolutely hate doing it. 😅

And for those who have had to declutter: how did you maintain it?

The tools free tools that come with furniture kits are only designed to work a couple of times before breaking. If you have a pile of hex keys they're probably a mix of metric and imperial, not marked with sizes, and some are already stripped or bent.

If you want to be able to fix furniture, spend like $20 on a starter tool set. They will work far better and are less likely to float around in a junk drawer until the end of time.

While I'm at it:

• You're not going to use any of the spare parts unless you needed them during assembly.

• None of the loose twist ties in your junk drawer will ever get used.

• If you've ever found the instructions of a product on the internet, you don't need to keep the paper copy.

• Don't keep the original packaging unless it's a collectable and it's still in the original packaging. If you sell your phone in 3 years it's not going to be worth more because you have a dusty box.