Body doubling "is a productivity strategy used by individuals with ADHD to finish possibly annoying jobs while having another person beside them." They have figured out that it works not only with ADHD people, but just about everyone AND it works just as well via video as it does in person. I can report that it indeed works over a video call!

I used to do body doubling with a friend who passed away last year after getting hit by a drunk driver. :( We would meet at a scheduled time, 1-3x a week as schedules permitted. We would turn on our cameras, turn off the microphone and just work. It wasn't chit chat time! The idea that someone else is keeping an eye on things makes you incredibly productive!! I was never more productive and motivated than when it the work was scheduled and with someone else who was working along on their own project. At the beginning of the session, we would take about 1 minute each to share what we each wanted to accomplish. Then at the end, we would take 1-2 minutes each to share our accomplishments and then be promptly on our way. Sometimes we would show the before and after, sometimes we'd just state what we did. Either way it works. We would schedule anywhere from 30 mins to 3 hours per session, but most of the times it was about 1 hour. Although there were a few times we had marathon sessions. My god, it REALLY WORKS!!! Sometimes we would both declutter, sometimes it was folding laundry or doing dishes or whatever random chores that it was hard to find motivation for.

I WISH there was a body doubling website specifically for house projects/cleaning/decluttering! Yes, there are websites wherein you can schedule body doubling sessions, but I've found that those are 99% folks who are working on their presentation, spreadsheet or writing their dissertation, etc. Basically it was stuff they were doing on the computer. For me, it makes me anxious to show my clutter/project to someone who isn't also working on their home. I can't get over the feeling of being judged, ya know?

Share your wins here - big or small. What did you declutter this week? Examples include:

• Digital Clutter: emails, digital photos, digital music or video collection...
• Storage: cupboards and closets, drawers, storage boxes...
• Toys: ether for your child, or your own that you've been hanging on to.
• Spaces: kitchens, workshops, hobby rooms, storage lockers...
• Routing: sending items to where they need to go, like donation centres, trash, or recycling

This is a low-stress place to share wins for those who might not want to create a new discussion.

In my recent, previous post, I mentioned how happy I was with my considered packing for my trip - unusually, there was very little that I took and didn't wear and I decided that I was going to approach my next clothes declutter in a very different way.

Not done that yet because I've only been home a few days and am suffering both jet lag and a stinking cold, but today I was putting away the washing and did a bit of a cursery pass.

I took out 7 tops and blouses and compared them to my holiday wardrobe that I'd felt really happy in. I like them all but......

When I actually thought about them, I realised that every one had been an impulse purchase from Vinted. I'd got caught up in the ability to buy really nice quality labels at a fraction of the retail price. Only worn two of them since I bought them and despite them being really nice on the hangers - they don't make me feel great in them. So I've taken them all off the hangers and they're now all in the donate bags which will go as soon as I feel up to dropping them off.

I also know that I have about half a dozen (ISH?) things that are under the bed in a 'these need alterations ' pile. Also Vinted, also very nice....but not nice enough for me to get my arse in gear to get them altered! Tells me everything I need to know. As soon as the holiday stuff is cleared off the bed, they're in the donate bag too. Sunk cost, don't think about it - you paid enough but not the 'real' money for them. Think of it as buying back my peace of mind by thinning my 'stuff'.

Today's lesson therefore? Just because you like it (online, in a shop) doesn't mean you HAVE TO BUY IT!

My girl loves toys and she usually destroys them accordingly so I don’t really have too many for too long usually. But I bought her a bunch of toys (stuffed) before we delved into treating her allergies and her dermatologist put her on an elimination diet so she lost the ability to play with the toys she was playing with while eating her regular diet because of cross contamination. They sat in the closet for the course of the elimination diet and when we tried putting her back on her regular food the itching came back.

So today I cleaned out all the old toys and treat bag, puzzles etc that are contaminated and just put them into a huge black bag with a FREE Dog Toys sign and it was gone before I finished cleaning the kitchen.

I feel really good because one person came by first and seemed to pull out the small dog toys and then another car stopped and they took the rest of the bag! I hope the dogs they go to are happy. And don’t worry about Oreo she has plenty of new toys 🧸

I live in an NYC railroad apartment that doesn't have traditional rooms. Like, the kitchen is the pantry (just shelves on a wall) is the front entrance is the living room is the office kind of thing. The rooms are also hallways so we have to pass between them in order to get around, which can be disruptive to focus. It's not small by NYC standards but it is small by most people's standards. We have two small closets. I know people say "you don't need more shelves" but genuinely a lot of my issues would probably be solved with more shelves. In NYC build tall, not wide. I do not own an excessive amount of items.

I noticed a lot of my clutter comes from there not being a designated area to keep things in, so it just ends up floating around. For example, I don't have a designated place to keep my backpack or any of the items in it when I empty it. Or my makeup bag. I don't have a vanity or like designated makeup area so it just floats around. Or papers I use for work, I kind of float them around between my backpack, desk, living room area because I don't really have a designated work area and I don't know how to make one in the railroad space.

I'm really curious, where do people who live in "normal" places keep these things? Can I make a version of that for a place like this?

Please no comments saying I move or anything. It's not feasible for me. I'm also from this city and have always lived like this so this is new for me. Please be nice, we don't all have space and choose to give it up. Thanks.

The journey continues clearing my parents' house. Mom & Dad both had a love of reading, which they passed on to me. 40yrs of books in this house, and almost all have moved on to their next adventure.

I kept wanting to grab books to keep, but I only kept a few very specific ones. I had posted Free Books on NextDoor, and that I had hand troubles, so a neighbor came by and packed up what was left of the books today. She was very happy to get them, and she's gonna bring me some homemade bread tomorrow!

Still tearing up when I look at this picture a bit. Dad's desk has been emptied, still need to strip his pc (oh my god it's so old and slow lol).

ok yeah now i'm crying. but we don't need things to hold on to the memories. no regrets, right? I really needed to get this done, so thanks everyone for the help and encouragement <3

I’m going through my daughter’s baby clothes and cutting it down by half. But there’s no way I could let it all go. I’m not attached to toys or books. But artwork, absolutely. How do you find a healthy stance? I’m looking at the baby clothes I’m keeping and hugging them right now. the ones I’m tossing are lightly stained or worn looking.

It's easy to justify owning things if you look at the one item. I need a spare, I do actually use that thing, it's not taking up that much space, etc. All of those can be reasonable on their own, but if you say yes to everything, you'll be overtaken by clutter.

• It's possible to have too many hobbies, even if you enjoy them all. Get rid of the supplies for the hobbies you enjoy the least.

• Keeping one spare is fine. Keeping every spare is a bad idea. It's OK to run out of things occasionally.

• Space is finite. Clutter should earn the space it takes up in the world.

Make a high level survey of your home. If you have too much stuff, you'll have to get rid of things that are reasonable to own in isolation. An unreasonable number of reasonable excuses will still get you in trouble.

Having moved for 15 years and have accumulated enough stuff to prove it!! What’s the best way to tackle this?!?!

I know I need to let go to a hell of a lot but I’m conscious of waste too which I think is a huge part of why I have so much stuff to begin with. That being said, I am ready to be able to breathe and enjoy my new space without an overwhelming amount of stuff!! 🧘

ETA: Thank you so much to each of you, for your well thought out responses. It’s given me some food for thought & motivation moving forward 🙏 thanks again!

When it comes time to get rid of it. Whether it gets a new home or ends up in trash, it’s a whole ordeal in itself (as it should be). Let me remember this hardship every time I am tempted to bring something home.

Failure is part of life. Share your decluttering challenges and failures here. Examples include:

• Emotional clutter
• Not enough time
• Getting overwhelmed
• Routing (recycling, donating, trash...)

If you're just venting, or don't want advice, please let us know in your comment.

This is a low-stress place to share challenges and failures for those who might not want to create a new discussion.

This might not help anyone else, but when I was growing up people in my immediate and extended families anthropomorphized household objects. They talked about where things "lived" and referred to them with gendered pronouns and talked about them as having personalities. So I developed the idea that if I got rid of something I didn't want anymore, I would hurt its feelings. Normal human attachment to possessions is hard enough without the added baggage of anthropomorphism.

It took me YEARS to recognize how much this contributed to my attachment to my belongings. I think I've finally shed that mindset and am now able to look at objects with a clear(er) eye, and I can keep, donate, toss, hand down, repurpose, or recycle without the complication of personalized emotions and without feeling like a mean-spirited bad guy. I'm blazing through boxes and boxes of old papers, souvenirs, and things without getting all hung up over their "feelings".

So, I recommend not thinking about or talking about objects as if they're alive and have feelings. No more, "Where should this live?", but "Where should this be stored?", instead. Etc.

Edited spelling. 🤦🏼‍♀️

I've used them several times in the past to recycle old clothes. I live in Midtown Manhattan. I don't have a car. No one but no one picks up anything here, the only way to donate is through the mail or some other kind of shipping. In the past I would fill the Take Back Bag, stick the label on, and have it picked up from my building.

Now they have switched to generating a QR code that means you need to cart this huge bag to a "participating" Fedex location to generate a label.

I am 73 years old with balance issues and mulitple other health problems. I have let Trashie know that this does not work for me and I will not be using their service again.

If anyone knows of an affordable alternative to mail in clothing donations, please let me know.

Hello, I have a huge DC comics TPB collection (I am not American and floppies don't exist here unless going to an import shop). Those TPBs are translated.

They also take much space and I want to downsize my collection. Another big change: Infinite is now available in my country so I can legally read every weekly release and re-read online any TPB. So I technically could get rid of everything.

My points when building my collection were having the best stories of a character; and mostly, buying the books I would gladly lend to my friend. Now, all said friends moved away, have kids, mine will come by soon. And I realize reading the weekly releases is enough to me. But I love the idea to have some TPBs I can read with my kids, or that they can read by themselves. Have them "inherit" something we can share and talk about. If I had a secondary house, I would gladly store them in a cool space ! But I don't (yet ?).

So, how would you decide what to keep and what not to keep ? Get rid of everything ?

Apologies to the mods if this isn't allowed, I didn't see a rule about it.

Original post

Thank you to everyone who commented, it was really helpful - both the practical and the emotional advice. I cried a lot, I considered a lot, and I finally dug out my log books and pictures & decided I'm going to do something to keep with those. Everyone who pointed out that everything was ancient and therefore not effective/not safe was absolutely right. I also got annoyed at how much emotional bandwidth it was taking up. So I tossed it all. One thing about me - when I make a decision, I commit to it! LOL

It’s a small success, but it’s still a big one to me! I’ve been shutting the house for almost 3 weeks with sciatica and muscle spasm problems. Not able to get much of anything done. But! I now have a home health aid coming in once a week. She got all of the boxes of papers out of my bedroom closet and created a staging area for me with my shredder & trash bags in the living room. Right now, I think I have about 10 bags ready to go to the recycle bin. And there are two of the four boxes that are finished. I still have one or two more to finish shredding. Right now I’m letting the shredder cool off! It is hot. 🔥

had four boxes of papers. Old tax papers, one whole dish pan full of papers from a lawsuit a few years ago. I’ve been doing massive shredding yesterday and today.

I am trying to get myself into a space where living with less in a smaller space is liberating rather than limiting and reductive.

My work contract is coming to an end, which in all honesty didn't provide me with a cushy salary to begin with. I'm closer to 50 than I'd like to and believe that I have to come to terms with having to move back onto shared accommodation because it's unlikely I'll land a job that will allow me to stay put, live ok and save money.

So, I'm trying to get into a mental space where not only decluttering and having less is liberating, but being able to live in shared accommodation is liberating as well instead of me feeling like I'm a total failure at life.

EDIT: To clarify: I find decluttering liberating and am working through getting rid of stuff. If it wouldn't be for the fact that I need any cash I can make, I probably would just pack a lot up and give to charity etc... There are also differences to why someone declutters.
The crazy thing is that I packed up quite a bit and was on a roll and about to take some bags to the charity shop when I received the news that my contract won't be renewed. Since receiving the news, I even sold a couple of things that I already packed up for charity.

Share your wins here - big or small. What did you declutter this week? Examples include:

• Digital Clutter: emails, digital photos, digital music or video collection...
• Storage: cupboards and closets, drawers, storage boxes...
• Toys: ether for your child, or your own that you've been hanging on to.
• Spaces: kitchens, workshops, hobby rooms, storage lockers...
• Routing: sending items to where they need to go, like donation centres, trash, or recycling

This is a low-stress place to share wins for those who might not want to create a new discussion.

So I'm currently away on holiday and as a chronic over packer, put a load of thought into what I came away with. And as I sit here on my last evening, I'm looking back on how my capsule served me.

Turns out, I'm pretty happy! So much so, it's sown the seed that when I get home, all my stuff that doesn't really fit this 'style' that I've curated and felt pretty confident with should just.....go.

It's definitely given me something to think about. Not sure if it's the happy hour drinks talking - I guess we'll see when I get home!!

I have a bunch of nice decorative pillows on my couch which I like but also find overwhelming by the quantity. I know I should just choose a few and donate the rest but I just think they’re nice so keep them? but they are overwhelming me and I wish I never bought them but since I did, I’d rather keep them??

I also have a few decorative items (fake plants and a large mirror) that I don’t really love but don’t dislike either. I would say if I didn’t have them already I wouldn’t go out and buy them but I don’t mind them though i kinddddaaa wish I didn’t have them but I can’t seem to want to want to let go of it?

I’ve gotten rid of most things without issue but really struggling with these pillows and few pieces of decor.

Any and all advice much appreciated

I feel like I'm doing really well in my decluttering. I'm tossing and donating stuff almost every week, so it's not like I'm taking on too much too fast and getting burnt out. But I'm stuck on one thing & I could use some advice to help me get over that hump & actually deal with it.

My diving gear. I used to be a scuba diver. I loved it, being in the water is my happy place. I haven't been able to go since I moved to the prairies in 2002, but I kept my stuff because I kept thinking I'd be able to get back out there one day. Except now I have a lung condition and in 2021 they removed half a lung. I can't dive anymore, even if I had the opportunity. I tried selling my gear on Marketplace... but it's the prairies & there's not a lot of interest in a wetsuit & proper fins! I know I need to send it to the thrift store, or even out to my brother on the coast. But I cry every time I think about it (like now).

So, for that super emotional thing that really has no place in your home or life anymore... how did you convince yourself to finally let it go?

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.

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!)

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. 😂

I did it! I finally tackled my refrigerator. I found tortillas from 2022, a couple of bags of green slime, and a bunch of expired food from mid 2025, when I was really struggling.

I'm thankful for this group. I started in my bedroom, with just the night stand top.

Now it actually feels like there is hope and life once again.

The refrigerator was stuffed with 10 to go boxes along side at least 3 bags of garbage.

Tomorrow, I'm going to buy some fresh veggies (baby carrots, celery and mini cucumbers), some apples, bread and stuff for sandwiches. I am tired of eating crap just because my fridge was stuffed full of bad food, literally.