When you want to declutter, but you know that a lot of the decisions you’ll face will feel emotional, it can be hard to start. Dealing with sentimental clutter can feel scary. As I decluttered truckloads of clutter from my own home, I faced many of these decisions, so I created strategies to work through these kinds of items.
Here are some blog posts, podcasts and other resources that will help if you’re dealing with sentimental clutter.
Blog Posts about Dealing with Sentimental Clutter:
How to Deal with Sentimental Clutter
Real Struggles with Attachment to Stuff (a reader story)
Treasured Items aren’t Treasured Items if They’re Not Treasured
A Listener Shares How She Deals with Giving Up Dreams
When You Can’t Remember a Memory
Podcasts with Strategies for Decluttering Sentimental Items:
Sentimental Clutter (Podcast 011)
Decluttering – Giving Up On Dreams Podcasts Part 1 and Part 2
Videos about Decluttering Sentimental Stuff:
Live Q&A Videos:
When you click on the link, you’ll go straight to the timestamp in the video where I answer the question.
Answering Your Decluttering Questions – 3.19.24 – – “What if you’ve been decluttering for four years now? And you’ve put off all the sentimental and identity stuff and now you need to deal those items and it’s overwhelming? How to start?”
Decluttering Q&A: Jan 9, 2024 – – “What do I do with sentimental items that my mother gave me that she still wants, but doesn’t want to keep in her house so now it’s in my house, and I now feel the guilt and burden of keeping items.”
Decluttering Q&A: 12.12.2023 – – “Question: grief/sentimental clutter. What is your approach? I have a room in my basement FULL of items from my late husband.”
Decluttering Q&A with Dana K White May 16, 2023 – “I’m looking for advice on decluttering after the death of a loved one. How do you deal with the overwhelm of memory and emotion and making decisions when my grief is still raw?”
Answering Your Decluttering Questions – 3.19.24 – “Please some encouragement on how to declutter/ sort through kids toys that are sentimental due to memories. Not sure if we’ll be having more kids or not, don’t know what to do.”
From My “Audio Product” Series, Decluttering Deep Dives:
Identity Clutter: The Whats, Whys, and Hows of Every Angle of Decluttering
Somewhat confusing explanation: What are my “audio products”? They are a series of six 40 minuteish single audio products in which I go deep into answering decluttering questions I get regularly. They are very similar to podcasts, but they aren’t podcasts. They are paid products available on platforms where audio books are sold. And they were professionally recorded and edited in a studio (as opposed to my homespun podcasts). They are also often available from library systems that offer digital audiobooks. PLEASE NOTE that these “audio products” cost significantly less than an audiobook, usually around $5 (determined by my publisher and the audiobook seller so I can’t say for sure), so don’t use audiobook credits to purchase them since those are often worth around $15.
Additional Resources:
Take Your House Back is a thorough online course I teach with Dawn from The Minimal Mom and Cas from Clutterbug. Thousands of people have truly transformed their homes going through this course. It is on SALE through January 17th! Learn more here.
My book, Decluttering at the Speed of Life, spells out my decluttering strategies in thorough, step-by-step instructions to help you work through your clutter, including sentimental clutter.