Asking the right decluttering questions is the key to simplifying your home.
If you’ve been trying to declutter, but no matter how hard you try, you never seem to make any progress then this post is for you.
Feeling overwhelmed by clutter or unable to focus on working through it is no fun.
But the answer may be simpler than you think, and it could boil down to asking yourself the right questions while decluttering.
In this post, you’ll be introduced to the key question categories that could help you fine-tune your decluttering skills so that you can get your home organised once and for all.
For years I struggled with clutter. And not for want of trying to get rid of it.
But I hadn’t figured out the right questions to ask. Instead, I kept pulling the same items out over and over and then putting them back again, thinking that I needed, wanted or liked them.
I kept asking myself “Can I use this?”. Well, for anyone with a creative or an ADHD brain, the issue with that is that we can ALWAYS think of a use for something. So I kept coming up with ideas for my items.
I can upcycle this, I can mend it, I’ll wear it for a special occasion, this will work for fancy dress etc. I’m sure there isn’t a thing on the planet that I can’t think of a use for.
The problem is, that in most cases all of these uses exist purely in my imagination and rarely translate to the real world.
So I set out to compile a list of questions that would actually be useful in deciding what to keep and what to declutter.
And in my research, I found that there is no one-size-fits-all with the questions that work. A question that resonates with you might seem trivial to someone else, and vice versa.
So I have put together a checklist by category so you can pick and choose depending on what themes really resonate with you.
Below Are the Main Decluttering Question Themes
You can download the full checklist here.
Practical Decluttering Questions – Do I use it?
The average American home contains over 300,000 items. I can’t imagine being able to use that many items in a day, a week, a year or at all really. So that suggests that most of what we own we don’t actually use.
This is the most straightforward category of questions, designed simply to identify whether an item is actually useful to you. Not whether we can imagine a use for it (ADHD brain I’m talking to you!) but whether it is truly, genuinely useful.
Emotional Clutter Questions – Does this bring me joy?
Let’s consider quality of life here. Not everything we own has to have a practical use.
Some of the things we hold on to purely because we like them. And that’s OK. But what you do want to be mindful of is the balance between the practical items and the ones you keep just because you like them.
So be honest with yourself as to which items you actually love and which you are holding on to because of the emotions they evoke for you.
Sentimental Clutter Questions – Do I have this for it’s value or for the memory it evokes?
If this category is challenging for you, you are certainly not alone. In fact, sentimental items are usually the hardest for most people to declutter. And because it can be hard, it is also often a category we shy away from dealing with. But asking yourself the right questions can help define which of these items you should keep.
Firstly, some things bring back bad memories. Do you really want to be reminded of negative experiences? If not, let them go.
For the items that hold valuable positive memories for you, consider if there are other ways to preserve your memory that might not require holding on to say all of grandma’s dining chairs.
Guilt or Fantasy Self Questions – Do I feel I should use this, but actually don’t?
I used to love skiing and would go usually several times a year. But after I moved back to the U.K. opportunities for skiing became far more limited. I kept my ski gear for the first few years, hoping for a winter holiday abroad, but in reality, I had other priorities.
So I gave in and donated the ski gear. Now I’m glad I did, as if and when I do go skiing again I am not going to be excited to pull out 20-year-old ski clothes.
So this category is all about getting real about who you are and what serves you now. Not in the past or for some future fantasy self.
Giving Questions – Can someone else benefit from this more than I can?
If you are not using all the things in your home, could they be put to better use by someone else? Holding on to them might mean missing the opportunity for another person to use them whilst they are still functional and current. Once things become old and dated they may become a lot less useful.
Time and Energy Decluttering Questions – Do I want to deal with this item?
This is often overlooked when we consider our things. Yet everything in your home requires your time and energy to look after it. Even if it is simply to move and dust it.
So consider whether the things you have are worth your time and energy to look after. This is especially important when you have a lot of demands on your time and energy, or when your time and energy have been limited by physical or mental health factors. Less bandwidth for managing stuff = a need for less stuff.
Money and Scarcity – Am I paying to store this item?
The most obvious way you might be paying for excess clutter is in storage fees. But also consider the hidden costs. Like the size of house you live in to fit all the stuff you have. Or how it impacts your ability to earn if you have a chaotic home. Or the extra things you may be buying because you can’t find the ones you already have.
You might also be holding on to things because you don’t want to spend money buying them again in the future. This is so common and makes a lot of sense. To a point.
But we often forget to weigh up the cost of holding onto the item against replacing it later down the line.
Last summer we went on a family camping trip and my mother came along too. She needed a camp bed to sleep on and dug my old one out of the attic, which I had used decades ago in Girl Scouts. This bed had been sitting in the attic for over 30 years. And after all this time it was no longer in useable condition.
When I ran a calculation based on the cost of property in the area and the space that this bed was taking up, over those 30+ years storing that camp bed cost around £12,570 at today’s prices! You can hear me tell the full story HERE.
So beware of the hidden costs of holding onto clutter.
Family and Friends – Am I saving this for someone else?
Time for a reality check on whether your loved ones actually want the stuff you are saving with them in mind. The simplest way to get the answer to these questions is to ask them. And if they say “No thank you”, release yourself of the burden of storage and honour that request.
Projects – When, exactly, am I going to tackle this?
Ok, this one is my Achilles heel. An ADHD brain is wired to seek novelty and gets easily bored. So projects are easy to start but much harder to finish. Which inevitably means a lot of unfinished projects being stored for later. The thing is, for many of them, later never comes.
So if you, like me, have unfinished projects taking up space, it’s time to ask some hard and honest questions and get rid of the ones that are destined never to get done.
In Conclusion – How to Use Your Decluttering Questions
Even if you’ve struggled with decluttering before you can become a master organiser of your own home by asking the right questions.
By considering which of these categories is the most meaningful and relevant to you, you can make sure that you are asking yourself the right decluttering questions.
If you haven’t already, you can download the full clutter checklist here. Pick the ones that really resonate with you. You may even find that one is enough, as Marie Kondo demonstrates with her one question “does it spark joy”?
For me, that question is too subjective. I need something more concrete and practical.
So I encourage you to go through and see which ones resonate with you because asking the right decluttering questions can lead to a home that brings you joy.
I’d love to hear your feedback. Which ones resonate with you? And what did I miss?
