Sorting Your Stuff When Downsizing and Decluttering

by Jess Lex

When you start sorting out the valuables in your house during the decluttering and downsizing process, you will have to make a lot of decisions. How can you keep the process organized? We strongly suggest you categorize all your things. 5 categories should be sufficient for most people.

Here are the categories we recommend:

Keep - This category doesn’t really need to be separated out. If you’re keeping it, just put it where it belongs once you’ve made that decision.

Give to Family - This pile should contain anything that you think will be given to family members or friends. This might be a small pile as many of our family members aren’t interested in our things. You might also have things in this category that won’t be given to family until after you are no longer using them. If that’s the case, consider making a list in a notebook or placing a sticky note on the item assigning these items to the proper family members.

Donate - This is your chance to make a difference by utilizing your favorite resale organization. This category will probably be the largest category. These donated items will be able find the next best home and continue to be used. Note: Make sure you are not putting trash in the donate category just because you feel bad throwing it away.

Sell - If you think the object might have monetary value, put it in the “sell” category. Just be flexible as some things that start in the sell category may end up having to move to another category if you aren’t able to find a buyer.

Throw Away - No one likes to throw away perfectly good stuff, but unfortunately, some stuff that we have is appropriate to throw away.

Most people will do the work of sorting and categorizing by moving the items themselves. Because it can be easy to get your piles mixed up, it’s a really good idea to use some labeling to keep yourself organized. You can sort things into boxes or bags that you’ve labeled. If you do it this way, the things that need to be moved out of the house are already gathered together and ready to move. If you don’t have boxes around, you can make space to pile things up near a wall and hang labels on the wall where you want that pile to be located. Maybe a combination of the 2 methods will work best. For example, boxes for “Give to Family” and “Donate,” a trash bag for “Throw Away,” and a space in a room designated for the items you’d like to sell.

Maybe you’re not ready to start tearing your house apart, but still want to make some progress on sorting. Feel free to pull out a notebook and put the category header at the top of 5 different pages. As you think about items and what category they belong in, write the item down on the appropriate category’s sheet of paper.

Downsizers often ask me when they should take their donation pile to their donation spot. I personally don’t think it is super efficient to take 1 box at a time, but that might be necessary for you if you’re tempted to take things out of your boxes after you put them in. If you’re not the type to undo your decisions after you’ve made them, you might be safe to wait until you’ve gathered a few boxes. Maybe create a space contingency. For example, once your trunk is full, consider taking that trip to the donation center. For me, I have a countertop in my laundry room that I consistently pile my donations on. Once that is full, I then load up my car and bring my donation in.

Trash day tip - Sometimes downsizing means you’ll have a lot to throw away. You might be considering renting a dumpster to take it all away. I would encourage you to start smaller than that. If you’re like me, I consistently bring my trash can down to the curb on trash day each week almost empty. Why not make it a goal each week to fill up your trash bin the day before garbage day to help you gradually throw things away? You’re already paying for the trash service. Why not use it to its full capacity?