Decisions to Make When Decluttering
Perhaps you have:
- Accumulated a lot of stuff over several decades of marriage.
- Limited storage space that is overflowing.
- Moved to a new house with limited space.
- Too much stuff that doesn’t fit into your new home.
- Items you’re holding onto “just in case.”
- Piles on your flat surfaces due to your indecision.
- Similar items because you’ve lost track of what you have.
- A collection of old magazines and recipe books.
If so, then you’ll understand that deciding what to keep and get rid of when decluttering can be hard work, challenging, and overwhelming.
In the absence of a decision-making process, we often have difficulty determining what to get rid of, so we tend to keep everything.
The objective here is to provide you with a practical decision-making tool. To help you, a family member, perhaps even a friend become more comfortable and less intimidated making decisions about clutter.
In short, this decision-making tool categorizes your items based on your level of attachment and usefulness.
This is a personalized approach, as not everyone’s situation is the same.
The tool – The S.O.R.T. Decluttering Process – is designed to give you practical advice to help you decide what to keep and get rid of when decluttering.
The S.O.R.T. Decluttering Process
The S.OR.T. Decluttering Process is an easy way of categorizing your items.
Simply put, it is a means of helping you decide what to keep and get rid of when decluttering.
This is a decluttering method that involves categorizing your items based on their personal and functional value. Don’t overlook this process. Once you’re clear on these simple rules, decision-making is easier.
Often, what holds people back when it comes to decluttering is not having a process or a concrete methodology to work with. And as a result, you end up feeling stuck and end up doing nothing.
And, doing nothing doesn’t move you toward achieving your goal of a clutter-free home.
When you have a method and way of thinking through what to keep and get rid of when decluttering, you’re not operating in a vacuum. In fact, this process can help you to figure out even the most difficult decision.
Keep in mind that this doesn’t ignore the fact that there will be emotional decisions to make. This is not to sound heavy, rather, it is to assist in the decision-making process and enable you to take as objective an approach as possible, when decluttering. While not overlooking legitimate emotional connections.
Personal and Functional Value
The notion of personal and functional values are important components in the S.O.R.T. Decluttering Process.
Being familiar with the kind of value you attribute to your items assists in the thought process when decluttering.
This is YOUR process and only YOU know the importance of your belongings.
You’re probably familiar with the saying “one man’s treasure is another man’s trash”. In other words, your precious movie collection may not have the same value to someone else.
Items that have personal value often have a sentimental component – things we own or have or keep for emotional reasons. Such as heirloom jewelry, your wedding dress, or baby clothes once worn by your now-adult children.
Items that are functional in nature, are things we use, and the key is to determine how often we use them, if at all.
4 Categories of Items – S.O.R.T.
So, what exactly does S.O.R.T. stand for?
- Sentimental – high personal value, low functional value
- Operational – low personal value, high functional value
- Recreational – high personal value, high functional value
- Trash – low personal value, low functional value
For the most part, all your items fall into one of these 4 categories:
Sentimental
These are the items you treasure. They have high sentimental attachment and low functional value. For example, old photographs and artwork from your children when they were in kindergarten. While these items are generally not considered to be functional, there is a high level of emotional attachment.
Operational
These items serve a specific purpose. And, there is limited emotional attachment. For example, a paper shredder, or a garden rake. Essentially, these are the items that are useful to you.
Recreational
These are the items that are useful and generate some emotion, such as pleasure. For instance, televisions, and your good old cell phone. They are characterized as having high emotional value and high functional value.
Trash
Trash is fairly easy to identify by its characteristic low personal value and low emotional attachment. Such as expired coupons, old notebooks. Essentially, these are the outdated things, things you cannot use, and maybe even things you don’t like.
Categorizing Your Items
The simplest approach is to start with the easiest decisions and work your way up to the most difficult ones.
The first thing you’ll think about when picking up an item is your level of personal attachment to it and then its usefulness.
So, the easiest items to get rid of are those to which you attribute low personal value and low functional value.
In other words, the easiest are things that are not useful and that you don’t care about.
Sentimental items are the most difficult.
Once again, the S.O.R.T. Decluttering Process is a decision-making tool. So, when you come across items, you will know what category they fall into and how to work through the decision of whether or not to keep them.
Decision-Making: Trash
Trash is the easiest to identify. And, the easiest to make a decision about.
What is in your home that you can recycle, shred, or throw out?
Something that doesn’t require a lot of thought.
So, when clearing out your kitchen, for instance, the oven mitts with burn holes in them, can be thrown out.
As well as any old takeout menus or expired coupons.
Decision-Making: Operational Items
These items require a bit more thought. However, because there’s not much emotional attachment, you simply need to determine how functional a particular item is to you.
Here are some questions to consider when deciding what to keep and get rid of when decluttering items that fall into this category:
- If you no longer have this item, how would it affect your life?
For instance, even though you may not be a wine drinker, you still may want to keep a corkscrew around because it is occasionally useful when you have company. - Do you have duplicates or another item that could serve the same purpose?
Consider small appliances such as the Instant Pot vs a slow cooker. The Instant Pot has slow cooking functionality therefore, you might choose to donate the slow cooker. - Are you holding onto this just in case you might need it?
In the case of old presentation slides from companies you no longer work for and an industry you have since left, it’s probably time to shred this information.
Decision-Making: Recreational Items
Now, we’re moving into the items that have more personal attachment and high functional value.
The sentimentality adds an extra layer of complexity usually because of the memories attached to it.
Take a look at the following questions to ask when deciding about decluttering items in this category.
- Do you still feel the same way about this item that you once did?
For instance, do you still get the same thrill from a particular movie or CD in your collection? - Why are you holding onto this item?
So, when it comes to particular clothing items that you don’t have the space for select the ones that you like the best, based on comfort, style, or any criteria that work for you. - Could someone else use it more than you do now?
Such as, you may have a musical instrument that you no longer play.
Decision-Making: Sentimental Items
This is the most difficult category. So, don’t be surprised if it takes a bit more effort.
Yes, these are beloved items and even though their practicality may be limited, the memories associated with them are strong.
Paring down these items doesn’t mean getting rid of your memories. Here are some helpful questions to consider.
- Can you retain the same memory with a photo of the item?
A photo will take up much less space than a physical item. - Can you reduce the number of items to hold onto a particular memory?
A few articles of your deceased parent’s belongings can represent the same memory as an entire container. - Do you feel obligated to keep this item?
Perhaps you received something as a gift and it’s no longer practical to keep it for any number of reasons, such as space. It doesn’t mean that you’re dishonoring the gift-giver when you can’t keep it anymore.
Recap
Now that you have a decision-making tool, you’re in a position to take on the challenge of deciding what to keep and what to get rid of when decluttering.
Remember S.O.R.T.:
- Sentimental: items that you hold onto for sentimental reasons
- Operational: things you don’t have a personal attachment to, but serve as useful tools
- Recreational: items to which you have a personal attachment and are useful
- Trash: items you don’t have any attachment to and serve no functional purpose
At the end of the day, you make the decision – no one else can do it for you.
The S.O.R.T. Decluttering Process is a tool designed to help bring clarity to your decisions with less stress.
And, it’s a personal decision. Not everyone’s situation is the same.
But, you now have a way of working through the process.
Even if you have strong sentimental reasons for wanting to keep a specific item, this system can make you more comfortable deciding whether or not it’s time for you to let it go. This process can be used whether you’re decluttering a small area or an entire house.
The S.O.R.T. Decluttering Process is a good decision-making tool that helps you achieve your goal of living with less stuff, making decisions about what is essential to you, and not downplaying the importance of your sentimental items.
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