Emotional Decluttering: 8 Things Almost Everyone Has Difficulty Decluttering And How To Let Them Go

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If you don’t know what emotional decluttering is, fasten your seat belts and join us for a way to let go of it all finally. Of course, that doesn’t mean getting rid of everything in your home. Instead, emotional decluttering is about parting with things we don’t “need” anymore.

Unfortunately, most people think decluttering our homes, lives, and even mental clutter is easy. Well, it’s not as easy as you might think. There’s so much more to it than simply emptying drawers or closets and choosing a few things to donate or throw away.

Emotional Decluttering Goes Deep – How Deep? Let’s Find Out

I learned firsthand about emotional decluttering and what it really means during the past several years. Our need to accumulate “stuff” goes much deeper than that. Many of us develop emotional attachments to our “things,” and before we know it, our homes are in disarray, and so are our lives.

If you ever watch the TV series Hoarders, you get a good idea of what it’s like to attach yourself to your possessions. While your life might not look exactly like that where your home becomes overrun by stuff, it’s easy to understand how it can happen.

For example, after the passing of my husband three years ago, I made a conscious effort to rid my home of things I don’t need anymore. This emotional decluttering continues today, and with each step, I inch towards a freedom I never knew was possible.

While my home was always neat, clean, and organized, it felt overburdened by too much “stuff.” In particular, I discovered eight very difficult things to part with and overcame parting with them with mental determination and some mental trickery.

Moreover, you might discover certain things in your home are difficult to part with, especially things of sentimental value – don’t fret. There is a way out of the mess and into a home free of clutter. In this article, we will focus on eight things in particular that might be difficult to part with and how you can finally let go of them.

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1 – Old Schoolwork, Notebooks, and Random Paper Items

I used to save all my old schoolwork and notes until a basement flood washed them away one day. At first, shock kicked in, then sadness, but that flood did me a favor. I never opened them after graduation, and they sat there collecting dust and webs. Lesson learned. I didn’t need them but was attached to them instead.

Moreover, this was a great lesson in emotional decluttering. So, if you have old schoolwork, notebooks, or random papers, you might want to recycle them and rid yourself of the burden.

What To Do:

Instead, if anything you cherish from school or papers is lying around, scan them or take pictures of them. It’s best to store them on your phone or computer to free yourself of the clutter. I love using an external hard drive for all of my storage needs. The drives are small enough and easy to use, even for non-techies.

I recommend this WD 2TB Elements Portable External Hard Drive for Windows. It’s large enough for all of your digital needs. Of course, they have one for MAC users, too.

2 – Your Book Collection

Nowadays, we all tend to purchase digital books that are far easier to store and catalog. But if you were like me and had several bookshelves filled with books, you might want to think about pairing them down. A few years ago, I sorted through all of my books and only kept the ones dear to me. The rest I donated to the Salvation Army.

Not only did that task clear up my living space, but I felt free and unburdened by the mass collection. This emotional decluttering served me well, and now all of my books are in digital form, except for a stack of cherished ones I reread often.

What To Do:

First, sort your books into two piles, keep and donate. Of course, keep anything that has meaning to you. For example, if you have vintage or sentimental books, you’ll want to keep those.

Next, we recommend buying yourself a decorative bookshelf. You can find many affordable styles on Amazon. Shoppers love and highly recommend this Tribesigns 5-Tier Bookshelf with five-star reviews. It’s inexpensive and looks great in any room.

You can quickly add decorative home decor items throughout the bookshelf and keep the books you keep in consistent numbers. For example, try stacking the same number of books on each shelf, alternating between left and right.

Another great example is donating your books to your neighborhood HOA or local library. Either way, you can develop a sense of freedom by unloading your book collection. Plus, creating your new digital library is fun and exciting. It will also allow you to choose from some audiobooks if you never tried them.

4  – Old Or New Appliance Manuals or Instructions

Let’s face it. We are all guilty of keeping applicance manuals and instructions stowed away in a drawer somewhere. This year, I threw them all out! Nowadays, almost every manual or instruction PDF is available on the net. Ridding yourself of these types of emotional decluttering will instantly free up your home’s storage space.

What To Do:

A great solution is to create a folder on your computer and name it according to the appliance or instruction manual. For starters, you can get free storage on Google Drive, or you can purchase an external drive and stow them away on it. Google offers 15 GB of free cloud storage to each Google Account. Virtual copies are easy to find; you can email the vendor if you can’t find one for your appliance.

🌍Earth-Friendly Tip: Remember to recycle your old manuals and paper products for these projects. After completing my emotional decluttering projects, I loaded my car and took them all to the recycling plant in one fall swoop.

5 – Printed Photos And Albums

Regarding photos, I tend to keep them all – it’s overwhelming and takes up loads of storage space. Nowadays, folks typically print photos they want to frame, and all the others are stowed away in albums or loosely in drawers or boxes.

With the advent of mobile phones, we now hoard them there where we occasionally look at them and show our loved ones. It’s very difficult to throw them away, so why should you? While there’s always a better way to store our photos, there’s also a better way to house them moving forward.

What To Do:

First, you can scan your photos and store them on your computer or external drive (I highly recommend getting one). Plus, there are plenty of options on the net you can consider, like Artifact Uprising or digmypics MemoryBox. They can digitize almost everything from old photos and scrapbooks to letters, film reels, and audio files.

Conversely, you can try what I did. I purchased a large storage container and placed all my photo albums and photos there. If you don’t want to part with them, that’s a great option. I stowed them away in my basement, knowing they would stay safe there.

6 – Greeting Cards, Love Letters, And the Like

With the advent of e-cards, no one sends greeting cards anymore. At least the circle of people I know don’t,’ and those I see talking about it on social media don’t either. Don’t fret. Fortunately, there are options for you to replace them digitally and keep them close to your heart.

What To Do:

Last year, and moving forward, if anyone sends me a greeting card with sentimental value, I snap a picture of it and stow it away with my digital photos. Regarding love letters, most love notes arrive to us via text or email. Fortunately, you can save them easily digitally.

You can also stow away the cherished memories in a keepsake box. Emotional decluttering is not always easy, but if you want to organize your home and lean towards a minimalistic lifestyle, it’s like ripping a bandaid off – you just have to do it!

7 – Heirlooms, Childhood Keepsakes, and Knick·Knacks

We all have things our families handed down to us, and typically, while we love them, we stow them away in boxes in the attic or basement. Of course, some of us received large heirlooms like furniture, cars, etc. We want to keep some of them close while others we hold on to because of their sentimental value.

Now, it’s time to decide – what to keep, donate, or sell! It’s a great time of year to go through your inventory of knick-knacks and decide what speaks to you emotionally or not. While it might present some emotional struggles, deciding which to keep will free up much space in your home and finally organize that cluttered room.

What To Do:

Ideally, if you have smaller heirlooms, you can transform them into decorative shadowboxes. You can use them to frame jerseys, medals, coins, clothing, 3D art, and other precious keepsakes. If you like a fun DIY project, you can purchase them on Amazon and use your creativity to create one.

A shadow box is a deep-framed display case with a glass front that showcases three-dimensional objects, memorabilia, and other cherished items. The depth of the frame creates a shadow effect, giving the displayed items a sense of depth and dimension. They make beautiful decorative items you can display on walls, furniture, or anywhere.

8 – Unused or Broken Items

This last category falls under unused or broken items that live in the never-never land in our homes. We all have items we categorize as “I Might Fix It Someday,” like broken electronics, appliances, or furniture. I also classify them as “It Could Be Useful Someday.”

Let’s face it: these unused or extra household items we store away for hypothetical needs. This type of emotional decluttering brings instant gratification!

What To Do:

You might not want to hear this, but we think they are worth trashing – all of them! If you haven’t fixed them yet, odds are you never will. Furthermore, this also includes any items held onto because they were costly, even if they’re no longer used or useful.

Emotional Decluttering: Letting Go and Moving Forward

So, this can be the start of something wonderful for you. Letting go is the next step in moving forward. That’s a powerful punchline, isn’t it?

We would love to hear about what you let go of and how below in the comments. Happy emotional decluttering this year. We know you can do it!

Don’t Forget To Pin Your Inspiration!

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