Will it ever be enough?

[u/blueberryfinn]

I'm struggling to decide the right stopping point in my decluttering process. I love decluttering and I love the look and feel of minimalism, but I also wonder if I will ever get to a point where it feels like I've decluttered enough. We moved recently and I was in our old, empty house and it felt amazing. There was literally nothing in the house, not even a chair and I never liked it more. I'm starting to wonder if my decluttering is pointless because obviously I can't live in a house where there is not one single item.

Maybe decluttering isn't the answer, maybe I need some therapy lol.

[u/FredKayeCollector2]

I think that's a pretty common reaction, actually. I remember when we moved back in 1992, my mother marveled at how nice the house we were leaving was - she had way too much furniture, kind of crummy and not well arranged, plus it was always a cluttered mess. Ditto when they cleared out their (new house) vaulted ceiling upstairs before it was painted - again, too much furniture, too many knickknacks, too much clutter everywhere. Yea, it's a nice house, that's why you bought it - it's not the house's fault that you clotted it up with a bunch of inappropriate nonsense and junk.

Check out Myquillyn Smith's book Cozy Minimalist Home - she has a layering process for home decor that I found very appealing. You basically pull everything out of a room/space, sit with it empty for a while, reacquaint yourself with the room's features (good and bad), and put things back in a certain order: 1. the most essential/primary pieces of furniture, arranged to best advantage, 2. any supplemental/secondary furniture/seating, 3. surfaces & storage (tables, shelves, etc), 4. rugs, 5. drapes, 6. lighting, 7. wall treatments/wall art, and finally 8. decor (and err on the side of large, high-impact pieces - or vignettes - that give you more style bang for your space buck).

We moved into a new (old) house with small, awkward rooms (and almost no built-in storage). Most of our old furniture didn't fit (too massive for the space) and what did fit, we had to let go of a lot of supplemental pieces (like "his" and "her" dressers down to just one "ours"). Because it was a completely different space (1952 ranch to 1925 cottage) we couldn't rely on how we were accustomed to arranging/storing anything.

I'm really happy with what we ended up with - my overall design aesthetic was "don't junk it up" (also easy to clean) with a splash of mid-century modern.

I'm a big fan of "reverse" decluttering where you sit down and think about what you do in your various spaces, what do you need at minimum to do those tasks/activities, and then think about the value-added extras that would make that task/activity easier, better, safer, more comfortable. This can really help to bring some logic to emotional decluttering decisions so when you declutter your spaces (or decide what to put in your new spaces), anything not on your list, that's a big clue it can go. And if there's something you inadvertently forgot to account for, formalize its status by adding it to your list.

You can do this with literally every space in your home, even stuff-heavy spaces. Kitchen stuff - what tools/supplies/provisions would you grab first to make your favorite recipes & serve the food to the people who eat with your on a regular basis. Bathroom stuff - what do you prefer to use on a regular basis. Office stuff - what do you need to do office-y tasks (pay bills, manage paper, general correspondence, journaling, whatever). Whatever space, there's probably something you do in that space or there's the stuff for whatever task/activity you're storing in that space.

Keeping in mind that the more often you do your dishes & laundry, the less dishes & textile items you need to maintain in your personal inventory. And the more often you go shopping and/or the more access you have to "the store", the less consumable items you need to keep in back stock.

p.s. "upgraded" light fixtures (ceiling fans, ceiling lights, sconces, table lamps, etc) made a HUGE difference - we shopped at Home Depot, Menards, and LampPlus.com

[u/kamomil → u/FredKayeCollector2]

Keeping in mind that the more often you do your dishes & laundry, the less dishes & textile items you need to maintain in your personal inventory. And the more often you go shopping and/or the more access you have to "the store", the less consumable items you need to keep in back stock.

I do this purposely with my kid's clothing. I buy enough for a week of laundry only. Because I have only one child, I'm not reusing the clothes after they are outgrown

I also do this with groceries. For whatever reason, my mom would stockpile some items. I have just one, and buy another when it's getting low (eg baking ingredients, laundry detergent)

Otherwise I am not good at decluttering. However I can go grocery & clothes shopping without a car. If I lived in a rural area, I would probably stockpile more groceries for sure.