The Junk Room Declutter
Because of the the number of variables we’ll be dealing with, the junk room declutter is probably the most complex to explain and challenging to execute.
Also known as the: spare room, office, dining room, bedroom, garage, shed, attic or famously in ‘The Castle’, ‘The Pool Room’, junk rooms are often a mix of trash and treasure.
So, as with all my ‘how to declutter your clutter’ guides, before attempting to declutter your junk room, take the time to read through all of the information. A before and after picture is also a good idea, as you’ll be amazed with the transformation that we’re about to make happen.
First: The Declutter Mindset
Ask yourself: ‘what’s my goal?’
Some possible answers are, to be able to:
Restore the room to its original purpose,
To have friends and family to stay,
Re-purpose the room for crafts or hobbies,
Invite people over without feeling embarrassed,
Feel pride in my home.
Having a purpose that’s bigger than ‘to be able to get into the room’, or ‘not keep the door permanently closed’, is what is going to help you get going and keep going!
Our Mantra:
Less Is More
It’s a well-worn cliché because it’s true.
It’s also particularly apt when applied to the junk room declutter.
This mantra will help you achieve your goal and make much more room for the good stuff.
There’s more joy to be had when you have less stuff and more time for you and the people and things you love.
Remember, 80% of the stuff we keep we never use!
If you posess something and you can’t let it go –
then it posesses you, you don’t possess it.
Then: Everything Out - All In
Category One – Emotional or Sentimental Items
In my experience I’ve found the junk room to be one of the most emotionally triggering areas in the home to declutter.
This is not simply due to the low (or high) level of guilt many of us feel about having an area filled with clutter chaos. Or having a part of our home where the door is kept permanently closed because of what lies on the other side.
It’s because one of the main types of items people store in their junk rooms are sentimental items, and these are the hardest and time consuming to let go. The sometimes, always, never, edit doesn’t work as effectively when dealing with sentimental items. Nor does it help that we feel guilty when we let go of items that our loved ones ‘loved’ or gifted that we never liked or will never use.
I find it helpful to remember that memories don’t rely on things, and that people live in our hearts and minds. I also remind my clients that: “yes, they may have ‘loved’ that picture, teapot, or rock collection, but they loved you more.”
Children’s art and certificates, yearbooks, memorial booklets, stuffed toys and trophies are some of the emotional items we hold on to. In days past, these items were relatively scarce in number, that is not true today.
The Junk Room/Museum
One client I worked with had saved every certificate, photo, school report and year book that belonged to each of her four children. Jokingly, she told me that she was thinking of creating a museum of their childhood that they could visit with their own children.
None of her children expressed an interest in the things she was holding on to for them. Instead encouraging her to let go of these things from their childhood, as they could see she was living in clutter chaos.
This is an extreme case, but for many of us the junk room declutter is about recognising the tendancy to hold on to things for sentimental reasons that aren’t helpful, or maybe relevant.
Museum of bad memories
Another client shared with me the things that were in her attic: ‘a teddybear I never liked’, ‘a rug a made with my grandma, the colours are horrible, it’ll never see the light of day again,’ were just two of the items from a long list of things she rattled-off.
Much of what was in her attic were things she didn’t like but had an emotional connection to. It didn’t make her feel good to keep them, she’d just got used to having them around. After we talked about the museum of bad memories she’d created she saw it for what it was.
The junk room declutter starts with the mind. The stories this person was telling herself about why she needed to keep these items weren’t helpful or healthy, and she made the decision to make changes.
Category Two: Items of Perceived Value
We also have trouble letting go of things because we’ve spent our hard earned money on them; we think they still have a dollar value – even though more often than not they don’t.
One client of mine had saved all her children’s baby clothes to pass on. When the time came, her daughter didn’t want to dress her child in 30-year-old outfits. Because of their perceived value the clothes had been packed and stored for years, taking up space and being unnecessarily moved from house to house.
Costly ‘free’ items
This same thinking can extend to promotional items we have been given ‘for free’, we feel like they are worth something, but they’re not! In fact they cost you time, energy and effort to manage and store them. They are also a nightmare when it comes time to move home, or clear a space for someone to stay in your home.
When editing these items in the junk room declutter use the S.A.N.E method and ask yourself: ‘will I use them sometimes, always or never?’ ‘Never,’ items go in the exit pile for donation, recycling or disposal.
Category Three: Electronics
Electronic items are one of the worst culprits of clutter in our homes and lives.
They have a perceived value but are manufactured with ‘built-in obsolescence’, meaning that they rarely last longer than a few years. They are often sealed units, so unless you have specialist tools and know-how we can’t repair them either.
Take the time to check how many old mobile phones you have tucked away, and how many chargers for obsolete items you are keeping ‘just in case’.
One of my clients had no less than four sat-navs and two old mobile phones stored in a box, together with chargers and a tangle cables. Thinking it was wasteful they felt wrong about discarding them. These items do have a value when recycled, they contain precious metals and non-renewable resources. It’s a waste to store them, letting them gather dust in your home, instead do yourself and the Planet a favour and recycle your obsolete electronics.
Mobile Muster points can be found in leading retailers and many local councils also have collection points for phones and e-waste, do a web search and find the nearest one to you. As part of your exit strategy, factor in a trip to your chosen drop-off point.
Category Four: Paper Clutter
Have you held onto magazines, brochures, children’s school books and out-of-date paper statements/warranties for years? Apply the S.A.N.E method to effectively edit your paper clutter in its various forms.
The junk room declutter is your opportunity to purge the paper. Out-of-date, irrelevant documents and paperwork need to exit, shred them if you need to and then put them in the recycling.
“I once spoke to someone who had not only his school books, but also his father’s.
When I asked him why he was keeping them all he didn’t have an answer.
At some point, someone is going to have to make a decision about whether to keep them or not, by which time their perceived value and importance would have grown.
In this case it would seem likely it will be his children: this is a burden most people could do without.”
Category Five: Books and Magazines
If you will never re-read the books and magazines you’re keeping then it’s time to let them go.
Once you have read a novel and enjoyed it, a lovely thing to do is to pass it onto a friend who you think would get pleasure from reading it; tell them when they’ve finished to feel free to do the same. Your local second-hand book-store may be happy to take them off your hands, or your local op shop.
Devices such as kindles and tablets have revolutionised the way we read. However, if you still prefer the enjoyment of a real book, your local library is a wonderful resource. I love books and I love my local library. All the books I want to read, free of charge and without the storage requirements – it’s a win:win:win!
Category Six: Photographs
How many photos do you have stored away in boxes, bags, envelopes and albums?
Before digital cameras and then smart devices were owned by almost everyone photographs had a different status: tangible items that were cherished and collected. Although we’ve moved to digitial many of us still have envelopes of photos stored in shoeboxes lurking in the junk room.
Digitising
Many people feel that photos are sacred and you can’t discard them – but have you considered digitising? By scanning, or photographing the pick of the bunch, you’ll have a record of these images without having to store them any more. By setting up albums in free cloud-based platforms like Google Photos you can then share them with whoever you choose.
You may even make some wonderful discoveries you can have printed into wall art, so the photos are there for everyone to enjoy.
A family edit
Another option is to gather your photographs and your family, then sort through your photographs together. When we look at photo’s most of us are looking for images of a particular person. Sort your piles of photo’s and categorise by person, rather than dates or years; the exception might be weddings, special holidays or family events.
Using this method you’ll see how many photo’s you have of a particular person, making it easier to edit and select the best ones. Family members might also choose their favourite photo’s to add to their own collections, rather than you having to keep and store them all!
Category Seven: Guilt-ridden Gifts and Souvenirs
It’s likely that during the course of your junk room declutter you will find gifts that people have given you in good faith, but you never liked – yet you feel too guilty to clear them out.
Remember Adriana’s story of The Bible given as a wedding gift that sat in her cupboard, unused for 15 years?
We have been trained too well, not to refuse a gift, but that was before the ‘time of plenty’ and hyper-commercialisation of every event and occasion. Now many of us are overwheImed by the ritual of giving and receiving.
‘Thank you but no thank you’
I would encourage you to accept a gift graciously without feeling compelled to keep it. If it’s something that someone is giving you because they no longer need or want the item, learn the art of saying, ‘thank you, but no thank you, I won’t use it either.’ If you don’t need or want it, it’s going to be wasted, suggest they donate it or pass to another friend.
I suggest to my clients that they become more pro-active in requesting gifts they would actually appreciate: even if that turns out to be no gifts! Another popular alternative is to suggest that rather than buying you a tangible gift, you spend some time together doing something you enjoy: coffee, high-tea, a coastal walk or visiting a place or venue that’s a treat.
So many souvenirs
Again, when travel was rare souvenirs were too; that’s not the case today. Rather than being exotic or interesting objects from another time or place, more often than not they are mass-produced, generic objects of little or no cultural value. If you have them and they trigger a memory for you, consider taking a photo and storing the memory electronically, then put them in the donate or recycling pile.
Finally: Re-Store or Re-purpose
Be Goal Orientated
Considering your goal will decide the future of each item from the above catogories. Is your junk room declutter about restoring the room to its original purpose or re-purposing the room?
Example: your goal is to create a craft room:
- Is there anything you’re hanging onto that doesn’t fit this intention?
- Is there enough space to do what you need to do, for example, layout patterns or quilts?
- And are you holding onto old craft items, such as fabric you don’t like the design of, just because you spent money on it?
Try to keep utility and enjoyment in mind when re-arranging the room. The same thinking applies when creating or reclaiming a guest bedroom or home office. Match the contents to the purpose.
Items surplus to requirements
For the items that you want to keep but don’t fit the purpose of the room, think about where they really belong in your home.
For pieces that are truly treasured, decluttering will make room to display them so you can really enjoy them. Rather than being buried under all the other less-meaningful accumulation of years and layers of stuff, they can take prode of place in your home.
Remember, one of my fundamental teachings is don’t let the clutter linger. Don’t declutter the junk room the then move the box to the garage to wait for the next curbside collection day for your council! While the clutter is in your zone, you will feel its weight in your environment and on your mind.
Apply the S.A.N.E method of decluttering, will you use/look at the item sometimes, always or never; never items must exit!
What Next?
I sincerely hope that the information shared in this series has helped clarify your thinking, and shown you my approach to decluttering homes and minds.
Hopefully, with your decluttering mindset, the recipe for success and S.A.N.E method you’ve built up a ‘head of steam’ to go forth to declutter and organise the other places in your home, like the family/lounge-room, the bathrooms and laundry, or children’s bedrooms.
Or, did you get stuck? If you ran out of steam, suffered from decision fatigue or simply felt like you needed someone to physically help you get the clutter up and out for good – don’t despair.
As a seasoned declutterer, clutter whisperer and junk-room-genie, I meet and help people in your situation every single day.
As I said at the outset, even with a ‘how-to’ guide, ‘declutter your home, declutter your mind’, is easier said than done. In my experience decluttering guides don’t work for most people, to find out why click this link.
If this exercise has shown you that you need help to declutter your home and mind, I’m just a ‘phone call away!
Contact me to book a Kick-Start Revamp, I’ll be happy to respond to your declutter S.O.S
