[Celyn]

I've struggled with this too. I've spent years trying to declutter my space and while I still have more to do I have actually made a lot of progress too.

I don't know about you, but when I decided to get to grips with cleaning and tidying, I was also dealing with burnout and so the thought of tidying felt exhausting and I felt overwhelmed not knowing where to start. I decided to break it down and just pick an area (perhaps the easiest one) and start with that. When I'm satisfised, then I would move on to the next area etc. I would try to do little and often so that I didn't feel overwhelmed with all the tidying I had to do.

Choosing what to keep/sell/donate/throw out was difficult for me and it's something I still struggle with.

Throwing out stuff isn't too bad as I would just throw out whatever I couldn't really use anymore and wasn't good enough to donate either. Sometimes I keep some stuff like clothes that have holes in because I can wear them around the house or for tasks like going up the garden, but if otherwise if they don't fit or aren't good quality then I throw them.

Stuff that I haven't used in a while and can't see me using now or in the future will get donated if it's decent quality. So far this has included shoes that were too big, clothes that are too small or the style doesn't suit me, dvd's and books that I tell myself I'll get around to watching/reading but never do etc. A good way of distinguishing between what to throw out and what to donate is asking yourself would you be happy to buy it or not. If not, then chances are others might not buy it either so best to throw it out.

I haven't actually sold anything but if I were to sell anything I would weigh up the cost of packaging and posting an item to see whether it's worth selling it. In some cases, it might be best to do a 'job lot' rather than sell items singularly e.g. if you have a particular style of jewellery or items of clothing that you could sell together at a higher price than if you tried to sell them separately.

Keeping things, for me, largely depends on whether I use things regularly or whether I am likely to use it in the future, or whether they have sentimental value. I tend to 'hoard' things that I feel attached to which isn't good when you don't have a lot of space. So for some things that are pointless keeping but I don't want to let go, I might take a photo of the item so I'll have something to hold on to even if I no longer keep the item. Though I haven't got rid of many sentimental items yet

I'm not particularly good at organising things either but have found for me, I value ease of access. So things I regularly use I try to keep at the forefront of areas. I try to file away important letters and things when I don't need them and then every few years go through the folder and recycle/shred the letters I no longer need. I think it can also help to set aside some time each week to do a brief clean and put things away so that it doesn't get too cluttered.

Hope this helps a bit!