A bike repair kit is unquestionably useful — unless you don’t own a bike and have no plans to get one in the near future. That kind of item, which serves a purpose but does not serve a purpose to you, has a name: conservation clutter. It’s a sneaky, hard-to-tackle type of clutter, but holding on to such things can have real consequences.
A home with piles everywhere and stuff crammed into every nook and cranny is “a heavy mental load, which leads to a chaotic life,” says Laura Wittmann, the founder of orgjunkie.com and author of Clutter Rehab. “You are more than likely living frustrated and stressed.”
No matter the size of your home, she adds, “it should be a place where we can breathe and feel at peace, and this is most definitely possible for anyone. We just have to get honest with ourselves about all the stuff holding us back.”
Conservation clutter is useful — it’s just not useful to you
Renee Green Tate, the founder of Savvy Sloth Strategies, defines conservation clutter as things that you aren’t actively using — and that you haven’t used for some time. “You hold on to them,” she says, “thinking a certain situation will arise or conditions will shift that warrants you using the item again.” Examples of “just in case” clutter that Tate sees over and over as a professional organizer include furniture from a first home, medical equipment, emergency supplies and what she calls “items that will come in handy for the end of days.”
Megan Barnhart, a professional organizer and the founder of Barnhart Home, says a desire to be more sustainable can also lead to conservation clutter: “For example, keeping empty jars, scraps of fabric or pieces of string.” Although the intention of repurposing is admirable, she says, “the consequence is that it eventually creates clutter, and leads to excess and disruption in the home.”
Holding on to things ‘just in case’ is holding you back
“Our surroundings have a huge impact on our mental state and overall mental capacity,” Tate says. “When every space is filled, it overstimulates and overwhelms the brain, making it hard to relax in the one place we’re supposed to be relaxed.”
A home that has become what Wittmann calls “a storage locker filled to the brim with ghosts of the past,” isn’t conducive to a happy, productive existence. “If your things aren’t serving your current life but instead are holding you back,” she says, “seriously consider making those difficult decisions now rather than later.”
Ryan Sultan, a New York City-based psychiatrist, has found in his clinical work that difficulty getting rid of things can be linked to mental health conditions. Holding on to clutter, he says, is a symptom that can point to such conditions as anxiety, depression, ADHD, trauma and/or obsessive compulsive disorder, and can also be indicative of hoarding disorder, which is characterized by difficulty parting with possessions, and distress at the thought of doing so.
If you’ve made empty promises to yourself that you’ll get to it, stop, Sultan says. “Come see a mental health physician for evaluation and potential treatment for the underlying condition that is making it this hard to let go, and to address it.”
Decluttering strategies to help you part with unused belongings
Define the end goal. “Before you touch a single item,” Sultan says, “start at the other end.” Define the goal first by asking what you want your life to look like, who are you becoming or what you are trying to make room for, and then look at what you own through that lens. The question to ask yourself, he says, is not “Do I like this?” or “Might I need this someday?” It should be “Is this helping me get where I am going?” For most items under the umbrella of conservation clutter, Sultan says, the answer is no.
Ask the right questions to shift your mindset. “Mindset shifts are likely to help you overcome the challenges you may face when decluttering,” Tate says. She tells her clients to use what she calls “reflective questions” to guide decision-making: How many possible uses could have happened since owning this item? How many uses actually occurred? If not you, then who could benefit from this item?
Use the one in, one out rule. A decluttering strategy that Barnhart says is helpful is the “one in, one out” rule. “For example,” she says, “if you choose to keep an empty jam jar, you need to recycle one from your collection.”
Set up a donation station to encourage routine decluttering. “A donation station in the home makes purging a simple process,” says Wittmann, who keeps a box in her linen closet to help her easily purge her clutter. “It cuts down on overwhelm so much.”
Great options for donating or selling ‘just in case’ items
Hold an “estate sale” for friends and family. “Let people take a gander and decide if they could use them,” Tate says. “Without pressuring them to take certain items, you may be surprised to learn what could really benefit them.”
Donation centers like Goodwill, Salvation Army, Restore, churches, community or veterans centers, Tate says, “are great places to give back and release what no longer serves you.” In her work, Barnhart says, “I often come across excess linens like a sheet set that wasn’t as comfortable as you had anticipated or a towel with a bleach stain on it. Instead of holding onto these items, I recommend donating them to an organization or shelter in need.”
Take advantage of Buy Nothing groups, which serve as an open market for local neighborhoods. “Simply post what you have and let someone come pick it up free of charge. It’s a more targeted alternative to putting it out on the curb,” Tate says.
Facebook Marketplace, eBay or Craigslist, Tate says, are good options for people who want to earn a little extra cash. “You can post your items on Facebook Marketplace and sell them to the highest bidder.”
Explore textile recycling programs. To part with stained or ripped clothes that aren’t suitable for donation, “consider recycling textiles in stores like Madewell, American Eagle and H&M,” Barnhart says. “If you do not have one of these stores locally, there are other online options to consider, like Blue Jeans Go Green or TerraCycle.”
Throw it away. Wittmann says that in her experience, items intended for donation or sale often “get piled in a corner and never actually dealt with. It’s just another way of deferring the decisions, and overall I think the best way is to just get it out of the house as quickly as possible.” Sultan emphatically agrees. “The goal is to get the item out of your possession. Not organized. Not sorted into bins. Not set aside for the perfect donation recipient or the right buyer on Facebook Marketplace. Those are procrastination strategies dressed up as productivity,” he says. “Throw it out. Move on. The life you want is on the other side of the pile.”
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