Decluttering is essential to your psychological and physical wellbeing. It doesn't just free up space but can do everything from reducing stress and anxiety to boosting productivity. Learning how to declutter your home to organize things correctly is important. However, what do you do after everything is organized into piles? You can do many things with them, but the most common question is, "Should I donate, sell, or trash the items I've organized as I'm decluttering?” Read on to find out what you should do in these circumstances.
When To Keep
You should keep items that you know you'll use at some point. This includes your favorite shirts or jeans, brand-new or gently-used books, and toys your children play with often. All too often, we keep items that we'll never use or things that are broken for the sake of sentimental value. This is a serious mistake and only leads to hoarding in the long run. However, it might be worth keeping if it's truly valuable, like an heirloom or something handmade.
When To Donate
You should donate when you find something someone else may want but can't use. This would include giving gently-used clothes to charity and canned goods to donation centers. A good rule is to imagine how someone else could use these items. If it seems pertinent, give them away. It makes far more sense to give your items to people that may use them rather than to keep them yourself and never pick them up again. You can typically find a list of acceptable items on the website of the charity you're interested in donating to.
When To Trash
You should throw away things you can no longer use. This could be broken toys, torn books, and shirts with holes or stains that won't come out. While you can certainly donate items you won't use anymore, you shouldn't donate or keep items in such poor condition; it's in poor taste. There's only one place that you can put them—the trash. This is essential to decluttering your home when you aren't sure what to keep, donate, or trash.
In short, learning what to keep, donate, or trash can be tricky. However, with the proper system in place, it will be much easier. We hope this article helped clarify what category your items fall into to make decluttering easier.
