Angie stood in her closet, halfway ready for the day, when her eyes landed on two pairs of shoes she hadn’t worn in months.
She grabbed them with a satisfied smile and tossed them into the hallway, figuring she’d round up more items to donate later that evening, after work.
Down the hall, Angie’s 10-year-old son—digging through a toy chest in search of his shin guards—came across a handful of toys he hadn’t thought twice about in more than a year. His mom had been on the “warpath” lately (his words) about getting rid of stuff, so he grabbed the forgotten toys and, with a shrug of his shoulders, dropped them next to his bedroom door.
Later that night, Angie’s husband pulled into the garage and spotted a couple helmets the kids had outgrown, so he tossed them into the trunk of the family car.
Several weeks passed exactly this way, with Angie continually telling the family they had way too much STUFF, and the rest of the family gathering up stuff to be donated.
The thing was—no one was communicating and their random piles around the house were growing.
They were redistributing their stuff, not actually taking care of it.
And it was making Angie feel like she was losing. her. mind. Every time she turned around, she ran into more stuff. She was tripping over shoes and toys and helmets, stacks of dated electronics, and piles of clothes.
{Related: 9 Hard Truths About Clutter You Need to Hear}
One Saturday afternoon, Angie—out of patience—snapped at her 10-year-old for the piles gathering in and outside of his room.
“What are you thinking?” she said in a moment of exasperation. “Haven’t you heard me for the last month talking about how we need to get rid of our junk??”
“That’s what I’m doing!” he answered, equally exasperated. “These toys? I don’t need them anymore. And these clothes? They don’t fit. And this one has a stain.”
“Oh,” Angie said, her heart sinking as it dawned on her what his piles really were. “So these are actually things you want to get rid of?”
“Yeah!” he answered, still frustrated and obviously feeling under-appreciated. “I’m trying to help!”
Angie apologized, hugged her son, and started walking through the house with new eyes. In the hallway she discovered the pairs of shoes she’d tossed there weeks ago—now buried under a handful of her husband’s worn-out T-shirts. In her daughter’s room, she realized that some of the junk collecting on the floor was another effort—this time on the part of their 7-year-old girl—to declutter like she’d been asked to.
Immediately, Angie grabbed a laundry basket and rounded everything up. Before she knew it, her car was full and the house felt so much lighter. She could breathe again.
The Ridiculously Simple Decluttering Tip Too Many People Are Missing
Angie’s family was moving in the right direction. The piece of the puzzle they were missing was simply a collective place to store their unwanted items.
So today, your challenge is to do what Angie did after she finished rounding everything up:
Create an official place for donation items (or items that otherwise need re-homed), and make sure every member of your household knows where it is.
It’s amazing how this easy tactic can make editing your belongings a regular part of your family’s routine. At my house, it surprises me every time I find a piece of my kids’ clothes (now outgrown) or a once-treasured toy—placed there without any encouragement from me—sitting on our “donation shelf.”
Easy Places to Store Your Donation Items
- A bin in your garage or carport
- A lidded basket next to the back door
- An empty shelf in your linen closet
- A bag hanging in your closet
- A closet in an unused bedroom
A Tip for Parents
Several moms in my decluttering challenge said they keep two spots—one that the family knows about… and one that they don’t. ? We all know that items become waaaay more desirable when they’re about to be donated; the toy your 5-year-old hasn’t played with in a year suddenly becomes the one she can’t live without. You may need a separate, out-of-sight spot for this collection. ?
Taking it to the Next Level
I loved this idea from another member of a recent decluttering challenge!
“I have three bags, the kind you buy for about $0.99 at stores like Ross or TJ Maxx, hanging in my coat closet. 1 for a domestic violence shelter where I volunteer, one for our local Outreach Center and one for the elementary school near me. I don’t wait till the bags are full. About once a week I take whatever is in the bags and drop them off.” Pamela S.
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It may be the simplest decluttering tip of all time, but I think it’s essential to your ability to maintain your long-term vision for your home. When your family is all on the same page, and when sending unused items out of the house becomes part of your routine… There’s power there.
Ready to free yourself of some STUFF?!
This year, let’s create more calm (and less chaos) in both our hearts and our homes. Enter your email below to receive a free PDF of 100 things to get rid of.
And if you’re ready to jump in and DO THIS THING… Check out my 7-day challenge for a lighter, calmer home—Declutter, De-stress.
Last but not least! I’d love to hear in the comments if you have a permanent spot for donation items—or where you’re going to put one if this post inspired you!
Hehehe! I love this post, it’s very similar to what happened here when we first started to try and live with less stuff! My ‘spot’ is right next to the front door, to make sure it goes where it needs to the next time an adult leaves the home! When we are really on a roll I’ll put a basket in the cupboard but for now, we need it right there in our faces to get it from decluttered to donated before it starts gathering it’s own dust!
Haha, it’s all about knowing yourself! “We need it right there in our faces”—that cracked me up!
In a crate under the bed in the spare room for charity shop donations, a basket for donations to our local dog rescue, a set of shelves in the garage for things that can be freecycled or sold, until I get round to doing that. The first two I move on regularly. The third I have a lot more trouble with because it takes more effort on my part to list the items. My intentions are to move from eBay to donate and from freecycle to chuck regularly but that’s easier than it sounds. But one day I plan to donate the shelves that are holding this collection, so I better get on with it!
Awesome! Good luck on the journey, Marjorie!
Mine is by the garage door ready to go out to the car. Decluttering is nothing new to me. I declutter often and like the minimalist look. My problem is people giving me trinkets as a gift. I hate getting rid of it for fear of hurting their feelings, however, I really don’t want them.
Yes, this is a hangup for so many of us! I’ll think on it and see if I can eventually flesh it into a whole post! And if anyone has any tips or perspectives about this to add in the comments, please do!
How funny! I have a permanent spot by the front door, everything goes into a bag and I drop it off, when it’s full, to a charity recycling bin. However, my husband seems to have started his own pile in his “dressing room” aka the study! Grrr!
I’m actually taking a hint from another reader who said she takes out her charity bag once a week, even if it’s not full.
I’m also thinking about leaving my bag in the boot of my car.
My son had a great box in the basement marked DONATE. After taking everything in it to Goodwill I kept the box and it’s near my front door behind a chair. Easy to throw things into it at every turn!
I used to use bags in the closet but I like the ease of just tossing things into an open box.
Perfect, Margaret! Good point! Gretchen Rubin says that even the smallest inconveniences can really make a difference, so if a lid might be one for you (or any of us), then no lid is the way to go!
I’m in my 70’s and found that I often couldn’t move the boxes after they were full. So I put the empty boxes in my car and bring small bags or piles out each time I go somewhere. When the car is full, I head to the local donation place where the strong young people who work there unload it all. Yay me ! I go so often, that they recognize. me and tease me about my “heavy boxes”-which of course are not heavy to them.
Thanks for this.
Ahh! You are adorable.
I am 66 and I love your idea! Thanks for sharing!
JoAnne, your comment made me smile so big! And I bet those thrift center employees start grinning when they see you coming a mile away!
Way to create a system that works for you!
Front porch. If cold, inside door near chair. Have done this for years. The moment I touch something I don’t want, it goes. Excellent strategy!
I have a bar stool next to the guest bathroom where I place clothing that can be donated. It is at an easy height to scoop and take to Good Will.
I saw one reader said she gets trinkets she does not want or need…has anyone come up with a way to handle these things? My Mom is decluttering and often offers to me the small things she is ready to part with but “does not want them to leave the family”. I end up with things I don’t need either!
I’ve been re-gifting these small items to a thrift shop that is part of a food pantry. I keep brown bag with handles by the side door and when it’s full I drop it off.
I keep a box on a closet shelf for those gifted “trinkets”. I rotate them throughout the house during the year. Then, after I’ve used them for “awhile”, the whole box can be donated. Everyone gets to see their gifts lovingly displayed before it’s time to move them along.
I started using the corner of my basement as my permanent donation area – it’s next to the downstairs refrigerator so we don’t always go to it but we know it’s there and we can all add to it!! Now I just have to clue my party of 5 into this uncluttered challenge of 2019 and forward!
Under a long table in my husbands studio. I put all bags, securely tied so I don’t take stuff out, and when it’s full under there we drop off at our local spca thrift shop.
They can use the old towels for the puppies and sell the other things. Most people give to Goodwill but animals can use the money too.
We have a box in our coat closet that we drop things into. When it’s full we transfer them to bags so we can keep the box. The bags then get donated. Our neighborhood also has a yearly sale so we keep a few things for that; plus, it motivates me to clean out some more stuff.
Plastic tub in the corner where the bedroom hall turns. It’s out of the way ,close to three bedrooms and not an “eye sore”.
In the boot of my car !!!!!
mine is a box by the front door. as soon as there are two or three things in the box, i call the rescue mission. they come within the week. the night before i put them out the front door on the front steps. easy peasy.
Sounds like a great system!
Ours is in the basement. Its a great use for all of the extra paper and plastic bags that we accumulate (I can’t get my husband to use reusable shopping bags). I love the reminder that I need to let everyone else in the family know that they can place things there too! I hate running errands, so I wait until there is a decent amount of stuff before donating it.
Errand-haters unite. 😉 Me too.
At first I was skeptical if the article only had a catchy title, but once I began to read and understand, I was surprised to find you really had a secret: sorting isn’t solving, donating it/getting out of the house does solve the issue.
Thank you so much for the inspiration!
I get that about the title, Mariah. 😉 But I’m so glad you found the post helpful!
I’ve found the best method for me is to quickly get it out of the house into the trunk of the car. I may not make it to the donation drop off that day, but going ahead and getting the items out of the house makes me feel like the job is complete, and I’m not tempted to look back through the pile. Great post, thank you!
This is a really useful tip. I have recently placed a box in my car where I place my donation items. This way I always have the box when I am passing the charity shop or clothes donation drop off.