THROWING EVERYTHING OUT IN 2024 / Decluttering, Organizing, & Cleaning! Whole House Declutter

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We retired to a smaller home that had no basement. The garage is not big so I left that for my husbands tools and decided that I would not store anything and gave away all my storage bins and totes. Everything I own is neatly in my house. I bought enough clear plastic sweater boxes to fit on my guest room closet shelf and filled them with my holiday decor. I started with my favorites and when they were full I donated everything else. I cannot tell you how wonderful it feels to know I never have to clean out a shed, garage, basement or attic again the rest of my life. It was my retirement gift to myself.

Just a helpful tip to others who have a hard time letting go of emotional objects...take a picture of it. My mom passed away in 2017. We did declutter shortly afterwards but I still had one bedroom full to the ceiling that i had a hard time with. This week I have given away 4 big uhaul boxes full of stuff. Sent it to goodwill. I divided stuff up and am sending some to sisters. Its so mind relieving to do this. Its just stuff.

Instead of shredding I plug my kitchen sink and fill it with hot water and put all of my papers in it and swish it around until the ink basically washes off the papers and then I squeeze out the paper (usually into a big ball.. so fun lol) and put it in the trash/recycle. It’s so much easier and faster than shredding.

This will sound so silly, but I think I watched about forty seconds of your video before I took off and FINALLY got through a room I’ve been struggling with for a YEAR! 😂 I don’t know what it is, how you did it, but thank you!!! I think it was a combination of seeing your basement - so much like what mine was when we moved a year ago, but now it’s “off-limits” so I’ve had all my junk in this problem room! And then you said something like “you won’t BELIEVE how it turned out!” And I could just picture my ideal room when you said it, and I finally got right to work!! I’m watching the rest of your video now, and I’m so excited to see how your basement goes! (You did amazing! The “yard sale” was such a wonderful idea!! What a great way to rehome your belongings!! Inspired!)

Dear Catherine Elaine I enjoyed this video while I was cooking and planning to declutter yet another section of my garage. I retired from teaching and have no idea why I kept boxes and boxes of self generated lesson plans. If I had good sense, I would have just tossed them in the school dumpster as I broke down my classroom! I am now 70 and it really does take me longer to complete these purges because I both move more slowly and got caught up in looking at everything. My garage became so packed (former art and reading teacher) that at first I couldn’t even get to the middle of garage to replace burnt out light bulb! Thanks again for the inspiration. 👍❤️

What a great idea to have a free yard sale...all of those organizing containers look brand new! It is nice knowing that someone else can use them.

It is so encouraging to see that other people have the scene challenges with clutter that I have had.

Incredible how much you accomplished in a day! Serious stamina. Very motivating, thank you!

I found that when I have shelving in the garage or basement, I have "given myself permission" to hold onto things that we really don't need to be holding onto. So we got rid of the shelving unit in the basement and have a stack of up to four bins and four bins only - which hold offseason items, with one bin for winter coats/boots and two bins full of Christmas decor. This has kept everyone honest about what needs to be saved and what does not need to take up space in our home. I'm trying to follow the advice of so many decluttering / minimalist experts out there who say that if you are keeping something in a box, bin, or in the back of a closet or in the garage or basement (and not using it at least monthly), then it is EXCESS aka CLUTTER and we need to set it free. "You're not going to use something more often when it's been packed away." #truthbomb

I gave my vhs to a shop and they digitalize it for me and now i can watch it in my laptop etc. ☺️

It's amazing how liberating it feels to let go of excess stuff. 😍

I love looking through my milestone boxes that my mom made and saved for me. It is such a good way to glimpse into your childhood

I try to post everything I declutter to my local "Buy nothing" facebook page. It's good to know that it's actually going to people that need it instead of going to a thrift store that might throw it out if it doesn't sell. I've also been going to clothes swaps, you get free clothes and it refreshes your wardrobe while also cleaning our your own.

I love this video. It's so satisfying to watch. Just a couple of tips, 1. (tip from another youtuber) if you need to use storage bins, buy clear ones so you can see what's in them without needing to open and look to see what's in it; and 2. scan all important documents and save them onto your computer so you dont need to keep physical copies and can print them whenever you need a physical copy.

Awesome work! I really like that you gave your stuff away instead of selling it.

Here for allllll the decluttering motivation! 😍 You already know my basement is a WRECK, so this is much needed!

Omg. How motivating. I've been waiting for this video. Great work. Tax documents 7 years. I bring my stuff monthly to staples to shredder. Very cheap

I'm so excited that this popped up on me feed .You did a great job. Thanks for the motivation!

You've done such a great job- love the process you did for giving things away and getting rid of the trash. The plan you have sounds a perfect way to get the area how you want it. Really enjoyed watching ❤