Charlie's Blue Collar Decluttering Guide

The perfect is the enemy of the good. APHORISM
One day, you wake up and realize you have too much stuff. This realization comes when your treasures turn to trash, your assets become burdens, and your possessions possess you instead. Yet, you are unable to get rid of that stuff. The task is overwhelming. You don't know where to begin in tackling the problem. If you need the solution, here is my blue collar decluttering guide.
Decluttering is more about what is between your ears than what is in your home. It is psychology. Every item you own represents a decision you made in the past. Now, you regret those decisions. Those decisions were made one at a time. Decluttering demands that you rethink all of those decisions in a more compressed time frame. This is what makes the task more daunting. The way I have found to make the task less daunting is to use this homemade decision tree:

You can click on the image to make it larger. It is a stone simple system. I recommend printing it out or just writing it down on a piece of scrap paper to put on the front of the fridge. When the task feels overwhelming, go back to the system. I will explain it now.
IDENTITY
The cornerstone of this system is the identity component. This is where your problem lives. People acquire things based upon their needs and wants which are tied to their identities. For instance, an audiophile collects vinyl records because he is an audiophile. A mechanic collects tools because he is a mechanic. A reader collects books. You can see where this is going.
People accumulate possessions based upon their identities. Then, their identities change. This could be a job change or a change in marital status. It could be a change in hobbies and interests. When these changes happen, the needed things are no longer needed and become clutter. To complicate things, you may be in denial about the identity change. Or, you may not have given much thought to the matter.
Minimalism has become a popular thing because it provides a new identity for people. The problem is that minimalism is ridiculous. The way minimalism works is that it encourages people to erase their identities until a blank space is left. Minimalists reduce their possessions to the barest of essentials and make aesthetic decisions that tend towards the plain and the monochrome. It reminds me of the way Mao forced the Chinese to get the same haircut and wear the same coolie suit.
Minimalism is like a fad diet. It is effective in the short term but a failure in the long term. The reason minimalism fails is because people have identities beyond being a minimalist. At the most basic level, this identity would be that of a human being. You cease being a minimalist the moment you buy that second pair of shoes or that red polo shirt.
People need to be realistic about their identities. I don't see minimalists being adequately prepared for a hurricane or even having enough analog options to keep them entertained and informed through a power outage. The reality is that minimalists have outsourced their lives to the internet, the restaurant, the gym, and the local Starbucks. This is how they get by living in those empty apartments.
I can't pick your identity for you. Minimalists do this, but I am not going to do this. What I will tell you is that you need to think about who you are. You need to make those ultimate decisions about who you are and what you are about. You may be a wife, a mother, and a chef who likes to do triathlons. You may be a bachelor who works as a motorcycle mechanic and enjoys hard rock and roll music. Your possessions will be determined by your identity.
Clutter happens when you have an identity crisis. For instance, you bought a bunch of camping and outdoor equipment on the good intention of spending more time outside. Then, you discovered mosquitoes and bears and a preference for spending your leisure hours smoking cigars and drinking whiskey. The result is a bunch of unused gear collecting dust in your garage. Before you can rid yourself of that clutter, you have to ask yourself a question. Am I an outdoors person?
The worst identity you can have is the identity of a collector. If you collect things, stop reading this guide. It will not help you. The only difference between a collector and a clutterbug is the amount of insanity in their respective delusions. If you want to declutter, give up being a collector.
Another issue is the identity clash. This is where you assume two identities that are in conflict with each other. The most potent example I can give would be the father with the pornography collection going back to his high schools days. Get rid of that filth. For most people, identity clashes come when they have to grow up and be adults. When this happens, they get rid of their comic books, their Barbie dolls, their video games, and other childish things.
NEEDED OR NOT NEEDED
Once you know who you are and have your identity settled, the next part is fairly easy. You go through your things and ask yourself a question. Do I need this? Identity determines needs.
The minimalist is primarily motivated by the aesthetic. Everything is aimed to achieve a certain look of sparseness and simplicity. I am not a minimalist. I am a blue collar guy, and I aim for the utilitarian. I care less about how things look so much as how they function. This is why the things I own have a grittiness about them. I will use a cigar box to hold scrap paper or carry a camo backpack from Walmart. I try to have the fewest things possible, but I don't spend any time considering what they look like. The only difference between a minimalist and myself is that I wear a collared shirt from Goodwill instead of a $50 designer black T-shirt.
Another decluttering guru will advise you to only keep those things that "spark joy." That is so much crap. If I kept everything in my life that sparked joy, I wouldn't have room to move. I remove all of the feelings from the equation and ask myself the simple question. Do I need this?
If you need a thing, you keep it. If you don't need a thing, you get rid of it. That's it. This process can be hard at first, but it gets easier with practice. Your goal should be to ruthlessly eliminate all unnecessary things from your life.
The hard area would be the realm of sentimental items. I tell everyone to keep their baby pictures but not their baby diapers. People need memories, and I would never advise someone to throw away objects of memory. but those items can usually fit in a scrapbook, photo album, picture frame, or jewelry box. If the item is larger than those containers, you should get rid of it.
Another area would be supplies. It's OK to have five bottles of laundry detergent. It is OK to have 10 tubes of toothpaste. It is OK to have 20 sticks of deodorant. Minimalists don't keep supplies because this would not be minimalist. Smart people do keep supplies for future needs. This is just common sense.
The final area to deal with would be your libraries. This would be your collection of books, movies, albums, computer files, and other various forms of information. The computer age allows for digital storage which takes less space, but you end up with digital hoards. Regardless of the medium, you can follow the same rules for your information and entertainment. Do I need this? This can be determined by the better question. Am I ever going to read this again, watch this again, or listen to it again? If the answer is no, donate it or dispose of it.
CONTAINERS
Once you have determined that a thing is needed, you need to park it in a container. This could be a closet, a shoe box, a toolbox, a backpack, or whatever. My practice is to toss things in their containers without thinking about them. My wife refers to this practice as my kindergarten strategy where I put my toys back in the toy box. I probably learned this in kindergarten. The result is that I have a drawer full of black socks that I don't bother matching or putting together.
People who are more obsessive-compulsive might spend time organizing the items in their containers. I am not inclined in this way. I will go through a container and eliminate unneeded things, but I am not going to alphabetize the books on my shelves. People who work in specialized environments like libraries, warehouses, hardware stores, and offices need this extra attention to details. This is because they have more stuff to deal with than I do. When you have fewer things, you need less organization.
DONATE OR DISPOSE
Once you have determined that a thing is not needed, you need to decide to donate it or throw it in the dumpster. Some people might elect to try and sell the items at a garage sale or on fleaBay. There's nothing wrong with this strategy, but there are items that may take a very long time to sell. At some point, you are better off giving it to Goodwill and getting a tax write off.
You should donate items that might be needed or desired by other people. Items that are broken or worn out do not qualify. You may or may not be lending support to someone else's clutter problem. But that isn't your problem. I shop at thrift stores, and I wouldn't buy those items if I didn't need them.
Disposing of items is fairly simple. You don't need them, and they are not fit to donate. Toss it out. Old magazines, newspapers, tattered books, and worn out clothing and shoes should all get tossed. Some people can't seem to part with their trash, and we know these people as hoarders. Don't be a hoarder. Your trash is not treasure.
DAILY DECLUTTER
A practice that I do is a daily declutter where I pick one item per day to remove from my space. If you're beginning with decluttering, this is easy. But it becomes harder as you remove more and more stuff from your life. I am at the point where it is excruciating now because I only have things that I need. This only means that this method works. When I can't find anything to declutter, I punt and try again the next day.
I think the daily declutter is a vital practice for maintaining a simple life. It is one thing to do a one time declutter. It is another thing to maintain or increase what you have achieved. The daily declutter will do this for you.
RECLUTTERING
Recluttering is what happens when you go to Goodwill with a donation only to return with new things you found. This is like going to Burger King after working out at the gym. But you are always going to be buying things going forward because you will always need things. The problem is when you buy things you don't need. This is recluttering.
Beyond toiletries and supplies, I always hesitate before making a purchase. If the purchase is large, I will hesitate even longer. Many times, I will talk myself out of the purchase because I don't need it, or it will not fit my needs. In the last decade, I can only recall one purchase that I made that I regretted. It ended up as a donation to Goodwill.
OTHER PEOPLE'S CLUTTER
Once you have decluttered, you may find yourself dealing with other people's clutter. This may be the belongings of a deceased relative or loved one or the belongings of your spouse and family. This can cause a great deal of friction for people. This is especially true if one of those people is a hoarder.
I don't have a solution for this problem that involves changing the other person. I respect another person's autonomy. By the same token, I insist that they respect my autonomy. Many people transgress this autonomy when they insist on buying you things you don't want or need, or they choose to dump their stuff on you. The easiest way to deal with this pushiness is to thank the person for their thoughtless gift, and then declutter the stuff out of your life.
The burden of unwanted gifts comes from some attachment to the person that we transfer to the things they give us. If I throw away the thing, I have thrown away the person. I don't fall in this trap. Once it is mine, I can do with what I like which is usually taking it to Goodwill or the dumpster. It would be nice if people would not waste their money or my time on this crap.
When you live a simple life, hoarders and clutterbugs feel compelled to change this by buying you things or giving you things you don't want or need. Because they mistakenly believe happiness comes from the accumulation of material things, they think they will make you happy by giving you material things to accumulate. It is highly annoying, but you can't fix stupid. Just be diplomatic, write a thank you note, and get rid of that crap.
Don't ever worry that the person will come over and notice that their "gift" is missing. I find most clutterbugs buy and spend so much that they have amnesia about these things. This is why hoarders will have two or three of the same item still in their packaging. They forget they bought it.
This brings us to the uncomfortable issue of living with a clutterbug. This relationship is not going to work anymore than living with a drug addict, a violent person, or a thief. We can debate how much is enough, but there is no debate about living with a hoarder. That is not going to work. Clutterbugs and hoarders have mental problems, and you need to look into getting that person to change or look into getting that person out of your life. This may sound harsh until you meet the poor family members trying to keep their sanity living with hoarders and clutterbugs.
PERFECTIONISM
The greatest obstacle in decluttering is perfectionism. Minimalists are perfectionists. Their favorite hobby is posting pictures of their pristine living spaces on Instagram. Then, when they are done with this, they put all their clutter back where they had it. They're not fooling me.
There is no state known as "decluttered." Decluttering is a process not a destination. Once you have this process mindset, things will go easier for you. Decluttering is just another regular task like showering, brushing your teeth, housecleaning, answering emails, and other repetitive things. This is why I recommend a daily declutter as a habit. That habit works. In a single year, you will have decluttered 365 items. That's a lot of stuff.
Conclusion
This is all I have to say about decluttering. I keep it simple with that algorithm and the daily declutter habit. If you follow this stone simple plan, you will inevitably have less clutter in your life. It works for me. It will work for you. And you didn't have to pay for this advice. I'm trying to help people. All those other experts are trying to make money.