One of the biggest reasons people don’t declutter their homes is because they are afraid of decluttering too much.
I remember the day I packed up the last of my scrapbooking supplies and shipped them off to my mom. As I was stretching the packing tape over the top of the box, I was also finally accepting the fact that I was done with that craft forever.
I had invested hundreds of dollars into the craft. I had papers, specialty punches, stickers, embellishments, and so much more. You know what I didn’t have? A bookshelf full of scrapbooks! I made ONE.
After that one scrapbook, which was tedious and took me forever, I liked the IDEA of continuing to participate in this particular craft, but I didn’t actually enjoy the hobby any longer.
If I’m being honest, I think I liked buying the supplies more than I liked the actual work. (I also loved the end product, but getting there was not something I enjoyed.)
I continued to buy and pretend to scrapbook for years. I did this because I was afraid if I decluttered the supplies and gave up on the hobby that I would be wasting money, wouldn’t be able to preserve memories, and might be able to use those supplies in some other capacity sometime in the future.
It’s been a few years now, and I’ve needed about four sheets of scrapbook paper for specific projects my kids completed. You know what we did? We went and bought FOUR sheets for about $2, used them, and moved on. I’m glad I didn’t store bins and bins of scrapbook paper for four needed sheets!
There are many reasons we don’t declutter. Oftentimes, the number one reason is fear.
Are you afraid of decluttering too much?
Here are the top fears people face when decluttering and how you can declutter without regret:
If you are afraid of decluttering too much, it could be out of fear. The trick is to figure out what that fear it is and learn how to overcome it.
Fear of needing something in the future
One of the biggest fears people have when decluttering is the fear of needing something in the future. I call this “just-in-case syndrome”.
I’ve helped countless people declutter their homes, and almost every time, when asked about an item, they respond with something like, “but what if I need it one day?”
Here are some things I do to try and overcome that fear of “someday” or “just-in-case”
The One Year Rule
Ask yourself if you have used the item in the past year. The One Year Rule isn’t a hard and fast rule to follow, but it’s a good place to start. If you haven’t used something in a full year, chances are you won’t have a use for it any time soon.
You could also use a 6-month rule, if you are really trying to purge your items.
What’s your specific plan for the item?
If you are saving something for “just in case” and are afraid to declutter it, you may need to ask yourself what your specific plan is for the item. If you don’t have a specific plan for it, then you may be able to safely let it go.
Has it served its purpose?
When afraid of decluttering too much, it’s also good to ask yourself, “Has this item served its purpose?” If it has, then you don’t need to worry about saving it for “just in case”. You used it. It served its purpose. It’s time to let it go and move on.
What if I need this item for an emergency?
Sometimes we hold on to things out of fear of the worst-case scenario. I’ll be the first to admit that I keep a stockpile of canned goods and other groceries ever since the pandemic. Why? Because if the grocery stores ever shut down again, I want to be prepared for that emergency.
Stockpiling runs deeper than unlikely future pandemics though. What if there’s a loss of a job? What if I get sick? What if inflation or a recession makes it so that I can’t get this again in the future?
These are all valid questions, and your level of preparedness depends on a few things. First, you need the storage space to save these types of items in question. If you live in a tiny home, you will have less storage space than someone with a full basement or empty shop. You can only store what you have room to store.
If you want to keep a stockpile of groceries, then you might need to give up storing other things so you can have a dedicated space.
If you want to devote yourself to fixing things, then you may need to give up sporting equipment so you have ample space in your garage for tinkering.
It’s all about give and take. If you are looking to declutter and are afraid of decluttering too much, you need to find that balance between what really matters and what the calm you are searching for.
Fear of wasting money
Another big reason for being afraid of decluttering too much and facing possible regret is the fear of wasting money.
I resisted getting rid of all those scrapbooking supplies because I knew how much I spent on them. I knew what that specialty punch crossed. I knew the value of that pile of embellishments. Simply getting rid of them meant wasting the money!
Yep. Getting rid of things, especially things you’ve never used is a waste of money. Here’s the thing though, you already don’t use it. You already wasted the money. It’s a sunk cost at this point.
One of the best ways to overcome this fear is to commit to changing your mindset around letting more clutter enter your home. When you have a shift in your overall mindset, that’s where you see the biggest financial gains!
When I stopped investing in paper crafts, my wallet saw the change. Now, if I want to try a new craft, I buy just enough supplies to get me started. I’ll even check out a how-to book from the library or will find a few tutorials online. I’ll start with a simple project with limited supplies, and I’ll see if I even like it. If I don’t, then I don’t have many supplies wasted.
Fear of hurting someone’s feelings
I held on to way too many things when I first started decluttering simply because I was afraid of hurting someone else’s feelings by letting them go.
These types of items were usually gifts given to me by my husband or extended family. However, there were other items too, like bins and bins of our childhood memories.
Our sweet parents saved so much stuff for us. They saved old toys, old books, papers from growing up, trophies, and so much more. It was sweet and considerate. We very much enjoyed going through them. Then, there was a large chunk of it that we simply needed to let go.
Our biggest hesitation in letting these items go was hurting the feelings of our family.
We live in a different age now. We can store a lot of memories digitally. That concept helped when saving some stuff. We snapped a picture of the item, filed it in a special digital folder, and then let it go.
For the most sentimental items, we saved in ONE bin each. That put an easy limit on how much we kept!
In regards to gifts, you aren’t obligated to keep a gift. Once you receive it, it’s your choice to keep it or not. Take this as your permission slip to let something go if you don’t love it but are holding on to it out of fear of hurting someone else’s feelings!
Fear of upsetting your family
The number one rule for decluttering… start with YOUR stuff first. If you do this, 95% of your decluttering problems with your family will be solved.
Your family needs time to see you working through your own fears and emotions with decluttering before they can jump on board. Give them that time.
Then, make them part of the process. If they help you, then they are bearing the weight of this fear, not you. Since you started with your stuff, you can then teach them what you have learned.
Fear of aggravating others
When you decide to live a simple, clutter-free life, you will be seen as weird. There’s no other perfect word for it. You won’t go shopping for fun anymore. You might say “no” to items offered to you for free. You might give things back you don’t need or want anymore.
You might ask that gift-giving look different, so you don’t continue to add clutter to your home.
Sometimes, when we are decluttering and living a more simple life, we are afraid that if do these “strange” things, others will get aggravated with us. That’s on them.
Don’t worry about what others think. This is your journey, and you are allowed to be “weird”! Embrace it. 😀
Fear of giving up on something you don’t love
Finally, when decluttering, we often fear giving up on something. This is the fear of letting go of that future aspirational self, or the person we envisioned ourselves being.
For example, I gave up on scrapbooking. I wanted to scrapbook because my mom scrapbooked and I liked being crafty. I don’t love scrapbooking. Was that giving up on being like my mom and having something to share with her? Not in the least.
If you invested in something but don’t love it, give yourself permission to let it go. You may not know your passion hobby yet. You may not know what matters the most to keep.
However, if you let go of the excess, you will now have the time and the space to start figuring it out!
Don’t be afraid of decluttering too much
In my years of decluttering, both the initial Big Declutter and the subsequent rounds, I’ve maybe decluttered a total of four things I regret letting go. That’s not bad. Could I even name those four things? No, not really.
Most things are replaceable. Even so, once you declutter it, even if you think, huh, I could have used that, you usually will find an alternative solution.
That’s the thing. You already know what you use and what you don’t use. The rest we just have taking up space in our homes.
Let go of the fear of decluttering and embrace the space you can gain. It will be worth the effort!
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