How do I clean out things I have gathered in the past 20 years?

sort the definitely wanted and move to another room.make a pile to sell or donate.ONE ROOM AT A TIME

I think just take it a little at a time. Get 3 bins, and label them 'donate', 'trash' and 'keep'. Work for a long enough time to fill all three. Then throw out the trash, take the donations and store the 'keep'. Then repeat until you get through it all. It will take time!

I hate to say it but, "One box at a time." One really great piece of advice I heard a long time ago was that once you go through everything (throw away what is actual trash) make sure and tape the boxes shut and date them. If in a years time you don't know whats in those boxes and have literally not needed anything in them then DONT OPEN THEM. Just take them directly to your local thrift store.

Go room by room & just start working at it slowly. Decide what to keep, toss, sell & give away. It's not an easy process, but it's worth it.

Have a yard sale. That is what I always do, cause I try never to keep anything that is not desirable. Make everything look clean and priced and you will make some money too!

i would start out by putting them in boxes by order of importance. try to get rid of stuff you dont use dont need or dont know where it came from. try to seperate your emotions from some of this stuff. it makes it easier to declutter. you can also watch Horders on A&E or youtube.

If it is broken, won't run or doesn't fit get rid of it. If you haven't worn it in several years give it away. If you are sentimentally attached to something take a picture of it and then donate it. You have to be realistic. You don't need 5 hammers. Pick out 2 and donate the rest. It is better to give it away and let somebody get some use out of instead of it slowly rotting away.

Good luck; I am in the middle of it! We moved from a two bedroom house into a one room apartment. All I can say is do it one drawer, box, or area at a time. It means throwing away things. It means being willing to part with things you used to love. It also means storing things you just can't part with. Make a donate box and throw things in there. It will take time, it took 20 years to accumulate, it will take at least a few weeks to clear it. Blessings!

Hi Kathi,

First, know that you are not alone! It's so easy to accumulate stuff before we even realize it. I have a free 5-day email course for readers of my blog that step them through the process of cleaning out and organizing craft supplies. You can easily adapt it for any of the things you want to clean out, and you can find it here: https://app.convertkit.com/landing_pages/402848?v=7 I'd suggest starting with just one area or type of things at a time and working steadily over a period of days, weeks, or even months. Before you know it, you'll see progress that will encourage you on. Feel free to email me if I can help any further. You can find a link to my email in the free course.