33 Questions: Attachment and Identity — The Art of Decluttering

Decluttering isn’t always about whether something is useful. Sometimes the hardest decisions are tied to your heart, your memories and your sense of identity.

As you work through your belongings, ask yourself whether you’re keeping something because you genuinely want it, or because you feel guilty about letting it go. You can love someone without keeping the gift they gave you, and you can honour a memory without keeping every physical reminder of it.

Consider whether a photo, a story or a single representative item could preserve the memory while allowing you to let go of the quantity. You can also ask what you’re actually afraid will happen if you get rid of something, and whether that fear is a good enough reason to keep it.

Then look at what your possessions say about who you are. Are you keeping things because they represent who you used to be, or because of who you hope to become? Old hobbies, clothes that no longer fit, teaching resources from a previous career and things bought for an imagined future can all take up space in your home.

You can also ask whether you would choose to own something if you were seeing it for the first time today, whether anyone would actually want it after you die, and perhaps the most exciting question of all: what are you making room for by getting rid of this?

Sometimes decluttering isn’t about losing something. It’s about creating space for the life you want now.

Dive into our 3 week mini series about 33 Decluttering Questions

Week one is about your home

Week two is about your mindset

Week three is about your heart

Use the questions when you're decluttering as a tool for decision making!

Download the 33 Questions

You may also like to listen to these episodes:

33 Questions: Priority and Usefulness

33 Questions: Future and Regret

Neat vs Tidy

Reducing Volume