There's a quick one-sentence way of determining if something is clutter: If my house was on fire, would I save this?

Or this one: If I wer packing to leave my husband, what would I take? Probably only my dog, my jewelry,my camera, and some photo albums. He could have all the rest!

I seem to use time as a motivator - If something has been sitting in the cupboard for a couple of years, then Im not really using it so Im not going to miss it.

I'll give myself 3 or 4 days to go through catalogues, if I havent done it by then I just grab them and toss them and tell myself that I dont have time for catalogues right now or I'd have gone through them by now, and there will always be more catalogues.

If cosmetics etc reach the expiry date, I tell myself that if I was using it often it wouldnt have a chance to expire so chances are I wont miss it.

I find it easier to identify things as clutter when I think about how long it's just been sitting somewhere doing nothing, so it cant be that useful to me. Useful things I use, clutter justs sits

That's a great checklist for average items. But when it comes to items with sentimental value, we often have trouble letting them go even if they don't fit our lives. When I began decluttering my house, I had lots of "sentimentalities". If it didn't fit my decor and wasn't useful to me, I asked myself, "Who do I know who would appreciate this?" And I began giving the items to the people I knew would want them.

For items no one wanted, I'd snap a picture of the item and then sell it or Freecycle it. It's taken me years to declutter my house, and honestly I don't even remember what all I got rid of and I certainly don't miss a thing.

From this list, #2 if my favorite: Would I replace it if it were broken or lost? I will try to keep this in mind as I go through cabinets, drawers and closets. And the GARAGE!

Lazygardens, great zenhabits blog!