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Deep Dive: Declutter Like a Pro

By Ruthie Levy | March 25, 2025

Make smart personalized choices when decluttering your home

TO discard or not to discard, that is the question. You’d expect this article to be a clear, strict guideline of time limitations of owning certain articles of clothing (sheva brachos clothing, we’re coming for you!), rules regarding how many stock paper towel rolls is the correct quantity, and an outline of which papers are deemed save-worthy and which, no matter the personal sentiment, must be tossed.

Sounds like a bunch of impersonal and strict rules to me.

What follows, instead, are some suggestions, mindsets, and perspectives that will empower you, dear aspiring organized homemakers, to make smart personalized choices when decluttering your home.

First DO:

Declutter the Obvious

Select a category, be it shoes, toys, gloves, or tools.

Easily and quickly clear your space by discarding that which is obviously garbage.

Bedroom: empty shoeboxes, broken hangers, grotesque-looking sheitel heads.

Kitchen: appliance boxes, smelly food storage containers, rusty peelers.

Everywhere: extra shopping bags, empty packaging, anything broken beyond repair!

Once the Obvious garbage has been cleared out, it’s so much easier to see the actual work ahead of you. And you’ll already be feeling lighter as those garbage bags pile up!

Now DIG

Declutter Using Inner Goals

For the Sentimentals among You

Yes, you, the ones who can’t part with your seminary notes, with the half-finished needlepoint, with clothing from 18 years ago, I’m talking to you! What if your space was an expression of who you are now, right now… not who you were in the past or hope to become in the future.

What if your closet had clothing that fits you today, so that as you dress every morning you would see what you have, know that it can zip up. What if your coffee cabinet had the flavors and sweeteners that you use currently and not the sugar-free alternatives you wish you liked from the nutritionist program you tried last winter. What if your personal notes and birthday cards were stored in a memory bin and your desk area had space to process your current bills.

It’s hard to part with the past; the memories are precious, the experiences unique. They’re what made you who you are today. Yet here you are today with the ability to create NEW experiences and memories. It’s challenging to do so when your head, heart, and surroundings are full of remnants of the past. Allow your space to reflect who you are in the present. Create new sentiments to be stored away or purged at a later date!

For the Logical Thinker
Practically, how many fit? Is there space for 12 pairs of socks? Shelving holds a case of paper towel rolls? Drawer can fit eight knifes and two ladles? Then that becomes your limit. The decision of quantity has been made for you!

Ahhhh, but now how to choose which to keep and which to throw?

Choose your favorites. Whether that means your favorite peelers, coats, or frying pans. Choose what you like best that fits into the space allotted.
Choose your least favorites. Easily discard the items you can do without. The high heeled shoes that pinch your toes, the ponytail holders that tangle in your daughter’s hair, the least warm gloves.
Choose what can be donated. The tablecloths that your daughter-in-law admires, the gowns a gemach would appreciate, linen and housewares in excellent condition to a needy bride. Knowing that someone else will enjoy what has been stored unnecessarily in your home makes parting with it all so much lighter.

May you feel revach in your home, enjoy the open space that comes along with decluttering, knowing that whatever you DO choose to keep is a reflection of you and your family’s needs.

Ruthie Levy of Simplifized LLC has been organizing homes in New York and New Jersey since 2013. Her combination of practicality and eye for aesthetics has helped hundreds of clients create and maintain organized homes.

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 937)

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