Every spring, millions of people pull on their oldest clothes, prop open the storage room door, and make a deal with themselves: this is the year I finally deal with this. They haul things out, sort into piles, maybe fill a donation bag, and then pause, unsure. Then they put most of it back. April is decluttering season, but for storage rooms, decluttering alone rarely works. In this episode, we guide listeners through why the standard “keep, donate, toss” approach often stalls in storage spaces and what to do instead. Drawing on the Year of the Storage Rooms theme, this episode reframes the spring cleanout as an intentional reset: one that asks not just “do I want this?” but “does this space still reflect who I am and how I actually live?” With practical tools, a compassionate lens, and a few honest questions to carry into the storage room, listeners leave with both permission and a plan.
IN THIS EPISODE WE TALK ABOUT
- Why the standard declutter framework breaks down in storage rooms
- The difference between decluttering for now and decluttering with intention
- A simple storage room reset practice you can start this weekend, even if you only have 30 minutes and zero motivation
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
- Episode 163: “Your Storage Room Doesn't Have a Clutter Problem. It Has a Purpose Problem.”
Review full show notes and resources at https://theorganizedflamingo.com/podcast
Review Transcript:
 It's springtime, it's April as of this recording, and the air is a little lighter and there are birds and some actual sunshine. Hopefully for you. I know for us, we have some sunshine here, and somewhere in your home there is a door probably with a sticky handle or one of those doors that's been there forever.
Wooden, either a hollow one, it just kind of is the entry to possibly a space that you avoid. The space that you avoid contact with. And behind it is your storage room, maybe a storage closet. And every spring you think this is the year. This is the year. You open that door and handle it. You tell yourself you will be ruthless, you'll be decisive.
You'll finally figure out what to do with the three sets of holiday lights. Maybe I'm talking about myself, that may or may not work. And the box labeled miscellaneous cords from approximately like 1999, right? So you open the door, you pull some things out, you make piles, and then you kind of just stand there and the stuff just looks back at you and a lot of it goes back in.
So if this is sounding familiar to you, I want you to know that you're not alone. Not only have I seen this in countless people that I work with over the last 20 plus years. I also go through it myself just as a regular human being. I don't consider it a failure, and I don't see it as a failure with my clients and people that I work with.
It's not a lack of motivation necessarily, or discipline, it's just that what tends to happen is that we might be using the wrong tool for this type of job. So welcome back to Organiz and Cherish. I'm Stephanie, your host, and we're deep into year of the storage rooms. A series where we're not just talking about what to put where, but why these spaces become what they become and how to reclaim them with real intention.
So today we're talking about decluttering and more specifically, we're talking about what actually works and what sounds like it should work, but oftentimes does not. So we. Our talking decluttering. We kind of go through phase where we talk about motivation and some of the motivational speak that might work for you reframing.
But right now we're going to focus on the act of decluttering and what works and what doesn't and what I have seen work and what doesn't. So when you're standing in front of a storage room in this springtime and you're ready to declutter whenever you're listening to this podcast, no matter what the season is, that you have some tools under your tool belt.
I can help you with so you can actually take some action. So let's go.
Welcome to the Organized and Cherish podcast with the Organized Flamingo. I am your host Stephanie, your compassionate and deficient professional organizer. Whether you are part of the sandwich generation helping a loved one declutter, or just trying to simplify life, this is the place for you. Together we will tackle those overwhelming piles of stuff, uncover purpose in what we keep, and let go with dignity and care, because it's not just about throwing everything away, it's about respecting memories and simplifying life.
Sound like a plan? Let's jump in and get organized. Okay, so let's talk about the standard declutter advice for a second. You've heard it. You know the one that says, put three piles together. The keep the toss, the donate, or the variation of Love it. Need it, toss it. Right? Or the questions, does this spark joy?
You know, one of those combination of standard decluttering advice. These are genuinely useful frameworks. They're obviously popular because they work, or they at least ignite you to take action. Now, I use variations of these myself, but they were largely designed for the things we'd live with every day.
The clothes in our closets, the books on our shelves, the kitchen tools in our drawers, things we interact with regularly, right? Things where we already have a sense of how they fit into our lives. Like they're just kind of part of like a, a, a maintenance decluttering. Storage rooms are very different because a storage room is by design a space for things we don't use every day.
It holds the seasonal, the sentimental stuff. Though we might need the someday stuff. Right. And stuff that you've inherited and you stored the, this belongs to someone. I loved the, I'm not ready to deal with yet stuff. So it's not the stuff for your everyday life, that's why it's called storage rooms or storage closets, even if it's offsite, whether it's offsite or on your property or within your reach of your home, right?
When you hold up a decorative pumpkin from a decade ago and ask yourself, does this spark joy? Well, the oddest answer, it might be, well, it did. It does show memories, and then all of a sudden you start going back in time, but you really have no idea. I haven't. Thought about this pumpkin since October is probably what's going through your head and, you know, I don't really remember, I don't have a relationship with this pumpkin is, uh, something else that I hear a lot about.
Like what, or whatever item you're holding. You know, I have a storage room full of objects. I've stopped conscientiously choosing to keep, you know, that those frameworks often are what's popping up into, into people's heads and they just kind of stay there. The stuff. Because you really don't have intention with it.
Right? And we have an entire episode on intention and, and actually a couple of them for, especially for specific, for storage rooms, but that's the gap standard. Decluttering advice asks you to make an active choice about a thing, but storage rooms are full of passive accumulation. Things that stayed, not because you decided to keep them, but because you never decided anything at all.
Here's what I have found that, you know, in my own work and in the work that I do with clients in our community is that clutter stalls not because of the stuff, but because of the question you're asking yourself, do I want this? It's too hard to answer for things you've been ignoring or they're not in season for when you are asking that question.
So if you're asking or if you're decluttering, let's say right now in the springtime, which is very common. You're asking about holiday items, siege, all end of the year, or cold weather items, and you're asking yourself, do I want this? Well, it puts you on the spot. It asks you to summon up feelings about things that have been sitting in boxes for months or even years.
So I'd like to offer a few tools and questions and frameworks for you to think about in this episode, uh, because there's a different question. And it does change the way that you will acknowledge and take action on this step. Okay, so here we go. The question that works really well in a storage room isn't, do I want this?
It's going to be, does this belong to my life right now? And the reason it's such a powerful question is because you're not asking about your past life, not the life you used to live or the person you used to be. Not the future life you imagine having someday. It's the life right now. This question is kind of packed with, I think it's like sometimes it gets mis confused or misread because it's not just one of those, okay, well right now, this moment, you know, does that mean I'm going to throw everything away in your storage room?
Absolutely not. But is the person you are right now and the person that you are working on right now. Does that align with that pumpkin, decorative pumpkin that we just talked about? Meaning, yes, I am the type of person that enjoys decorating for Halloween, decorating for the fall. Therefore, I will keep this decorative pumpkin because that is who I am right now.
I am that person, the person who does and will be putting stuff out for Halloween. Let's take another example. Let's say you've inherited, uh, a whole stack of books that's really common with our community. Parents, loved ones, relatives, friends, you know, they will pass on their most cherished books or just like their library.
And now you have a whole bunch of library. It's like a library, but you're not really a library there in your storage room, right? So your life right now. Are you planning on reading all these books or maybe you want to decorate your library or your living room, or your study space or whatever. You know, you, you want to actually use them and you have a plan.
You just are not sure of the execution yet, but that is the person you want to be right now and who you are right now. Now we have talked about being really careful with your future self. We have a whole episode a couple of episodes ago. About not planning for the person you want to become, but the person you are right now and you're working towards that person actively.
So if you are a re avid reader and you're reading, you know, a book a week, a book a month, whether you have a plan to read these books, then that is the person that is right now. But if you have no plans, no initiative, no vision of. Even starting to read, or you're not a decorator, or you are not in a place where you can even put all those books anywhere.
You have no plans about it, then that's not your life right now. Okay? So the question is, does this belong to my life right now? And that also means that you are actively pursuing that life right now. It doesn't mean that you are using everything in your storage room right now, but the person is actively.
Doing something and being very intentional about that stuff that is being stored. So I had a client, no, no names, you know, but for privacy reasons. But I had a client and she was finally tackling our storage room after years of avoidance, right? That's usually by why they usually call me. And she had already tried to do this on her own a couple times and had actually, um, gotten her whole family to help her for a few rounds.
I mean, this is like years after years. She'd always described herself as a crafter, even though she hadn't crafted in years. And I knew, I know I can relate to this. I, again, recently with one of our episodes, I talked to you guys about my craft room and I am a crafter, but I don't go into the craft room, you know?
So anyway, I could relate to her so much. So anyway, her storage room. Had four really kind of like those large bins of craft supplies. Um, plus the overflow overflow from a project that she had worked on for, for years and never really finished. So when she, and we were going through all of this, we started asking different questions, but she asked herself, do I want these supplies?
And she froze. She goes, I keep asking myself like, do I want this stuff? And she's like, but I keep coming back with. I mean, I do my heart's there. They're really cute. But then year after year, what has, what happened was a lot of this stuff was either drying up or just not usable or just nothing was happening.
It was accumulating dust, right? Because part of her did want them and the part of her that remembered loving that version of herself wanted to keep him, but the part that thought someday she'd have time to go back to, it was struggling. So when she asked herself, do I want these supplies, it was the reason she froze because there was no, no vision.
She could not see herself actively picking it back up. It was just more of a, of a dream. It was more of a Pinterest board. But then when she asked, does this belong to my life right now? The answer came a little bit more clearly because she, you know, she had a new job at the time and she had kids, and it was just a different rhythm.
The crafting part of her life was not, right now, it was part of a life she was holding onto that was no longer active right now. And I actually, you know, I, I think I, I told you guys, so the, the crafting is such a, I think we have a lot in common with a lot of our listeners on that. I, for me, for my own personal experience, I ended up putting my craft room stuff into my kids' playroom and activity.
Section instead. So I didn't throw it all away, but now it has a new purpose. So it is now belonging to my life right now because it's stuff that he could, he can use and we're doing, you know, homework and projects and crafts and all that. So it's perfect. So that's one of the shifts. You know, it's not, it's not so that you get rid of everything.
It's more of that honest speak and remembering that you can re not only reframe the question, but you can reframe the way that you use your stuff. Make this stuff an active part of your life that you're living right now, even with storage stuff in storage, and especially with stuff in storage, because that stuff, I mean, I'll give you like, oh, let's go back to the pumpkin or the decorative pumpkin, right?
That can serve many seasons and many ways in many functions. So I've had people say, well, you know, I, I don't really decorate for, for the holidays anymore. Okay, but can you use this decorative pumpkin for something else? As a gift. Um, the next time you go for a, you know, like a fall themed event, is this a gift that you can give someone?
Like, can this be part of like a really cute basket and it's a gift for somebody else, you know, so we can keep it, but now you have a different function for it. 'cause now it's being used for the life that you're living right now instead of just staying stagnant with what it used to be and not being flexible with what it can be right now.
We're also in a really natural season of reassessment. When you are doing these big decluttering moves or during these seasons of, especially during the spring cleaning, it just feels like a good time to reassess, you know, uh, what did we use over the winter? What did we not use? What carried us through, and what just took up space?
Like, it's a good time to make all those questions and ask yourself those questions. So Spring doesn't fix the storage room necessarily, but. It's just such a natural time to reassess and ask yourself questions in a right now in my life type of way. Hi, cherish friends. Life can get overwhelming, especially when you're juggling caregiving, clutter and everything in between.
That's why I created the Organized and Cherish weekly email that goes out every Wednesday straight to your inbox. To help you keep the momentum inspiration going with tips and reminders of our upcoming events, all you have to do is head on over to organize and cherish.com and sign up for the email newsletter.
It's free and you can up subscribe whenever you'd like. It's my way of helping you simplify your life and respecting memories along the way. Now back to our show. Okay, so what can you actually be doing right now if you're in that storage space as you're listening to this? Or will be pretty soon you have committed to let some stuff go or make some definite decisions.
Okay, so if you're up, up to this point in the podcast, in this episode, it means that we've already gone through some of the mental hurdles. We've already gone through. Why you can't let it go in other episodes, right? You're like, you're ready. You're just trying to reframe some questions and ask yourself the right one so you can take action.
If you're doing this on your own, here are some questions that I want to you to continue to ask. So let's say you have a whole lot of stuff down in your storage room of the what if scenarios, but you're like, no, you, I'm, I'm, you're getting convinced you're ready. You're like, no, I don't think I am that person.
Let's say you have like a whole bunch of, you know, workout stuff and you're like. You know what? No, it's just not me. I need to go to a gym or I need a, a different type of workout routine or a different type of healthy routine. This one is not for me. Okay? So all this weights or gym stuff or whatever that's been collecting dust that's been in the storage room, I'm ready to let it go.
Okay? You're going to ask things like, is storing this helping me get to where I am right now, or who I want to be, but I'm actively working on it? In this scenario, you have a bunch of weights. Okay, well, no, it's not. You know what? It's just a reminder every time I pass by, it's a reminder of what I'm not doing.
I just need a different routine, a different habit in order for to get my exercise in, you know, a, a, a more of a walker. I'm more of a, a group program type of person, so having these here is not for me. You can start asking questions like, okay, well, could I use the weights for something else? If you have, you know, activities or children or whatever, that it might be handy, like, they're really good to weigh down balloons or good door stoppers.
Like one of our clients who's been using it for door stoppers. Okay, great. It, can it help you right now? Not in the, I will keep it just in case I need a door stopper. I mean, you can have like a corner of your office, a storage room, not office, but your storage room or your closet. For the s, you know, for the stuff that could be mul used for multiple uses, such as weights.
Weights are a great example. Like you can use it for multiple uses, but do not have your entire storage area be a warehouse of what ifs. You're not a museum, you're not an archive department. Preserve certain sections of your storage area for the Yes. Multiple uses. I could use this for something else, but not your entire storage room.
Okay. Couple. The, the question is, is storing this helping me get there or is this keeping the dream safely just in storage tucked away where I don't have to actually act on it just for the reminder every once in a while that that was a dream. Once upon a time you can just close a door and, uh, out of sight outta mind.
Is that the healthiest? Probably not. Sometimes the most honest thing you can do is to bring the materials out. So I talk a lot about this. Um, so this isn't a question, but this is a practice of actually putting it in your living space. We do this a lot with inherited items, as long as it's not, you know, a whole house worth, but we do this a lot to see if it actually will be their style.
If they can see themselves liking it, you're going to be passing by this thing all the time. Yes, you have good intentions and it came from a good place and a loved one and has a lot of memories. But is it who you want are right now? Who, who is, is it your style? Uh, you know, we put it out and then you can decide.
That's how you know if you are going to kind of use the item too. And sometimes the honest thing is to just let it go and realize that the dream is there. It's still there. Not the physical item. I mean, it doesn't mean you're letting go of your, of who you want to be one day. It just means that you're not having physical stuff weigh you down and have it be a reminder of failures or where you are not.
Like, that's not where we want to be. Let's get even more practical because I know some of you are standing in front of us, the storage room in your or in your head maybe. Um, and you do need a place to start. I want to offer you a couple of frameworks for approaching the Spring Storage Room reset. Um, so this is not about a whole overhaul.
Uh, this is more you, you know, this is more like, okay, you, you're, you're starting the process, or you already did, and you, you just need some momentum, okay? The 30 minute surface pass has a really big and positive results for people. So you don't go really deep, you just kind of walk around, pull out anything that is obviously not wanted or wrong.
It's like a, a quick reset, go through obvious nos, things that belong somewhere else, things that are pretty clearly trash, things that have fallen and been forgotten. It's kind of a 30 minute, uh, I would not go past 45 minutes because after 45 minutes you start to dig too deep into the boxes and get into the weeds.
I don't want you to go there. I want you to get, get some momentum. So either like 30, 45 minutes and or grab the trash bag or some cardboard boxes and start filling them. So give yourself some kind of, um, a measurable goal that when you're done in the, from the 30 to 45 minute timeframe, um, that it's filled.
Okay, so that's a, a really po um, big one gets people going. Um, another one is. Uh, more like a purpose check Before you start sorting or decluttering, you spend about five minutes asking what is this room for now? So, um, we had in episode 1 63, we had a whole purpose statement exercise. Revisit that if you didn't, um, haven't listened to it yet, go ahead and listen to that.
But write one or two sentences about what this space is supposed to serve. That purpose statement becomes your filter for everything else. So if your goal is for this room to be, or have it be back to a guest room, or it's going to be play room, or your podcast room, or your activity room, or your puzzle room, whatever, keep that as your goal in your North Star.
Another way that I've seen people get really inspired and keep it going is the belongs in my life right now. Pass, right? Um, this is where the real work happens because you have to be very present. Now, this one only works if you are ready and very intentional, like you are committed. You're excited If there is any room for, ah, well, I don't really know if I'm ready.
This might not work for you, but I'll mention it anyway so you have it in your back pocket. So category by category, you pick up items and ask the question, does this belong in my life right now? And if it's not, uh, then you donate it immediately and you don't sell it unless you have someone helping you or you have a, like you are good at selling and posting on marketplace or Craigslist or wherever, you know, whatever website you, you, you're posting.
Um, but this is a true, like let it go exercise. And then the last one is what does stay gets a home exercise. So if you're kind of towards the end of it where you are not ready to make decisions about the rest of the stuff, we are going to put it back with intention. So everything you decide to keep needs a designated place.
That doesn't mean that everything has to be in a labeled bin. I mean, that would be probably your dream. Everyone's dream with a color coded system. I do want you to at least know where it goes and have a purpose. So, um, if you host a lot of parties, you are a hostess, you know, you, your organizing system.
Home is going to be about events. Like whenever I host a dinner party, whenever I host a kids party, whenever I host a adults only party, whatever, you know, themed party, you are going to put it in those categories. But everything should have a home. I don't want you to just put it all back. The way, obviously it was before, without labeling and having clear homes, because then you're just gonna go back to how it used to be.
Um, those are some of the quick exercises I would have you do. Um, and if we were working together without knowing too many details about, about, you know, what you're going through, um, but I think those might get you into a good starting point. Um, before we go, let's talk about the sentimental piece very quickly.
We have full episodes designated to this, but I, I always wanna mention it because decluttering a storage room is not always just the physical task for a lot of us. It's also an emotional one and the storage room and closets hold things that we could make decisions about for a reason. And often the reason we couldn't make decisions is because those things meant something to us at some point very deeply, a lot of times, or to someone we loved if they were inherited to you.
Or to a chapter of our life that we're still processing. So this isn't it, it's not that it's wrong, that you are attached to these things. It's very natural. Um, you're, you're human. But what I've learned over the years of doing the this work is you don't, you don't have to be ready. You just have to be really honest and you don't have to let go of everything.
You just have to kind of let go of the things that are costing you more to hold onto than they're giving you back. Sometimes we'll never be ready to let go of something. And the memory of that, something that, that something holds because it's probably not the actual physical thing. It's the memories that are are associated with it.
You may never be ready, but holding onto it physically might be costing you a lot of money and a lot of mental health. So that math is different for everybody. There is no right answer and there's usually just the honest one. The one that you can arrive at when you slow down long enough to ask the questions and do some of these exercises.
We know that your storage room is holding a whole lot, so let this spring be the reason in the season. You start having a conversation with it, with the stuff with the room, you know you're not fighting it, you're not purging it. It's just like a conversation. What belongs here? What's ready to go? What needs a little more time?
Little by little, make some steps every day. Do one box, do another, and start to make very intentional decisions. Okay, that is our goal. Okay, so for this week, we're gonna go into our storage room with the timer. I think that first exercise that I talked about is probably the, the one that's the most popular and people seem the most results.
So we're gonna do that one for 30 minutes and 30 to 45 minutes, and let's just go through our obvious nos in your storage room. Tag us. Send us a message. A lot of you are sending me their text messages or emails or, um, tagging us on, on, um, social media, and I'm here to cheer you on. That's what we're gonna work on this week whenever you're listening to this, okay?
Even if you're listening to this on different season, that is not springtime. We're still here to cheer you on no matter when you're listening and taking these actions. Until next week, happy organizing. Thank you for listening to the Organized and Cherish podcast with the Organized Flamingo. If you enjoy today's episode, I'd be so grateful if you left a rating and review on your favorite podcast player.
It helps others discover our show. For full show notes, resources, and more organizing inspiration, visit www.theorganizedflamingo.com/podcast. Until next time, happy organizing.