The 3 Questions I'll Start Considering Before I Get Rid of Anything.

I once opened a storage facility in San Francisco to keep some of my grandparents' belongings there after they both went away years ago (plus a few of my own). All artifacts from a previous existence that I believed I would want with me in an unimaginable future life.

I later went through that storage unit as I prepared to go across the nation to Georgia. With a $40 monthly cost, it makes me cringe to consider how much money I wasted holding onto stuff like boxes of old New Yorker magazines and a mattress that I could have easily replaced.

I do consider that mistake to be a valuable life lesson in decluttering and letting go: You should save some sentimental items that are symbolic of the people you love, but you shouldn't feel obligated to hold on to every memory at the expense of who you are right now. However, I am aware that things are not always cut and dry. My grandparents' specially crafted dining table, for instance, was undoubtedly not practical to preserve and transport across the country, but I adore having it now and have never once regretted saving and storing it.

But rummaging through that storage unit was a turning moment in my life. My journey to discover how to let go of things easily began with that. Personally, I don't want the possessions I have to burden me, eat up my time, or bury the genuinely important things under a sea of other stuff (kept only out of fear of going without them).

I'm still learning to let go without regret and to know what to hold onto without feeling guilty. I'm not always accurate since it's a two-way street. I'd always held the conviction that my house is "not a storage unit," and I used that mantra to dispose of items with assurance, knowing that I could buy or borrow them again if necessary.

Here are the questions I'm going to start asking myself anytime I'm unsure about whether I'll regret getting rid of something, taking into account both ordinary life milestones and a centenary pandemic perspective.

1). Will this have greater significance as time passes?

This is a challenging question since the longer you hold onto something, the more significance it appears to have. But this isn't what I mean; don't hold onto the fondue set you've never used simply because you've had it for ten years.

But evaluate if anything might have more significance as you become older or as your kids get older. I regret letting go of my yearbooks from elementary and high school, for instance, a lot. I get so upset that I don't have them anymore to reflect on as my kids experience the same milestones, and I miss being able to show them school photos of Mommy in the grades they are now.

2). Does this thing have more than one use or user?

Although "infinitely beneficial" sounds dramatic, many art and craft products really are. Having a lot of these items used to feel too difficult to keep organized and store, including watercolors, water color paper, puzzles, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, brushes, spray bottles, and tissue paper. However, as the weeks turned into months with five young children at home, I added these items and more to my list of art supplies to keep on hand if I already have them. I was mostly unable to run out to the store to pick up craft supplies to help keep the kids occupied and happy. This is definitely not something I'll be getting rid of anytime soon.

Additionally, I'd mention activity books like workbooks, sticker books, and activity books. They are simple to keep, may be used by several children and passed down as they grow, and if they are kept in the closet for a while, they will eventually become "new" again.

Determine wat hobby materials to donate and what to keep by considering whether anything is beneficial for purposes other than those for which it was intended or a specific individual. Personally, I've learned that if I lose interest in a project, I'm unlikely to pick it up again and it's acceptable to let it go (like the cross-stitch of draft horses I started when I worked at a swimming pool locker room as a kid). Conversely, generic materials like quarter-inch elastic, which were in high demand for many weeks during the rapid upsurge in handmade mask production, should be saved for later use.

3). Can I utilize this item while I transition between different "seasons" of life?

There is a distinction between things you discard because they are no longer helpful or enjoyable and things you may need in the future but don't currently. Once more, this seems to be a slippery slope because, if you saved everything that might one day be beneficial, you might wind up retaining everything.

I'm referring to general useful goods here. This does not apply to a curtain rod with finials that matched the lamp you no longer use, in a home you no longer live in. However, as your life progresses, it's extremely possible that office products like neutral-colored magazine holders, unused drawer organizers, baskets, and other containers will find their way back into usage. They are a huge time and money saver to have on hand when you need them.

I regretted getting rid of my storage bin full of baskets, for example, when our family's life and hobbies were entirely house-based. Because they nest so easily, they were quite convenient to store, and I would have appreciated being able to quickly choose something from my collection to organize the belongings of all the new residents of my household who were now staying with me all the time. I won't repeat my previous error of getting rid of baskets.

You can lessen the remorse that occasionally comes after lightening the load of your stuff by considering these three decision-helping decluttering questions: is anything helpful for more than one person or purpose, will it become more precious with time, and is it a generically useful item?