I love the idea of thinking in terms of long-term needs. That’s a great way to approach the clutter. This was one of those things I struggled about with kids. After we had the first I knew we would wait a bit to have the second. I couldn’t decide if we should hold onto things that might sit in boxes for two to three years. Now that the second child is set to arrive I can definitely say some things were worth saving, other things I’m not so sure about.

Our issue was also accumulation. We shred the new documents that come in the mail each week, but we have legacy tax papers dating back to 1998! The older you get the more you acquire. We didn’t even own a scanner back then 🙂 The key from this point forward is staying on top of the papers, but there was a whole lot of stuff in there from a very different time!

Thanks for the comment, it’s an interesting question. Do you mean opened gifts that aren’t in original boxes and cannot be returned? Sometimes I put the items in my house for a short amount of time. If family members live close by and visit often they’ll see it for awhile, but don’t tend to notice when it goes missing a few months later. Depending on what they purchased I can always say it isn’t kid safe or I was afraid my son would break it, etc. Of course, I’ve never been asked.

For other items that can be returned to the store I just return them. I still feel guilty about it, but I’d rather not keep the clutter and I don’t want to work around things I don’t want in my home. It’s a pretty cut throat approach, but it makes me feel better about everyday living.

I’ve also specifically asked for ‘fewer nick-knacks’ and have an open policy with my parents to let them know when I don’t like things they purchased. My mom actually prefers this approach. She says it helps her shop for the next occasion.

We purged so much stuff crammed in the closet it’s incredible. Not even necessarily things we bought that we didn’t need but just old things that accumulate over time.

We’re really focusing our decisions on whether we’ll have an immediate or near-term (1-6 months) need for a thing. If not, it can’t go back in that closet lest it live there for another 4 years and force us to do a deep clean again. I’m also our chief scanner and shredder: unless I’m just too tired to tackle the scanning, I try to scan everything within a day or two of receipt.