decluttering help

[firecat]

I want to get rid of stuff, because the stuff is now overflowing the available space for stuff storage.

I have trouble getting rid of stuff. So I started at the corner of one bookshelf full of books and other stuff, looked at each item, and wrote down reasons to keep it and reasons not to keep it.

If you have ever successfully decluttered, I'd like some feedback on how you make decisions based on reasons like these. I'm thinking of assigning points to each of the reasons and trying to make decisions that way. I think that most of my reasons to keep something are legitimate in and of themselves, but since I would apply them to pretty much everything, I'm going to have to figure out a way to rank some of them such that I can actually get rid of some stuff.

Here are my lists of reasons.
GET RID OF BECAUSE
I can replace it easily if I need it
I can get the equivalent information from the web
I have several and don't need them all
It's out of date
I'm probably not going to use it in the future
I know someone / someplace I can give it to
I don't like it
ETA It frees up space, which is relaxing (and the point of the exercise)

KEEP BECAUSE
It is or might be worth a lot of money
It makes me feel nostalgic
I like it (it's pretty, it makes me feel good)
It might be useful again someday
I made it
It was a gift
A friend made it
It's useful for my work
It's not actually mine (usually this means it's co-owned with the OH)
It's part of a collection I have
I haven't read or used it yet

For the record, here are some maybe not so good reasons I have a hard time throwing some things out:

*I have several and it would take a lot of work to decide which one(s) to keep

*It's not worth giving away, e.g. it's broken or damaged or no one would want it, and I feel bad just throwing it out (yes, I do know about Freecycle, but I've had bad luck with it, and while I'm willing to use it again, the fact that something might be freecyclable doesn't make me feel good about giving it away)

*It would be valuable to a small set of people but it would be a lot of work to find those people and get the stuff to them (e.g., my old Newton books) but giving it away some other way feels like a waste

*I don't have any place to store giveaways until I get around to giving them away

Comments

[tiger-spot.livejournal.com]

Don't think of it as getting rid of stuff -- think of it as gaining valuable space! I am kind of a packrat by nature, but frequent moving has taught me how to get rid of things when necessary. While all your reasons to get rid of sound good to me, some of your reasons to keep wouldn't really apply if I were going through my stuff.

First, the reasons I agree are good:
It makes me feel nostalgic
I like it (it's pretty, it makes me feel good)
It's useful for my work
It's not actually mine (usually this means it's co-owned with the OH)

Everything else seems to be related to at least one of these reasons.

It is or might be worth a lot of money -- To me, if there's not another reason I want to keep it, this just means I should sell it (or give it to someone I like) rather than throwing it out or giving it to Goodwill or Freecycle or whatever.
It might be useful again someday -- Anything in the world might be useful in some circumstances. My rule is "Do I expect to use this within the next three years?" [or: before my next move] If not, it can go. (Exceptions can be made for irreplaceable things, but usually things I'm hanging onto because they might be useful are things like torn clothes for sewing materials or parts of broken chairs.)
I made it -- For me this would only be a reason if I also liked it or wanted to keep it for the nostalgia value. (That is, it's not in and of itself a reason, but things I've made are more likely to be nostalgic than other things.)
It was a gift -- Same as above.
A friend made it -- Same as above.
It's part of a collection I have -- I don't quite get the collector-impulse, so I would evaluate things based on whether I liked them rather than whether they were necessary to complete a collection.
I haven't read or used it yet -- Again, I would evaluate based on whether you expect to use it within the next few years.

One suggestion I've heard to figure out which things you really want is to pack away all the things you aren't sure about in a box for a year. If at the end of the year you haven't missed it, you probably won't miss it in the future and can safely get rid of it.

I will also point out that it is often possible to pack up those nostalgic, might-be-useful, and other seldom-used items in ways that make them take up very little space and not be out in view, which at least makes things look much less cluttered.

[firecat]

think of it as gaining valuable space

GOOD point.

To me some of the points you see as related to "nostalgia" also have different nuances, I'll have to ponder whether they are sufficiently different to count.

Thanks!