Decluttering Like a Cowboy: When in Doubt, Throw it Out

This weekend, I took my kids to a small-town threshing bee. We saw steam-powered sawmills and ice cream makers, learned how to make rope, watched tracker pulls and blacksmiths, and topped the day off with pie and ice cream—it was quite idyllic.

When we first arrived, I ran into my friend Gwen’s father, whom I hadn’t seen in at least 21 years. My friend Gwen grew up on a ranch, and their family raised cattle.

When I explained I was writing about decluttering, he immediately said:

“It’s simple: When in doubt, throw it out!”

In all my decluttering over the years, I tend to make it too complicated; I set up bins for “haven’t decided yet” because I’m afraid of getting rid of something I may want or need down the road.

Many people recommend having a “quarantine bin” to put all those things, then setting a time limit, for example:

I’m not sure if I’ll need this kitchen stuff, so I put it in a box, labeled it, and dated it. If I haven’t needed to retrieve anything from it in six months, I can let it go, confident that I don’t need any of it.

I’ve used this method frequently myself, and it has made me feel better.

The problem has been that when the six months came, I sorted through the box again and brought things back into the kitchen that I wanted. Had I needed them? No, but they sure seemed like they would be useful.

Are they hard to replace?

If you’re browsing the internet for decluttering articles, I’m going to assume that it has not been difficult for you to acquire the things in your home.

Why do we all have this scarcity mindset?

Even the poor in my community have more stuff than they know what to do with. I remember being a young mom and needing state help to pay for utilities and groceries. I never needed toys for the kids, and all our closets were so full that I could barely close the doors. We had more than enough stuff.

When I consider the items that would be difficult to replace, well, I never thought of decluttering those items. I would never have thought to declutter the things we use daily or any of our important papers, like car titles and birth certificates.

So why do I stress about making the wrong decision?

Sure, if we’ve decluttered to the extent that we’re contemplating getting rid of our cars and biking everywhere, I can see the need to put a lot of thought into it. It’s a decision that will impact many things.

But those are the types of decisions I struggled with.

No – it was these:

• Should I get rid of the zippers in my sewing box?
• Do I need three pairs of tennis shoes or just one?
• Should I keep the 9×9 cake pan when I use only the 9×13?
• What about the evening dress that I haven’t worn since 2001?

I had my reasons for every single one of those situations—I didn’t want to get rid of something only to find out two months later that it really was useful to me.

Minimalism isn’t an inconvenience.

Yes, there may be some slight inconveniences in your journey. For example, you may declutter your old tennis shoes only to remember the next week that you need them when you mow the lawn.

But in general, if we walked away from our home and started over somewhere else, we wouldn’t miss anything.

Having to declutter the garage is inconvenient. Not having to declutter that garage every single year means I can spend more time doing other things. ~ Don’t keep repeat decluttering

Minimalism offers us freedom.

I think most of us who struggle with the idea of “When in doubt, throw it out!” are hobbyists.

We have the things we’re interested in, which I’m all for—I think hobbies are healthy.

But picture this:

Your hobbies are cooking, reading, and walking with your dog.

So you pare down your kitchen to essential tools, cooking and cleaning up afterward is a breeze.

You keep only a small library of favorite books; the rest are borrowed from the library.

Since you’re a minimalist, there isn’t much upkeep at home, and you can take your dog for a walk without dreading the chores waiting for you.

Your life is full of things you enjoy: good food, good books, and good company.

All the stuff is a heavy burden to us.

Hobbies: I should sew the quilts I bought fabric for, paint the canvas sitting in my bedroom, color in my coloring books—I have at least 17 now—and the pile of notebooks and cookbooks… The list can go on and on.

Our closets: I lost/gained weight and am a different size, which makes me feel bad for spending money on all those clothes – some still have the tags on them. I bought workout clothes but still haven’t gone to the gym. My favorite purse has a broken zipper; I should pay someone to fix it.

Kitchen: I don’t really like cooking, but I have all this nice stuff; I should use it. I got these pots and pans when my grandma passed. They’re not the right sizes for how I cook, but if I get rid of them, I might forget how grandma cooked. I’m pretty sure only bad parents get rid of the drawings on the fridge.

Garage: I should garden more, bike more, take the kids to the beach and use these beach toys, fix that antique chair, and take the pile in the corner to the dump. I hate the dump.

Back to the cowboy motto: When in doubt, throw it out!

Instead of shoving our “haven’t decided yet” bin into the garage with the other 39 bins that we put there with last year’s decluttering effort… what if we just got rid of it?

What if when we picked something up and we couldn’t confidently say “YES! I need this/use this regularly” we simply gave it away?

How quickly would our homes get decluttered?

How quickly would we see the benefits of minimalism?