The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering Quotes

“Sometimes we keep things because we like the idea of doing something more than actually doing it.”
― Claire Middleton, The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering

“how depressing is it to have dozens of items that represent unfulfilled dreams?”
― Claire Middleton, The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering

“What dreams have you outgrown? Take a look at your collected clutter. Were you going to become a master of Chinese cuisine? Build your dream house? Make your tap-dancing comeback as soon as you got back into shape?”
― Claire Middleton, The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering

“Anytime we have great difficulty giving up something, we need to do some good, hard thinking about why we’re having that trouble.”
― Claire Middleton, The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering

“In many cases, emotional issues are tied to items that represent a lost dream. It can be quite painful to admit to yourself that something you once wanted very badly (and maybe still want) not only didn’t happen, but isn’t ever going to happen. Giving up the items is a permanent step that forces you to acknowledge the death of your dream.”
― Claire Middleton, The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering

“Who will be burdened with the task of going through your things someday if you don’t do it yourself? By reducing your belongings (including inherited items), you’ll save your own loved ones a lot of trouble eventually.”
― Claire Middleton, The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering

“Her attic was filled with these boxes. At one point she wanted to turn the attic into an art studio so she could take up watercolor painting, a lifelong dream. But she never went through with it because she had nowhere else to store all those beautiful clothes. As it turned out, two of her daughters never married or had children, and the third had five boys. Now Betty can no longer make it up the attic steps, and those clothes sit in those boxes, growing more musty and moth-chewed by the year.”
― Claire Middleton, The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering

“But you can’t bring back those years by keeping all those little clothes. Yes, they do trigger memories, but there are ways you can keep those memories without keeping every little outfit”
― Claire Middleton, The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering

“That’s how Ardis felt: a contractor told her that her dining room ceiling was starting to fall apart because she had far too many boxes stored above it in her attic.”
― Claire Middleton, The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering

“For most people, books are like old friends. But for sentimental people, books remind us of who we used to be, how old we were when we discovered a certain book, the interests we had when we bought a certain book…in other words, books are intertwined with our lives. That’s one reason why it’s very hard to give them up,”
― Claire Middleton, The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering

“It’s amazing how many of what we remember as treasured items are really junk because they’re in tatters or faded, but we never realized it because we look at them through eyes of love. But when it’s in such bad shape that you can’t even donate it, you need to throw it out. Again, if you’re worried about losing the memories, take photos first. It’s better to have a lot of photos of sentimental items in bad shape in your camera or phone than a lot of actual sentimental items in bad shape in your house.”
― Claire Middleton, The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering

“When you put away items for “someday,” or to keep them safe for your heirs, you cheat yourself and others out of the opportunity to use and appreciate those items right now.”
― Claire Middleton, The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering

“It’s very important to remember that the area you’re working in will look a lot worse before it gets better. Sorting looks messy; it can’t be helped. So try not to let the sorting mess discourage you.”
― Claire Middleton, The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering

“But this may not be possible for the sentimental person. It may take several rounds of decluttering over a period of time, maybe months, maybe years, before you can reach the point of living in a truly uncluttered home.”
― Claire Middleton, The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering

“I’ve found that by letting go of the past, I can enjoy the present much more.”
― Claire Middleton, The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering

“But a problem develops when we don’t reign ourselves in: we end up being suffocated by too many things that we love, cherish or see as having incredible historic or monetary value.”
― Claire Middleton, The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering

“that experience taught me that giving up belongings I thought I could never let go of was worth the time it took and the emotional pain I felt, because we now live with far fewer possessions very happily and comfortably.”
― Claire Middleton, The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering

“That meant we had to get rid of more than half of our possessions. Most of the stuff was items I kept because they had sentimental value to me. They were so hard to give up, because it felt like I wasn’t just letting go of items, but of memories and happy feelings as well.”
― Claire Middleton, The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering