Grant Frailich’s business, Decluttering With Care, helps people tackle rooms bursting at the seams with stuff. He offers services for working parents stretched for time, people who are moving, and family members after their loved ones have passed. But his desire is to help people get organized before that happens.

“Once somebody retires and enters the golden years, they don’t want to spend their time going through old stuff,” he says. “A: It’s physically hard. B: It’s mentally hard and emotionally hard.”

Getting organized can be challenging for people of all ages. There are valid reasons we hang on to things. Picking what stays or goes causes decision fatigue, which we naturally want to avoid. Items could be sentimental. Sometimes objects are tied to emotional baggage.

Where to start

Don’t start buying pretty organizing bins. Don’t aspire to have a house that belongs on HGTV. That’s aspirational, but not reality, and can stall people from taking a step toward functionality.

“The way I always start is really simple: What’s trash?” Frailich says.

Broken lawn chairs and busted old toys can go to the dump or recycling. Same for things you no longer use and that wouldn’t really serve anyone even if they were donated.

Next, start thinking about big pieces that are taking up a lot of space. In a garage Frailich worked on, the client had a lot of blown-up pool floaties, which they deflated and stored.

“We’re not going to get rid of their pool floaties, but you’re not going to need them for five months. So why are you allowing them to create this visual clutter and take up this space?” he says.

Fun, Useful, Sentimental

When it’s not as obvious to know what to do with an item, Frailich has his version of Marie Kondo’s “Does this bring me joy?” It’s what he calls the FUS System.

“Is it fun? Is it useful? Is it sentimental? If it’s fun, keep it. If it’s useful, keep it. If it’s sentimental, keep it,” he says. “Your second blender? It’s not fun. It is not useful. It’s not sentimental.”

He says put nostalgic items, such as photo albums, off to the side. Those are hard decisions and can stall the process. For sentimental types, he says, start with unemotional areas like the spice cabinet or bathroom.

“Most people are not sentimental about their two half-bottles of shampoo being combined into one,” he says. 

A Clean Conscience

New, unused things can be difficult for people to toss as well. Take a pair of $50 unworn jeans. You may justify keeping them by saying it’s not hurting anything.

“The flip side of that is it’s also not doing you any good,” he says. There are a lot of people right now who could really benefit from that $50 pair of pants. People need help. So donating it is a big thing.”

Frailich stresses that clutter does not mean failure. He says taking steps to tidy up is about creating a calmer, better space to live in.

“Most of the time, if there’s clutter, it means you’ve been living life. You have the means to go shopping, and you have loved ones who give you gifts. That’s all it means,” he says.

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