Does this spark joy? It’s a question made famous by Marie Kondo, the queen of tidying up. Her method took the world by storm, promising simplicity and clarity with every discarded item.

People across the globe, including myself, found themselves holding up mismatched socks and coffee mugs, asking if they felt an inexplicable spark. For many, it was transformative—decluttering became less about guilt and more about intuition.

But not everything in life is about joy. Sometimes it’s about practicality. If you’re a sentimental person like me, lots of stuff sparks joy but that doesn’t mean it’s a keeper. The question made decluttering a much longer process than it had to be.

Decluttering focuses on confronting your past, your habits, and your priorities. So, we need better questions—questions that guide us, not just to a cleaner home, but to a clearer mind.

Table of Contents

1. Have I Used This Item in the Last 90 Days?

This question, popularized by The Minimalists, is a practical way to determine if an item is truly part of your daily life or just taking up space. The 90-90 rule says if you haven’t used something in the last three months, chances are it’s not essential.

Seasonal items like winter coats or holiday decorations are obvious exceptions, but for most things, 90 days is a sufficient timeframe to evaluate utility.

The importance of this question lies in its focus on action rather than sentimentality. It keeps you honest about whether an item is genuinely serving you or simply cluttering your environment.

2. Do I Really Need This?

This is one of the simplest but most powerful questions you can ask when decluttering. It forces you to evaluate whether an item is essential to your life or just taking up space.

Need focuses on practicality and purpose—something you can’t function without or something that genuinely improves your day-to-day life.

By asking yourself do I really need this, you strip away emotional attachments or hypothetical scenarios and focus on the present. If you don’t genuinely need the item, it might be time to let it go.

3. Will I Use This Item Anytime Soon (In 90 Days, in a Year)?

This question addresses the tendency to hoard just in case items. While it’s natural to want to prepare for the future, the truth is, most “maybe” items sit idle for years.

Asking this question forces you to realistically assess your upcoming needs rather than hypothetical scenarios. It’s a powerful tool for breaking the cycle of unnecessary accumulation.

When you hold onto items for scenarios that rarely, if ever, occur, you sacrifice valuable space and mental clarity. If the answer to this question is no, it might be time to let the item go.

4. Is the Time, Space, and Money Spent to Keep This Item Worth It Compared to How Cheap and Replaceable It Is?

Every item you own comes with a cost. It requires space to store, time to maintain, and sometimes even money to organize, repair, or insure.

When you consider these ongoing costs, it’s important to ask: is keeping this item worth it? And if it’s cheap and easily replaceable, is it worth holding onto in the first place?

This question forces you to weigh the long-term effort of owning something against its actual value. Items like old cords, duplicate kitchen gadgets, or rarely-used tools might seem harmless, but over time, they add up—clogging your space and your mental clarity.

If something can be replaced quickly and inexpensively when you truly need it, letting it go now often feels far more liberating than hoarding it just in case.

5. Would I Buy This Item Again?

This question forces you to re-evaluate your attachment to items you already own. If you wouldn’t spend money on it today, it’s a strong indicator that the item no longer holds value for you.

This question is particularly useful for combating sunk cost bias, where we hold onto things because we’ve already invested time or money in them. By focusing on the present value of the item, you can make more objective decisions about whether it deserves to stay.

6. Does This Item Reflect the Life I Want to Live?

This question goes beyond utility and practicality to address alignment with your goals and values. If an item represents an old version of yourself or a lifestyle you’ve outgrown, it might be holding you back.

Decluttering is often about more than physical space. It’s a chance to reset and move toward a life that feels authentic. By keeping only the items that support your future self, you create a home and a mindset that inspire growth and purpose.

7. What Would I Use if I Didn’t Have This Item?

Joshua Becker from Becoming Minimalists suggests asking what would you use if you didn’t have something. It encourages you to rethink the necessity of your possessions and uncover their true value.

Becker approach to minimalism isn’t about having less for the sake of it—instead, it’s about making room for what truly matters. By being intentional with your belongings, you can determine whether something is essential or simply adding to the clutter in your life.

Most of what we own is extra, and these extras often steal time, space, and energy that could be spent on more meaningful pursuits.

Theresa Bedford

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Theresa Bedford is a lifestyle and relationship writer with a passion for self-development and to live life to the fullest. She writes about relationships, mindfulness, and simple living. Her work has been seen on the AP newswire, MSN, Wealth of Geeks, Media Decision, and more.