Keep, Repair, Donate or Recycle?

Decluttering stalls on the hard items: the jacket that nearly fits, the lamp that needs a plug, the box of cables. This chart asks the same few questions of everything, in the same order, so each thing gets a decision and you keep moving. One item at a time, one answer each.

How the chart decides

Every item goes through up to four questions:

1. Have you used it in the past year, or will you in the next? Use, not ownership, is the test.
2. What shape is it in? Good, needs a small repair, or beyond a simple fix.
3. If it needs a repair, is it worth it? Will you still want it afterwards, and is fixing cheaper than replacing?
4. If you will not use it, could someone else? As it is, today, without you fixing it first.

Only when something is not going to be used by anyone does the chart ask what it is made of, to decide between recycling and the bin. The order matters. Asking "could I recycle this?" first is how people end up keeping a drawer of things they feel too guilty to throw away and too tired to deal with.

The one-year question

A year covers every season and most occasions, which is why it is the first question. If something has sat untouched through a whole cycle, the chances it gets used next year are slim, however nice it is.

There are honest exceptions. Tools, first-aid kits, a suitcase, the good tablecloth: some things earn their place by being there when needed, not by frequency. Sentimental things are a different category again and we would not run them through a flowchart at all; put them in one box with a lid and decide another day.

For everything else, if the answer is "I might", put it in a box with today's date on it. If you have not opened the box in six months, the answer was no. This is a kinder version of the rule in decluttering your closet with the KonMari method, which asks a similar question of each item in turn.

Repair: when it is worth doing

Small repairs are nearly always worth it: a button, a hem, a loose seam, a new plug, a resole. They cost little and they return something to use for years. The chart asks two things of a repair. Will you still want the item once it is fixed, and is fixing it cheaper than replacing it? If both are yes, repair.

The trap is the mending pile. A repair you have been meaning to do for a year is not a repair, it is storage. The chart's result says so: if the repair sits unfinished, donate it instead. Set a date, and if the thing is still broken on that date, it goes.

Reviving old clothes by repairing, dyeing and upcycling covers the clothing fixes most people can do at the kitchen table, and when a tailor is the better call.

Donate: give what you would hand to a friend

Donation works when the item is clean, complete and working. Charity shops and donation centres pay to dispose of what they cannot sell, so a bag of stained or broken things costs them money. The test is simple: would you hand it to a friend without apologising for it?

Good places for good things:

• Local charity shops and thrift stores, for clothes, books, homewares and small furniture in good condition.
• Neighbourhood groups such as Buy Nothing or Freecycle, where someone nearby takes the item directly.
• Shelters and community groups, which often list exactly what they need on their websites.
• Animal shelters, for old towels and blankets that are clean but too worn to donate for people.

Children's clothes go through this chart quickly because the one-year question answers itself as they grow. Storing children's clothes for growing wardrobes covers what to keep for the next child and how to pass the rest on.

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Recycle: only what your town accepts

Recycling rules differ from one town to the next, so the chart gives a conditional answer: recycle it if your local list names that material. If the list does not say, leave it out. Putting hopeful items in the bin, sometimes called wishcycling, contaminates loads and can send a whole batch to landfill.

Some general patterns hold:

• Paper, cardboard, glass and metal cans are accepted almost everywhere. Rinse food off.
• Plastic depends on the type. Bottles and jugs are usually fine; films, bags and mixed-plastic packaging usually are not. Caps and pumps often need to come off.
• Textiles are rarely accepted at the kerb. Look for textile banks, retailer take-back schemes, or rag collections.
• Electronics and batteries never go in household recycling. Most areas have a drop-off point.

The US EPA keeps a plain list of how to recycle common items, linked below, and your local authority's website will have the list that actually applies to your bin.

Leave it out: the honest last step

Some things are mixed materials, or fabric too far gone, or plastic nobody takes. The chart's answer is to leave them out of the recycling bin and put them in the trash, or a specialist drop-off if your town runs one. That is not a failure. It is the correct destination for an item that has no other one, and it is better than contaminating a recycling load.

The useful thing to take from that pile is a note for next time. Mixed-material items are the ones that end up here, so when you replace something, a version made from one material, or one that can be repaired, is the one that will not come back through this chart in five years. Textiles in particular pile up: the EPA estimates that around two thirds of textile waste in the US goes to landfill.

Keeping what you keep

The Keep result comes with an instruction: put it where you will actually reach it. A kept thing stored out of sight in the attic will be back in this chart next year with the same answer. Everyday items at eye level, seasonal items together in a labelled box, and nothing you decided to keep wedged behind something else.

For drawers, DIY drawer dividers turns a cereal box into something that keeps the kept things visible. For clothes you are rotating out for the season, use breathable storage such as cotton bags and cardboard rather than sealed plastic, so what you kept is still in good shape when the season comes round.