The Decluttering Process

I have been on a decluttering rampage for the last few months. I go in spurts getting rid of a little more each time I go through a room. I have a vision for our house and the stuff in it and I am determined to get there. I do not want a minimalistic house at all. I just want clean and clear spaces. I want the kids to know where their things belong. A place for everything and everything in its place. Cozy and lived in is much prefered to stark and bare.

When I started decluttering there was a lot of "oh I still use that" and "oh I can't get rid of that!" The said item would go back in to the drawer, box, or shelf only to be unused still. Now that I have gone through the house maybe three times over I am seeing what is still there and what is actually being used. Previously mentioned items do not even stand a chance now. I have no space for items I do not use and no time to clean and take care of items I do not use. I have empty shelves in my kitchen and could not care less. I have no plans at all to fill them!

Joe called me brutal yesterday as we were cleaning the garage and not in a good way. It honestly really irritated me. He clings to things like you would not believe. As I was holding a sick babe last night I was thinking about this. I realized that Joe is at a different step in the process. He is where I was when I did our first declutter over a year ago. He is at the "oh I need that" phase. It also made me realize that I need to be patient with him. I may not see the need for boxes of books in the garage because he wants to read them one day. He can hang onto his skis he has not used in over three years. I will be patient with him and see that he did declutter a lot yesterday. An entire box of books gone as well as another smaller box of miscellaneous husband like stuff. He may not have decluttered what I would have but he started the process. I can hold out hope that he will move farther in the process and as time goes on more and more will leave the house.

It made me wonder if there is a decluttering mental process and what it is? I googled but did not come up with anything that was exactly what I was talking about.

What does your decluttering process look like?