A crowded drawer often contains decisions postponed in the shape of objects.

Clutter is usually not a storage problem. Each item in the crowded drawer stands for a small choice you did not want to make: whether the thing will ever be fixed, whether the version of you who would use it still exists, whether the connection it came from is over. Keeping was easier than deciding, so the decision took physical form. That is why tidying that drawer feels heavier than it should.

Take one drawer and handle each thing once, asking what decision it is standing in for. Deciding three of them is a good afternoon’s work.