Do not try to organize everything at once, you will get overwhelmed. Pick a cupboard, a shelf, a closet rack, and chip st it one compartment at a time.
The âLife Changing Magic of Tidying Upâ is a good place to start.
Start with your clothes (least emotion involved and immediate results) and then books. Try her folding techniqueâit is a game changer.
De-clutter by categories not rooms.
Kitchen comes last (it has the most stuff and itâs all different). Sentimental stuff (photos etc is very last).
My great-aunt downsized from a house to one side of a duplex, when she was about 80. Her niece (my aunt) went to help her with clearing things out and having a yard sale. My great-aunt mostly observed and did not seem to be able to cope with the process, which puzzled my aunt, because my great-aunt was otherwise very much on top of things. (She lived to be 101+ and was very alert the entire time.)
Thirty years or so later, my aunt and uncle downsized from a house to one side of a duplex. They were about 80 by that time. Her daughter (my cousin) went to help with clearing things out and having a sale (indoors in this case, though). My aunt mostly observed and felt a little too overwhelmed to deal with the processâthough she suddenly gained quite a lot of insight into my great-auntâs emotions.
I am not anticipating similar help from QMP, hence my current participation in the Bag-a-Day club. But . . . um . . . âdeath cleaning,â no, not going to think about anything with that name, Swedish or not.
II too am a fan of Marie KondoâThe Life-Changing Magic of Tiding Up. One of the questions she suggests you ask yourself about is â does this item bring me joy, If not, let it go.
In my area, Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the Epilepsy Foundation will pick up all sorts of household items, clothes, books, etc. There is also a furniture recycling place that accepts donations (you have to deliver to them). Online there are websites like NextDoor (town name) where it is extremely easy to find people who want your old stuff. My husband has many kitchen gadgets and I recently recycled items where we duplicates on NextDoorâthey went within an hour.
There are quite a few ways to recycle items.
Death cleaning? I too much prefer to call this âjoy maximization.â 
My grandmother insisted that every night, before she went to bed, everything must be put away. No dishes in the sink, no clothes on the floor, no newspapers spread all over the table, etc. She called this âputting the house in dying orderâ. In other words, if she died during the night, at least whoever came to take her away would not judge her negatively by her housekeeping standards.
Sold back to Amazon an old ipad we no longer use (small one from several years ago) Out of my house and some money in my account.
Other threads are helping me clean - the handbag thread inspired me to throw out some old handbags, the when do you throw out clothes thread inspired me to clean out a couple of clothing drawers, and the kitchen stuff you donât need thread inspired me to throw out some old cups in my kitchen cabinet!
Also, Iâll give another plug for Freecycle. Iâm absolutely amazed at the crap that people take away. And if no one wants it for free, I have no qualms about throwing it away.
Iâve been with this thread since the beginning and weâve tried to make inroads the last couple of years. Convincing my mother to do likewise has proven to be a waste of time.
If you want to get really motivated, put your house on the market due to some circumstances and have it sell in a week (completed unexpected in this locate). Now Iâm going to be homeless and have 5000 sf of âstuffâ, 2 sheds, and livestock 
Actually, I feel very blessed and happy about all this, but ummmm. wow, a lot of work remainingâŠ
And yes to free ads. Iâve re-homed some really heavy things - corner tubs, pool filters, bb goals, etc. Those are win-win situations.
We are also in the process of moving out of the house⊠We asked the young athlete who has been helping us to move my treadmill to out new place to spread the word in his circles if anyone needed any of the leftover furniture we were not planning to move with us - for free. Some IKEA stuff like bookshelves⊠it has apparently all been claimed! 5 pieces are already gone, and the youngsters are picking up the rest soon.
Husband and I just went through a few basement shelves - filled a few garbage bags, made a pile of old electronics for the local recycling center, have a few items for the next church rummage sale, and a bag of recycling paper/boxes! Excellent use of an hour or so (we were brutal - saving nothing!)
Mr. B and I took a bunch of old cans of deck stain to a hazardous waste mobile provided by the county. Good riddance!
Iâve been cleaning, donating and consolidating for years now and Iâve finally created some space in the house. It doesnât seem like much, but itâs better now that it was. Unfortunately, now my MIL is cleaning out her house and downsizing and guess where sheâs sending things? Oh boy. My husband wonât say no and I guess I donât want him to. Sheâs having a hard time parting with things and it makes it easier for her to think that we, or our kids, will use these items. I knew this would happen sooner or later and itâs been one of the reasons Iâve been cleaning, but just let me say it. UGH!
We had guests at our house this weekend, and they brought some âfall decorationsâ as a hostess gift - âbecause you guys probably got rid of your decorations for the move.â Lol. The âdecorationsâ went into the trashâŠ
Threw out old computer games on CDs (over 20 years old - wouldnât run on anything today) and a few old digital cameras
just put away my summer shoes and throw out ones that were old or worn or that I never wear!
Wow, kiddie - you are on a roll! Keep up the momentum!
Got to get motivated now. SLOWLY our house is going through the selling processâinspector, surveyor, electrician, etc. We said we would wait for the appraisal before going heave ho, tearing up areas to pitch and pack.
The appraiser left. I have no excuses now So much gone; much more to go. SighâŠ
OK - just cleaned out the cabinet in the kitchen over the refrigerator - most of it is gone. Bad news is I found more of my grandmotherâs china which I just canât seem to get rid of.