Clutter

Q: “How Should I Organize My Home for a New Phase of Life?”

“Just as we move through phases of life, we also move through phases of organization. What’s more, the ways in which we bring order to our homes must change with every new phase of life.”

By Lisa Woodruff Updated on May 9, 2025
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Q: “We’ve retired to a home that’s half the size of the one we raised our big family in. Every inch of our new home is filled to the brim with stuff from the previous phase of my life. I know I need to declutter, but I feel overwhelmed. Where do I start to create a comfortable home?”

In my time helping thousands of people get organized, I’ve come to learn that, just as we move through phases of life, we also move through phases of organization. What’s more, the ways in which we bring order to our homes must change with every new phase of life.

The Organizing Phases

  • The mini apartment phase is from childhood to age 20. The only area you need to organize is your bedroom (i.e., your mini apartment).
  • The accumulation phase spans from your 20s to about age 40. In this phase, you’ve finally moved out of your mini apartment into a larger space, and you’re building out your adult life. That entails buying lots of things. You might also accumulate degrees, spouses, and children in this phase.
  • The survival phase is from age 40 to age 60. Life comes at you hard in this phase — you’re driving your kids everywhere, holding down a full-time job, caring for aging parents, and keeping your home together. You own everything you need for your home to function, but you continue to buy more things because a) you don’t realize you have the thing at home or b) it’s easier to buy a new thing than it is to go look for it.
  • The downsizing and legacy phase from 60 and beyond is when you move out of your active income-earning and parenting years. This phase is all about decluttering. The question that should be top of mind: “What do I want to keep as I start to downsize the dwelling that I’m in?”

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These are the predictable phases of organizing through the life phases, but unexpected life phases — like the loss of a family member, a medical diagnosis, or a move — also add complexity to your life and to your organizing needs.

It’s clear that you’re in your downsizing phase. My suggestion is to focus on downsizing one of the four major areas of home organization — personal organization, storage areas, family and communal spaces, and paper organization — at a time. To keep moving forward and avoid feeling overwhelmed, ask yourself one question a day: “What do I want?” Do you still like that comforter on your bed, for example?

Organizing your home for your current phase of life will take time, possibly years, which is totally normal. Organizing is a process, so give yourself permission to take as much time as you need to make your new home comfortable.

Next Steps to Organize Your Life

The content for this article was derived from the ADDitude ADHD Experts webinar titled, “Your Organized Home: Functional Organization for Your Life Phase Right Now” [Video Replay & Podcast #463] with Lisa Woodruff, which was broadcast on July 19, 2023.

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