House Declutter Plan

⚖️ The decision rule

For every item, ask: Have I used it since the last cleanout / in 2+ years? If no, it leaves — then its resale value picks the lane.

Used in the last 2 years? → No? It leaves. What's it worth?

SELL≥ $200 & workingeBay · FB · Apple Trade In

DONATE$100–200 workingtax write-off usually wins

DONATE< $100 workingpickup or drop-off

E-WASTEbroken + electronicsdestroy drive first

TRASHbroken, no valuecurbside recycle

📦 The 6 piles — set up Day 1

Tape-label 6 zones in the garage staging area. Everything you touch lands in exactly one.

🟢

Sell

≥ $200, working

Worth your time to list. I can draft + price these.

🔵

Donate — Pickup

Clothes & working electronics

VVA / Lupus come to your curb. Tax receipt left.

🟡

Donate — Drop-off

SUV run

Goodwill / Salvation Army / Working Wardrobes.

⚫

E-waste + Destroy

Anything with a drive/chip

Destroy drive, then recycle. See SOP below.

🔴

Trash / Recycle

No value, no electronics

The 25-yr tent, ice boxes, old parts → curbside.

🟣

Keep

Earns its space

Sentimental capped at ONE labeled bin.

👔 Closet plan

Visual-first closet sprint: decide fast, sort once, get the boxes out.

⏱️

10-second rule

Haven't worn it in 2 years?
It leaves.

Only two exceptions: genuinely sentimental, or a specific real job. Sentimental gets one labeled bin — no “maybe someday” closet tax.

👔 Pro clothes

Suits, dress shirts, workwear → Working Wardrobes Irvine.

👕 Regular clothes

Good condition → VVA / Lupus pickup box.

👟 Shoes & bags

Usable → donate. Dead/worn out → trash. No repair fantasy pile.

💜 Sentimental

Keep only the real ones. One labeled bin max.

Day 2👕
Pull all unworn 2+ year clothes into donation / pro / trash lanes.

Day 6👟
Shoes, bags, belts, accessories. Donate usable; trash dead stuff.

Day 10📦
Box, label, and move donations out of the closet area.

🔒 Data-security SOP — batch it once

The "my data is on it" blocker, solved mechanically in two buckets.

Drives you'll destroy

Pull the drive/SSD, drill 3–4 holes straight through the platters (or hammer + bend). Unrecoverable. Do all of them in one 30-min session.

Devices worth selling (≥$200)

Don't destroy — reset to preserve value. iPhone: Erase All Content & Settings (clears Activation Lock). Mac: Erase All Content & Settings (instant secure crypto-erase on modern Macs). Sign out of iCloud / Find My first.

⚠️ Best Buy & Goodwill do NOT guarantee a wipe. The only "hand it over with proof" option is a certified data-destruction service that shreds on-site + issues a Certificate of Destruction (see E-Waste Security, Irvine). Otherwise, destroy it yourself.

📍 Your Irvine resources

Mapped to the piles. Pickup comes to you; drop-off is one SUV run.

Free curbside pickup — they come to you

🇺🇸 Vietnam Veterans of America

Clothes, household, working electronics. ~24hr scheduling, leaves a tax receipt.

clothingdonations.org / vvapickup.org

🦋 Lupus Foundation Pickup

Clothes, electronics, dry goods, unopened makeup. Free scheduled pickup.

Enter ZIP to schedule online

Drop-off — load the SUV

♻️ Goodwill OC — Irvine

Gently-used goods. Fri & Sat only, 8a–5p.

4915 Alton Pkwy (Irvine United Congregational Church lot)

🛎️ Salvation Army — Costa Mesa

Takes furniture / bulkier goods. Mon–Sat 9a–8p, Sun 10a–6p.

2126 Harbor Blvd · (949) 642-3636

👔 Working Wardrobes — Irvine

Your professional clothing only (suits, dress shirts). Higher impact than Goodwill for those. Tue–Sat 9a–3p.

17392 Daimler St

E-waste + secure data destruction

🛡️ E-Waste Security IN IRVINE

Hard-drive shredding + Certificate of Destruction. Free equipment pickup. This is the answer to your OC e-waste data question — use it for drives you'd rather not drill.

2400 Barranca Pkwy, Irvine

🔌 Best Buy / TechWaste

Best Buy = free e-waste drop-off (no wipe guarantee — destroy drives first). TechWaste = certified (R2v3) OC e-waste + data destruction with pickup for larger batches.

Best Buy stores · techwasterecycling.com

Get value back + bulky items

📱 Apple Trade In

Old iPhones/Macs — instant quote, prepaid shipping. Oldest iPhone with value: 6S. Older = $0 but free recycle. Erase first either way.

apple.com/shop/trade-in

🛋️ Bulky items

Save your hauler's 4×/yr allotment for true bulk (furniture, appliances). The tent / ice boxes / parts just go curbside or SUV drop-off — no paid junk hauler needed.

Hauler bulk pickup · curbside recycle

🗓️ The 14-day plan

ADHD-friendly: rotate areas, never finish a room in one go. Each session fills piles; logistics days move stuff out.

Setup Closet Office Garage Logistics Kitchen

Day 1

Build the 6 piles. Quick garage pass — grab obvious discards.

Day 2

Closet — anything unworn 2+ yrs → donate piles.

Day 3

Office — old boxes recycle; pull all old drives into DESTROY bin.

Day 4

Garage — one zone/shelf. Tools/parts: confirmed-discard rule.

Day 5

Logistics — schedule VVA + Lupus; first SUV run (Fri/Sat Goodwill).

Day 6

Closet — shoes, accessories, bags.

Day 7

Office — triage old iPhones/Macs → trade-in vs destroy. Drill-the-drives batch.

Day 8

Garage — next zone. Sentimental bin (cap at one).

Day 9

Logistics — E-Waste Security run (get certificate); list ≥$200 items.

Day 10

Closet — finish; box donations.

Day 11

Office — finish; cables/peripherals → e-waste.

Day 12

Garage — finish remaining zones.

Day 13

Logistics — second donation/recycle run; bulk pickup if needed.

Day 14

Kitchen (last) — duplicate + once-a-year gadgets → Goodwill.

Don't clean. Run a sorting machine.