Spring has arrived, that time of year when you vow to throw away all the junk you never use. 

But every year, all that junk gets put back in its place.

So much for “spring cleaning.” 

How can you bring yourself to get rid of all that sits around taking up space? A new study from the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business can help.

The study finds that decluttering is a lot easier if a person thinks in broader, abstract terms rather than in concrete terms. Think of a shirt, say, as nothing more than a shirt that you never wear anymore, not as the shirt you bought on vacation in Hawaii. 

The researchers found across several experiments that people who think more abstractly have an easier time parting with belongings. Even for “self-extension” items that connect to a person’s identity, like a t-shirt from the college they graduated from, abstract thinkers feel more comfortable letting go because they don’t associate losing the object with losing a piece of themselves.

Alice Wang, professor of marketing and study co-author, says abstract thinking makes items feel less unique and easier to replace. Concrete thinkers focus on personal memories and unique details, so they tend to overvalue things and keep them longer. That is why people often describe certain possessions as feeling like “a part of me,” she said. The object is no longer just an object; it has come to represent the self, or an important piece of the self.

She said loneliness also factors into peoples’ difficulties in throwing away their stuff because clutter partly reflects social disconnection and possessions can substitute for friendship. Unloading items may feel psychologically similar to losing a relationship with a friend, especially those who are lonely. 

Wang said the ability to declutter isn’t just about discipline, but about cognitive framing.

“People who think abstractly are more willing to let go because they see categories instead of one-of-a-kind objects,” she said. “This reframes minimalism as a mental habit rather than just an individual difference.

Wang says a simple mental trick for decluttering is to ”zoom out” and see your belongings as categories (“shoes,” “jackets”) instead of unique personal items (t-shirt from Hawaiian vacation).

Research suggests other strategies that are effective, such as taking a photo of a sentimental item before letting it go, setting an item aside in a temporary “purgatory” box before making a final decision, and thinking about whether the item could be meaningfully used by someone else. More broadly, it also helps to start with possessions that are lower in identity or emotional meaning and save the hardest items for later.

The study, "How loneliness affects consumer reluctance to let go of possessions," was co-authored by Wang and Cathy Cole, professor of marketing, and published in the journal Psychology and Marketing. 

Media contact: Tom Snee, 319-384-0010 (o); 319-541-8434 (c); tom-snee@uiowa.edu