10 Items to Toss to Declutter Your Home
Do you remember when I was talking about packing up all the boxes in our apartment {all 80+ boxes of stuff}? At the time, we weren't able to go through everything thoroughly to determine whether or not we wanted to bring it into our new home. So everything got packed, for the most part.
Well, now all of those boxes are unpacked and after living without half of the items for about 4 months we were pretty ruthless about getting rid of things. I did notice a trend, however, with some of the items we had been hanging on to. A lot of them were our Just In Case items. "I'll save the extra whisk, just in case I need two whisks at the exact same time and I am completely unable to wash one." "I'll save this sheet set with the fitted sheet that doesn't have any elastic anymore, just in case I acquire 5 queen sized beds and have guests in all of them at once."
You see what's happening here? Although I feel like I'm pretty good at regularly going through our things and pulling out donation items, I clearly still have room to grow. So after going through everything {except Brit's toy boxes. Yes, my 31 year old husband has toy boxes, and I think it's pretty awesome}, I created a list of items we could all stand to live without. And living without them would lead to a less clutter filled home. Win-Win.
In the Closet:
This was a big one for us. We have hundreds of hangers. We have the thin felt hangers {my person favorite}, we have wooden hangers for Simon's pants and suits, we have plastic hangers for coats and jackets, and more plastic hangers, and more plastic hangers. We have more hangers than we'll ever need, and ever should need. That's the main issue actually, if we have all of these extra means to hang extra clothes, then I have reasons to buy extra clothes that I don't need.
So, we're getting rid of them. Right now I have exactly enough hangers to hold the clothing that I need and not one extra. I do plan to keep a small hand full for guests, but those will also be stored in the guest room without clothing dangling from them.
It's so much easier to part with clothing when you know you won't wear it this season. Since I'll be pregnant for the Fall and doubt I'll be back in my regular clothes for Winter, I could easily look at items and say, "well, I'm not wearing it this year and I doubt I'll miss it next year". I realize not everyone is in this unique position, however asking yourself a few simple questions can make parting with items a little easier:
Did I wear it last season?
Did I like it when I wore it last season?
How many times will I wear it this season?
I've found that if I'm even a little hesitant to keep it, I need to commit to getting rid of it. Odds are, I'm not going to wear it, and as long as it's still in good quality I can donate or sell it.
As I mentioned before, I tend to hang on to bedding even after it's no longer great quality. I mean, sheets are expensive and it's hard for me to just easily part with something that cost me a pretty penny. However, donating items makes it a lot easier, and storing less stuff we don't need helps as well. So toss those old sheets and towels, the ones with the failing elastic, the developing hole, and that stain from the time you ate pizza in bed. Or donate the ones that you realize you really don't need.
In the Bathroom:
Oh my gosh you guys, if you looked at our toiletry box when we packed you would think I'm the queen of night creams, wrinkle removals, and hair serums. There were so many items I was holding on to for when I have my weekly spa day {never happened, and never going to happen}. Many items were gifts or freebies and would never make it into my daily cleansing routine. Toss, toss, toss. It was difficult to throw out items that are probably the one step I need to become a Cindy Crawford lookalike, but once I tossed the first bottle it just got easier and easier.
Most importantly with items like this, consider your routine. Will adding the thickening hair serum that requires daily use to see results make it into your routine? No? Toss. I know I have already talked about makeup before, so I'll mention it again briefly. The same thing goes. Are you going to wear the blue eyeliner on your next date night? No? Toss. What about the eyeshadow that's darker than what you're typically comfortable with but you may be feeling frisky one day? Just toss it, especially if you've had it more than a year and have never used it.
Our medicine supply is something I try to go through regularly to avoid keeping expired items. I try to go through it about 4 times a year. Inevitably, I find something that is 6 months past it's prime every time, no clue how that happens. This is also a good way to remind yourself what you have, so when someone in the house is coming down with a sore throat you know if this is just a quick trip to the medicine cabinet, or to the pharmacy.
In the Kitchen:
Who needs 4 spatulas? I mean, really. Yes, we had f-o-u-r! We unpacked the kitchen boxes first and I was seriously shocked at how much we fit into our apartment kitchen. However, in this kitchen we are only keeping what we absolutely need. If that means we have an empty drawer or cabinet shelf with one item, so be it. I don't want to be in a habit of keeping things just because we have the space for them.
Tupperware and socks have a lot in common. It doesn't matter if you put a matching set in the dishwasher, somehow when you unload everything a lid is missing. Or somehow that Ziplock lid that fit the Ziplock bottom perfectly has now morphed into a Rubbermaid lid and only fits 3 of the 4 sides. Please tell me I'm not the only one with the magic dishwasher that does this.
My solution for the transforming and AWOLing tupperware—toss it. I know we could make the excuse, "well I can use this mismatched set for anything except liquids so it's still good", but is it really still good? Just toss it and start fresh. I promise it will reduce stress in your life and make storing your containers so much easier.
In the Office:
This is one that is so silly to me, but we all do it. The pizza delivery man needs a signature on the receipt, we rush to grab a pen only to find out it doesn't work. We put it right back where we got it and use the bottom half of a broken crayon instead. We smile that "don't you dare judge me" smile, grab our pizza and close the door.
Just toss it. If it's broken, doesn't work, has dried up, or been sharpened down so much that the tip of the pencil and the metal part of the eraser meet, just toss it.
Despite the move to everything electronic, I'm still a pretty big fan of writing down notes and to-do lists. However, we have enough notebooks, pads of paper, and post-its to last a lifetime, and that is just not necessary. We've been hanging onto old notebooks because the first 5 pages are filled with our scribbles and we weren't really sure what to do with them. Office supplies like this can be donated, or recycled.
As someone with experience working in social services I know first hand that there are agencies that need paper. Even just note-taking paper. Schools can also benefit. Just rip out the few pages you've used, either file them or toss them, and donate your unused office supplies to someone, or some child, who could really benefit from them.
Just to give you a little motivation, after we went through everything listed above and tossed it or put in the donation pile, we came up with $825 worth of tax-deductible items to donate {this is based off the Donation Tracker I created from the Salvation Army Estimator and us judging the quality of what we're donating}.
In addition to those, I separated a few clothing items out to send in to ThredUp.com. I was pleasantly surprised by the payout amount the last time {$80}, so why not try it again. I have an estimated $103 worth of items to send in, I'll keep you posted on how much actually gets paid out to me!
So I know this was a long one, thank you for reading all the way to the end. Do you have Just In Case items in your home that you know you could live without? Are you motivated to declutter?
Thanks for visiting!
