Note: This is a guest post from Courtney Carver of Be More with Less.
Decluttering is usually the first step people take to simplify their lives. It is often the easiest and most effective place to begin. Removing the excess from our homes naturally encourages us to look at the more challenging, often hidden things that also complicate our lives: debt, busyness, mental clutter, just to name a few. But it often starts with physical possessions.
Decluttering teaches us how to let go and create space. Owning less helps us save time and feel lighter. And it often causes us to rediscover the joy of giving.
If you feel overwhelmed with stuff or struggle when it comes to letting go, start with some of the items that don’t come with major emotional attachment—or at least, the items without positive emotional attachment.
If you are looking for a good place to start, let go of these 10 items to jumpstart decluttering:
1. Clothes you don’t wear. Clothing is a great place to begin. Most of us have too much of it, but we still wear the same things over and over again. Donate the jeans that don’t zip. Toss the socks with holes. Remove the outdated fashion. And if you have an extra coat or hat, give it away. There are lots of people who could use it this time of year.
2. Unidentifiable items in your junk drawer. It might be too soon to jettison the entire junk drawer, but you can easily remove the items that have no name, no place, and no meaning instead of saving them just in case you remember why you put them there in the first place. If you don’t know today, you won’t know tomorrow.
3. Lotions and potions. Get all of your lotions, potions, makeup, shampoo, and other products into one place. Put the things you use every day back where they belong. Toss the rest.
4. Lonely items. If it can’t be used without a match, and the match is long gone, it’s time to let go. Think cassette tapes without a cassette player, Tupperware tops without containers, and lone socks.
5. Kid stuff. Instead of shaming your kids into decluttering, make it fun for them. Announce a prize for every 10 things they can collect for donation. The prize can be a family activity or your child’s favorite meal. If you have more than one child, offer a bonus if everyone hits their goal to encourage them to work together.
6. Stale food. Set a timer for 15 minutes and go through your pantry, freezer, or refrigerator. Dump anything out of date, or opened and stale. If you find things that are good but you’ll never eat, bag it up and drop it at a homeless shelter or church.
7. Extra dishes. If you have two sets of dishware, silverware, or glassware, one can go. If you love your good dishes, use those every day. If they are stuck in a box somewhere and you never use them, give them to someone who will.
8. Other people’s stuff. If your home has become a storage facility for friends and family, make a few phone calls. Be kind, give notice, and politely ask them to remove their stuff or offer to help if they aren’t interested.
9. Things that bring you down. Sentimental items are usually saved for later on in the decluttering process, but letting go of things that remind you of people, places, and events that have hurt you in the past will make room for more joyful memories.
10. The guilt. This might not fall in the “easy” category, but if you let it go now, it will make the rest of the journey more meaningful. You paid enough already with time, money, and attention. Guilt is the worst payment of all. With guilt, you continue to pay with emotion, by holding onto the past and by punishing yourself for old habits. Say goodbye to guilt.
Letting go of these items will lighten things up and encourage more decluttering, more simplicity, and more freedom. Once they are gone, celebrate your progress and dig back in.
A simple life is waiting.
For more, check out our The Declutter Your Home Checklist.
Ralph says
Tossing usable things won’t help you nor the environment. USE them.
Use up all the lotions and potions and don’t replace them. Next time, only buy what you really need.
Toss anything unusable, however.
Damaged clothing.
Sell or donate anything that you don’t use but is usable. Not your style, not your size, duplicates, etc.
Don’t just toss things because someone says so.
Amanda says
I don’t think she was saying you should toss everything in the trash – just get it out of your house. Other commenters made good suggestions about where to take lotions that you don’t use/no longer want.
Dorit Sasson says
I love the idea of giving a prize to decluttering 10 items. My 10 year old would love that! Thanks for the idea!
Linda Sanderman says
Please send all these articles directly to my email address. Thank you so much. This is my favourite site and it has helped me immensely in my efforts to declutter and simplity. :)
Linda Sanderman says
This is the best site ever. I would love to have these articles delivered directly to my email address, rather than Facebook. I go onto Facebook and resend them to my email so I can read them in peace. When on Facebook, my FB friends can tell I am on there, and sure enough, someone will start a conversation when I just want to get on with my day. Thank you so much.
LL in Prescott says
I refuse to use FB. You can have this site delivered to you inbox. Just sign up! It comes “hot off the press” to you as soon as a new blog is posted. Look on the site to see where you can plug in your email address for the RSS feed.
Ilene says
Linda, you can turn off the chat so your friends don’t know you are on FB. Click on Chat at the bottom, then click on the starry-like symbol to see your options. Then click on Turn off chat. They will never know you’re there! It works for me!
Kathy says
Love the “lonely Items” suggestion. I’ve got a few of those.
When I first started bagging up clutter (I put my family on notice that I’m “pitching”), I stared with the storage cabinet underneath the bathroom sink. Could not believe how long some of “that stuff” had been tucked away down there.
The enormous satisfaction that resulted when I was finished was just a lovely feeling.
What helped to keep me in forward motion was telling myself that I’d do one medium-to-major de-clutter task a day so that I would never feel like I was metaphorically climbing a mountain. Bite-size activity kept me at this – keep me at this,
Thanks for a great tip-sheet on how to get started.
Judy says
Last week I cleared out a kitchen cabinet and got rid of some excess stuff. I donated it. Such a great feeling. I plan to do more. :)
BrownVagabonder says
The clothes that I don’t wear take up almost the whole of my closet – there are a hundred items that I love to keep and look at and admire, but I never get a chance to wear. Those would be the first ones that I would work on decluttering. Thank you for your list – it helps clarify my decluttering approach.
Jacqueline says
I almost succumbed to buying another handbag, still can,t believe how tempting it was, had a few niggles and decided to walk away, glad i didn,t give in, how many bags can you use at one time, silly after getting rid of so much stuff, i still think that would be very nice to have, sometimes therapy shopping is good but like all things a bit of discipline is needed, i don,t want to become miserable and not treat myself but i still need to be be careful, if your not sure about letting something go, keep it on one side and then ask yourself in 6 months do i still want it, i would start by getting rid of old, dated,damaged, boring and then once you make a start you will be amazed at how good it feels, sometimes we need to make room for the new, happy days love Jacqueline
Bob Pepe says
I agree that denying yourself something that you want is a recipe for disaster and ultimately lead you to give up.
The approach that I am taking is that whenever I buy something new that I already have at home, I throw away 2 of those items…. For example… I saw a pair of boots that I really liked, I thought about what Joshua would say if he saw me buying boots when I already owned about 5 pairs… I walked away and didn’t buy them, Then I thought that I would buy them only on the condition of getting rid of at least two other pairs as a condition of the sale.
I bought the boots, went home and gave away 4 other pairs of boots that were in fine shape but hardly ever worn… So now my closet has 3 pairs of boots less and I have one pair that I really love!! I now have something really nice and 4 people are walking around in good boots that were just gathering dust in my closet.
It is not about depriving yourself, it is about making good sound decisions..
Elena says
Same here. I’ve been praciticing this ‘mantra’ – Buy one, give away one or more. That’s why my closet is never full/crowded yet sometimes I still declutter it for unused items. The place I really need to declutter is my kitchen
Elena says
Same here. I’ve been praciticing this ‘mantra’ – Buy one, give away one or more. That’s why my closet is never full/crowded yet sometimes I still declutter it for unused items. The place I really need to declutter is my kitchen
Wendy says
You could fill your unwanted handbag with toiletries, lipstick, gum, aspirin, bandaides, etc. and give it to a homeless person. Might just make her day!
Mrs. Frugalwoods says
Great ideas. I operate best in a de-cluttered space and clean house = clean mind for me.
I like your suggestions of combing through perishables such as toiletries and foods. I think that’s a great way not only to de-clutter, but also to more thoughtfully inform future buying habits.
My husband and I did a challenge where we ate everything in our pantry, fridge, and freezer one month and it was so enlightening! Our grocery budget is dramatically reduced as a result because we realized we were over-buying and not using food efficiently. Now we buy less food and waste almost none of it.
Lori Strauss says
Our house needs to do the same….eat from the pantry and freezer!
Melba says
I make it a habit of every January or February to eat down our pantry and freezer. It is a way to make sure that some food does’t set there indefinitely. It also helped on the budget when we had kids at home. February was a tight month.
Jennyflan says
thanks for all the advice! I really need to sort through all my lotions & potions, people buy me way more stuff than I use. But I’m really uncomfortable with the tides of just tossing it all out. ‘Out’ might be convenient for me but probably ends up on someone’s landfill, polluting aTer sources with chemicals. Environmentally, that seems really bad. Any alternative ideas?
ha says
I donate toiletries to a local shelter and I know they’re quite welcome!
Judy says
Yes.— shelters for the homeless would love to have those potions. Also churches that have monthly clothing closets would be able to pass those on to people who are not as fortunate as you. Do a little inquiring on the internet and you’d be surprised how many eager charities in your area are waiting for your extras! :)
Candice says
Some school programs will accept donations. A local school has a collection that students can get what they need from without others knowing (shampoo, toothpaste, etc). Even slightly used shampoo & lotion, like when you realize you bought the wrong kind or just don’t like it…
Christine says
I volunteer at a thrift shop that accepts open containers/bottles of lotions, potions, perfumes, hair products. They are sold for about 25 cents to 1 dollar depending. You should see them fly off the shelves. Women who don’t have a lot of “pampering” money eagerly buy these inexpensive indulgences. As long as the products are still good – why not?
Judy says
Just wanted to add—check with your local village hall. Most take food and toiletries. :)
cheryl says
lotions and potions go surprisingly well at garage sales so my guess is they would do the same at goodwill.
Junebug says
Except the Goodwill store please! Not one cent goes to charity!
Lynne says
Joshua Becker, Would you comment of this statement, before I march down to Goodwill with my stuff…. Is a national
thing… or just a just junebug’s hometown???
Lynne
joshua becker says
We took a lot of our stuff to Goodwill—still do when donating things.
Janice says
Any shampoo, bubble bath, or shower gels you don’t like are great for cleaning toilets. Just pour a small amount in and swish around. They are all soap and clean well when done on regular basis. It’s more environmentally safe than the harsh chemical cleaners. Plus it makes the bathroom smell nice.
dorathy.quinn says
Freegle. I put all my stuff on there and started decluttering 10years ago. One in two out is my motto.
Cal says
Local Women’s domestic abuse shelter. The women there often leave violent situations with nothing more than the clothes on their back. I also donate hosiery that’s never been used.
Christine says
I bring lotions to work and place them in the ladies room for everyone to use.
Kayla says
I agree, I think it’s better to make an effort to use them all up before buying any more products or give them to someone who will.