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 Remove the outdated fashion.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 Dump anything out of date, or opened and stale.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.
Christina @ Embracing Simple says
I just recently went through a purging process with my lotions and potions because I was getting so sick of always re-organizing all of it within the tiny cabinets in my bathroom. It’s been great getting rid of the items I don’t use on a near daily basis because I now spend so much less time getting ready in the mornings since I’m not constantly shuffling through the extras to find what I really need. Great post!
Suzi Whitford says
Lotions and potions are my downfall. I have too many opened but unfinished little bottles of promises to stay looking 23 all the time. I’ve been able to get rid of a few, but I started with a focus on my closet. I have three huge boxes in my garage waiting to be donated this week. My closet is now color coordinated and looks like a rainbow. It’s gorgeous! :) Good to see you here Christina!
Flor says
Onced I finished reading the article i said to myself ” wow finally a man after my own heart” wrote something I really could relate to, then I noticed it was a guest post from my favorite blogger Courtney :) funny.
Pat Stevens says
I want to declutter, but it is so hard. I can get it out to the garage, but into the recycle bin or a box to donate & be ‘gone’ is hard. I tell myself I may need it ‘someday’. I will work on it.
Thanks for your advice.
Anon says
This may be the absolute best post you have written, and I read them all. I really want to declutter and I work hard to do it, but I often struggle. I have worked on it for over a year and get discouraged at times. This post speaks to me; I really need this help. Thank you so much for helping me!
Janice Franklin says
This week I tackled my jewellery box. I threw out unmatched earrings that I had been keeping just in case I found the missing one. Then, under the mess, I discovered a number pieces of jewellery I didn’t even know I had. Some were hand-me-downs and some were gifts I had never worn. I picked out the few pieces I wear regularly and put the rest in ziplock snack bags to be donated to the Salvation Army. As for lotions and other toiletries, I am a teacher and often get these as Christmas gifts. I tend to only use homemade/ecologically friendly products and don’t ever use the chemical-laden drugstore purchases. So, they immediately go, unopened, to a women’s shelter or a thrift shop.
elle says
retail therapy answer- for me i found shopping at our good thrift store when it’s half price day is practically as fun as the mall. shop and shop— final bill around $25.00
Rea says
I love the suggestion for kids. I have a 10 year old who may be a bit of a hoarder (seriously…when he watches Hoarders with my husband he gets upset that they are making the people get rid of their stuff). Helping him to get rid of stuff is always a challenge, I may need to try tying it to some reward system.
Dustin Sweet says
My wife took photos of all her sentimental chachkis (sp?) with the digital camera and put them in a folder called “memories” so she can think of her travels and good times whenever she wants. And I got my shelves back!
Aleen Smith says
That would be tchotchke. New word for me, took me a minute to find it. I love expanding my vocabulary because it doesn’t take up any space on my shelves! But back to your comment — so many people have suggested taking pictures, but I especially like the way your wife did it — putting it in a folder called “memories” so she can go back and reminisce. Thanks for the new word and thanks to your wife for the good idea!
Nick St. Amant says
Photos are wonderful, but if you have thousands on your hard drive, and probably backed up in the cloud, and/or an external drive, you are a hoarder. I think I have literally thousands of pictures ‘saved.’ I’ll never make use of any of them–way too many. I’m retiring at the end of 2015 and will spend hours each week purging my computer’s files. I’ve been pretty good at decluttering the things I see every day, but those files are way beyond me. I’d love to know if anyone out there has been able to do an itelligent purge of electronic files.
Janneke says
I’ll go through an old file of pictures every week, for the fun of it, and for clean-up. It easier to permanently delete older photo’s rather than the new.
But … for someone like me for whom photography is a passion, thousands do not feel like a lot.
John S. says
to #8 I always give this warning when the in-laws try to unload some huge piece of furniture on me, “We will take it, as long as you don’t mind never seeing it again.”
We don’t usually end up taking it.
Tobias (KLAFATOA) says
The tenth point is amazing. All that simplicity finally leads to living “in the now”, and that’s when you find out what you really need and need to work on. I think a lot of emotional issues just get overcast by desires that advertising provokes in us.