It’s hard to get started in the organizing process. It feels hard to make choices of what to keep and what to get rid of. But good news! There are items in your house that you aren’t using and you can get rid of today. There are easy items to part with that will make a big difference. Save the hard choices for another day. Just get started!
Take one of these ten categories a week (or day!) and get these simple, and bulky items, out of your house and reclaim your space!
Items that you can get out of your house with little mental effort:
Broken items
How long have those items that are broken been lingering around with intentions of fixing them? From household electronics to kids toys. It’s time to go around the house and clear out the broken items. DON’T wait to fix it before you can get rid of it. Get rid of it now. Good intentions leave us with a lot of stuff that takes up valuable space.
Expired items
Food, medicine, and skin care products expire quickly and take up space in your cupboards. Don’t forget to get rid of the hotel sized items you thought you’d reuse and are half empty! We all have some of those to purge out. Be sure to properly dispose of medications and remove identifying labels.
photo from FDA website
Unused household products
We tend to grab our favorite cleaners and products, and buy replacements of those items, while old products get pushed to the back of the cupboards. Keep what you use and dispose of the rest (especially if they are old!)
Plastic Storage Containers
If you have even an ounce of midwest roots, you probably have too many plastic storage containers. You never know when you need to send left overs home with someone right? Or if you need that extra cool whip container? Keep a couple if you must and let the rest go. Most likely you have other containers you can use, more containers in your fridge, and if you happen to run stuck, you can always use a ziploc bag! Don’t keep a million plastic containers. They take up space and they reproduce like rabbits!
Coffee Mugs
I love coffee mugs, but it seems like no matter how often I purge, there are always a few I could part with. They seem to multiply in the cupboard. Anyone else? We are creatures of habit and usually use the same 5-8 every week.
Old Electronics
I have a nicely organized box of all my electronics, but half of them are no longer useful, like the digital camera I haven’t used in years. The graveyard of electronics needs to be purged and whittled down to what is current and what is used. We usually keep them because we don’t know how to get rid of them. Best Buy and Take Back Electronics recycles, both for free for most items. For computers, take the hard drive out and let it go!
Boxes + bags
We hold on to reusable bags, grocery bags, and boxes that products and shoes are sold in. If you are keeping the item, there is no reason to keep the box. Gather all your bags into one place and keep your favorites that you actually use. You’re not alone with holding onto every bag, but we can only use so many at one time! Have a container to keep them in and when it’s full, you don’t need any more bags. 🙂
Items to return
Library books to return, casserole dishes to go back to a friend, and Amazon return packages. Put them in the car and get them out of the house!
Exercise + Sports Equipment
Those items that you thought would get you in shape and they now linger under the bed or buried in the garage, it’s time to pass them on (or throw out!). We walk around equipment so often or use them as drying racks and we stop seeing them as items hindering our space. Get rid of the old and reclaim your space!
Gadgets
My family is king of gadgets, especially in the kitchen. Pineapple corer, graters, avocado saver, spiral cutter, egg slicer, you name it. After a few uses of gadgets many of us go back to old habits of how we accomplished tasks. If you don’t use the gadget, be it in the kitchen or electronics drawer, it’s time to get rid of them. Don’t keep items you don’t use, even if you had good intentions. It’s not making you more productive by keeping it in your drawer.
The list could go on, but I’ll leave you with these ten categories to get you purging. I guarantee, if you get started on one category a week you’ll start (re)loving your space. You will see that you’ve been letting unused items take up your home and you’ll be left wondering why you didn’t get rid of things sooner!
If you need renewed energy in purging, organizing, or managing your schedule, contact Michelle to reclaim order and create more you in your life! She’d be honored to partner with you.
