We’re so close to ending yet another Covid crazy year. While I’m not huge on resolutions I do think it’s important to enter a new year on a lighter more positive note. One thing I love to do to feel lighter throughout and at the end of each year is declutter my home. Home should feel like your oasis, not an extra stress to your life.
Here’s a list of items I like to go through and get rid of. We all have almost all of these in our homes, we don’t use them, have too many, or avoid them all together. When you look at your home as a whole, decluttering can seem overwhelming and too stressful. Sometimes it’s just easier to print out a list of what to declutter, start slow and go through one at a time. Declutter one of these a day or do a huge weekend decluttering with the family. You’ll see and feel a difference immediately. Before you know it, you and your home will feel lighter and ready to enter into 2022!
Extra Hangers
Junk Mail
Tools you no longer use
Kitchen items you haven’t used in the last year – how many water bottles do you really need?
Uneahlthy relationships
Mugs
Old frames
Expired Hair, Skin, and Makeup products
When we moved this last time I took ever single tiny thing from our old house into our new one. I’m talking dumped EVERYTHING into boxes and moved it all without gong through it. There was nothing more annoying than unpacking into my new bathroom and finding gross old chapsticks, dried mascaras, expired face creams and literal trash mixed into all my stuff. I swore to never move again without a thorough cleaning first.
Extra chords
Clothes you haven’t shown love in at least 2 years
Empty that junk drawer and organize it
Clothes that don’t fit
Emails
Old pens , markers, etc that dont work
Notepads
Old electronics
I’m not kidding I have 5 old phones and 4 old digital cameras all from college that I still for some reason haven’t thrown away.
News papers or magazines
This is a big one for me, I LOVE keeping old magazines around. Last time we moved though, I was so mad at myself with how many magazines I’d kept, packed, and added SO MUCH weight to our boxes. This year I’m pulling out the articles, recipes, home decor inspiration, etc. that I like and throwing the rest away. P.S. not so much with magazines because the pages have a coating, but roaches breed in news papers like crazy. If you have a stack somewhere, move it around and clear them out.
Expired food
Obviously your not keeping rotten strawberries in the fridge but we often forget about our pantries. Pull everything out (I know this sounds horrible) and check the expiration date as well as the food seals. Wipe down your pantry then put everything back one by one after checking them out. Anything not sealed correctly, make sure you check for ants or bugs. Anything you don’t like anymore you can donate to a local food pantry.
Worn out shoes
Have a bunch of shoes you’ve worn down or don’t like anymore? Depending on their quality you could sell them, donate them or at least recycle them.
