There are lots of things in our house that are there, but serve no purpose. They clutter up space that could be open and clear. They make a clean room look otherwise junky. Here are five things that you should throw out this weekend.
1. Stuff Hanging On the Fridge. I know you don’t really want to throw out that sheep your 10 year-old made when he was 4, but the cotton balls are starting to fall on the floor and the dog is going to eat them and get sick. There are probably notes from school that have been there for a couple of years. Just declutter the face of your fridge.
2. Books. Sure, there are always going to be special books that you want to keep. Books that you read and they genuinely changed your life should be kept around because chances are you’ll read them again. However, all those romance novels you’ve taken on every beach vacation need to go. Maybe you have multiple copies of books, you only need one and you know it. Take your books to the local library. They will keep what they can and sell what they can’t. You could also donate to a homeless shelter or charity like Goodwill. **Throw away all magazines, seriously, old magazines are no fun.
3. Toys. Your kids have too many toys and you know it. If they cannot keep their room picked up, ever, they have too many toys. If theyhave so many toys they forgot about the toys under the bed or stuffed in the closet, they need to lose some toys. You can do this one of two ways, let your kids help you (aka. scream that THAT toy is their favorite toy and they can’t give it to anyone) or just wait until they are out for the day at school or elsewhwere and you clean out the clutter. Donate these toys to a charity or church. Women’s shelters almost always need more toys, so try there.
4. Anything Paper. You can scan the important docs into your computer. Of course you need your social security cards and birth certificates and extremely important documents. You don’t need every take out menu from the place you lived three years ago. In fact, if you really want to go hard, scan EVERYTHING, and instead of a filing cabinet, you’ll just have a hard drive to search through.
5. Everything in all the Miscellaneous Drawers. You know what drawers I’m talking about, right. Most homes have at least two, sometimes more. They are the drawers that catch all the clutter and extra stuff you just cannot part with, ever. 3 tubes of half used chapstick, 24 broken pencils, 17 pens, paper clips, batteries (they might be dead), a broken flashlight, almost finished candles, random things your kids throw in there (cars, crayons, candy, etc.) Go ahead and get rid of it all. Get a working flashlight, a couple of pens and pencils, the basic necessities, and enjoy a junk free drawer.
You’re probably never going to use those 135 wine bottles you’ve saved because of that DIY thing you saw on Pinterest. Don’t worry, you can always save up more if you are REALLY going to do it.
What would you say is cluttering up most people’s homes?
