Make the most of February's 29 days this year with this decluttering guide! Tackle these 29 easy-to-declutter items and create a fresh, organized space to enjoy the extra day (and move into spring with a clean space!).

Conquer Counters

1. Mismatched Tupperware or containers without lids

• Sort through your storage containers, recycling or repurposing ones without mates or lids.

2. Unused kitchen gadgets

• Donate gadgets you rarely use to free up valuable kitchen space.

3. Outdated or expired food and spices

• Check pantry items for expiration dates, discarding anything past its prime.

4. Chipped dishes, mugs, and glassware

• Replace or repurpose damaged items; declutter your kitchen essentials.

Untangle Tech

5. Tech cord clutter

• Organize cords using cable organizers or ties to reduce visual and physical clutter; delete duplicates or unused items.

6. Digital clutter (duplicate photos, unopened email, unused apps, outdated software)

• Dedicate time to delete redundant photos, off-load unneeded apps, and update software for better device performance.

Funnel Fashion

7. Broken jewelry

• Repair or repurpose, or consider donating pieces you no longer wear.

8. Extra hangers

• Keep only what you need, recycling or donating excess hangers.

9. Worn out clothes, underwear, or socks

• Declutter your wardrobe by discarding worn-out items and making space for new essentials.

10. Tired shoes and sneakers

• Toss or donate shoes that have seen better days.

 Filter Funtimes

11. Dried-up or expired art supplies

• Refresh your artistic space by discarding dried-up supplies and organizing the rest.

12. Travel-size toiletries and makeup you never use

• Streamline your beauty routine by donating unused items to local thrift shops or shelters.

13. Exercise and sports clutter

• Evaluate your sports equipment, donating or selling items you no longer use.

14. Expired sunscreen or skincare products

• Ensure your skincare items are within their use-by dates for maximum effectiveness.

15. Board games or puzzles with missing pieces

• Declutter entertainment spaces by recycling incomplete games or puzzles.

16. Toys your children or grandchildren have outgrown

• Donate toys to clear space and bring joy to others.

Household Havoc

17. Expired warranties or guarantees

• Dispose of expired warranties and guarantees, freeing up space in your files.

18. Expired coupons or promotional materials

• Organize your coupons and promotional materials, discarding outdated ones.

19. Unused manuals or instructions

• Digitize manuals or store only essential hard copies.

20. Old receipts

• Shred old receipts, keeping only those necessary for potential returns or warranties.

21. Burnt-out candles

• Repurpose candle jars or discard safely.

22. Dead plants

• Refresh your living space by removing dead or dying plants.

23. Expired or unneeded medications

• Safely dispose of expired medications following proper guidelines.

24. Paper clutter

• Go through paperwork, recycling or digitizing documents to reduce paper clutter.

25. Magazine clutter

•  Consider canceling subscriptions or recycling old magazines.

26. Books you'll never read again (or never started)

• Donate or sell books that no longer serve a purpose in your collection.

27. Old greeting cards with no sentimental value

• Keep only meaningful cards, recycle or donate the rest.

28. Outdated travel brochures or maps

• Organize travel materials, discarding outdated brochures and maps.

29. Empty gift boxes and tissue paper

• Store only a few versatile boxes and discard excess, freeing up storage space.

So grab this year’s Leap Year decluttering guide (download an easy-to-read copy), roll up your sleeves, and conquer your clutter as we move into spring!

Here are some of the best ways for organizing paperwork in your home.

1. Keep everything in one place:

Designate a specific area in your home where you keep all of your important paperwork. This can be a drawer, a folder, or a binder. Keeping everything in one place makes it easier to find what you need when you need it. When your mail arrives, immediately sort through it and recycle the junk mail before you have the opportunity to place it in that designated space.

2. Sort your paperwork:

Separate your paperwork into categories, such as medical records, financial documents, insurance policies, and personal correspondence. This makes it easier to find what you need and prevents important documents from getting lost.

3. Get rid of unnecessary paperwork:

Go through your paperwork and get rid of anything that is no longer needed. This can include old bills, receipts, and expired documents. Shredding or recycling these documents can help free up space.

4. Use color coding:

Consider using different colored folders or labels for different categories of paperwork. For example, you could use red for medical records, blue for financial documents, and green for insurance policies. This can make it easier to quickly identify what you need.

5. Label everything:

Label your folders, drawers, and bins with clear and concise descriptions of what is inside. This can help you quickly find what you need without having to sort through everything.

6. Utilize technology:

Think about digitizing important documents such as insurance policies, bank statements, and medical records. This can make it easier to access these documents from anywhere and free up space in your home. If you’re not feeling tech-savvy, consider asking a family member to help (this can give the family member access to essential documents as well, which can be a life saver in case of an emergency).

7. Keep up with maintenance:

Make it a habit to go through your paperwork regularly and get rid of anything that is no longer needed. This can prevent clutter from building up and make it easier to manage your paperwork in the long run.

By following these tips, you can organize your paperwork and make it easier to find what you need when you need it. Don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it. There are many resources available to help you to organize your paperwork.

A huge part of downsizing is deciding what to do with massive book collections. 

Back in March 2021, we talked about smart ways to part with the book stacks that have accumulated over time. 

Since then, I’ve noticed that a growing part of that collection is cookbooks. Maybe it was all the eating in we did during the pandemic, with the search for both comfort food and gastronomic specialties. You may have discovered a new favorite recipe or two, but moving all those books into a new space would eat up most of the available shelving space in your new home, meaning you could not bring more meaningful mementos or books of another genre.

With the rise of celebrity chefs, many of these books have been received as gifts, and people find them hard to part with. Perhaps you like the celebrity chef, or you really, really want to get around to cooking like Emeril…or Giada…or Guy.

Guess what, that’s probably not going to happen. And if you do decide to cook Ina Garten's Skillet-Roasted Lemon Chicken, it is probably easier to look the recipe up online than it is to pack, cart, and unpack her bulky cookbook, and the 20 others sitting on your shelf for accompanying side dishes.

So what can you do with your cookbook collection?

My best suggestion is to download a recipe app. This is a great way to organize your favorite recipes so that they are all in one place, and so easy to store. Best part—the apps are searchable, so you can plug in “shallots” or “vanilla frosting” or “country meatloaf” to find your favorites.

A couple of our favorites: Paprika ($4.99) and Recipe Keeper (free and pro versions) are popular apps that allow you to upload, save, and locate your recipes and add recipes from websites to it. Websites like allrecipes.com allow you to search a database of thousands of recipes that have been tested and rated by others. You can search by ingredient, prep time, and even allergies. 

Don’t want to digitize?

If you like all the handwritten recipes you have collected over the years with little notes you made tweaking the ingredients, or if you have favorites you have torn out of magazines, you can store them in a three-ring binder. You can use old-fashioned tabbed dividers to create categories like “appetizers,” “sweets,” “Sunday brunch,” and “family favorites.” 

Consider protecting them with plastic sheet protectors. These are great even for loose recipe cards. 

Special cookbooks that have been treasured through the years can be kept, but you’ll want to protect them from falling apart before the move. A family heirloom or valuable vintage cookbook that has seen better days can be restored by a professional bookmaker. 

For those books that do make the cut, consider the lighting in your new kitchen. To keep the bright covers from fading make sure that they don’t get direct sunlight, Heat and moisture can also damage them. Keep them away from the stove so they won’t get covered with greasy residue. A cookbook stand with a splatter shield can guard the page while you are using it. 

If your collection is small, don’t worry about organizing them by cuisine. You might consider a system of various colored post-it notes for marking favorites of different nationalities and meals. (Red for favorite spicy dishes, green for vegetables and salads, etc.)

Before the move, donate or sell the books you aren’t keeping. Check with local libraries, used-book stores, and thrift shops to see if they take donations. Some books are collectible and have a market on resale sites like ebay. 

And if you want to test out all the chocolate-chip cookie recipes in your collection, they do make an excellent treat on moving day! 

Bon Appetit!

Don’t forget your floppy hat and sunglasses when heading to the beach!

“It’s hot out there!”

“It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.”

“You can fry an egg on the sidewalk.”

Those cliches are cliches for a reason. Not much else to say about the summer heat other than these tried and true.

Think about using these dog days of summer to organize everything you need for a day in the sun.

Going to the beach? 

If shore excursions are a regular event in your house, keep a bag packed with the essentials:

• Fill a ziploc bag with sunscreen, mosquito repellant, and after-bite solution.  

• Pack floppy hats for every family member, as well as sunglasses, and water shoes. 

• If children will be in tow, pack a separate tote with a mesh bottom filled with sand toys, pails, and shovels. Shake it out when play is done to minimize sand in the car. 

• A picnic basket that has disposable plates, cups, napkins, and utensils makes beach eating easy. Just restock it when you get home and you’ll be ready to go. 

Having the family over for a barbecue?

• Keep all the grilling tools together. Consider using a bucket or a pail if yours did not come in a box. 

• Use a wire brush to clean the grill while it is still hot to get rid of burnt-on food. 

• Consider spraying the backyard for mosquitoes before guests arrive. You can contract with exterminators to keep your yard pest free all summer.  

• Keep forks, knives, and spoons in a pretty caddy that can sit right on the table. 

How does your garden grow?

A lush summer garden filled with fruits and vegetables is a true warm-weather joy and a thing of beauty. It can also be a well-organized haven!

• If you have a garden shed, make use of the walls and even the ceiling to hang tools. Hang your shovels and other long-handled tools on a rack. You can buy one at Home Depot or Lowes, or make one easily from an old pallet.

• Shelving is your friend! Both free-standing units and those affixed to the walls can make a big difference in how organized everything is. You might even consider repurposing old cabinets from a kitchen remodel to use in your shed.

• Use clear bins to organize seeds and smaller items.  

• Create a tool silhouette. Once you have hung all your tools on a pegboard, trace their outline so you know if an item is missing. When items are put back in their appropriate space, they are easier to find the next time you need them.

• Get a reel for your garden hose.

On the road again?

There’s nothing like exploring the country on a summer road trip. 

• Buy or make an organizer for the back of the seats. The roomy pockets can hold everything from toys, a first-aid kit, snacks, drinks, cards, writing implements, sunscreen, and more. 

• We know to pack lots of snacks; put them in individual-sized Ziploc bags for easy grabbing. 

• Pack plastic bags for wet or soiled items.

• Amazon sells devices that will allow you to charge multiple devices — phones, iPads, AirPods, etc. — with one car lighter or USB port. This can be a lifesaver!

Whether your time is spent on the road, or at home on a “staycation,” these tips for organizing are sure to take stress out of your summer days. No matter what you do, don’t forget the sunscreen!

Ah, spring.

The flash of color from early flowers. The smell of freshly cut grass.

The sound of sneezes as everyone around quickly states emphatically, “It’s just allergies…”

Spring means lots of things to many people. Growth, rebirth, fresh start. But to many of us, it means spring cleaning! 

Let’s delve into spring cleaning, and look at how often you should clean many items in your home.

Everyday Cleaning

Let’s begin with things that should get some attention every day. That’s making your bed, doing the dishes, washing out the coffee pot, and cleaning out the kitchen sink. You also should wipe down the kitchen table and counters. 

Pro tip: wipe up messes in the oven and the microwave as soon as they happen. It’s much easier to clean them when they are fresh rather than when they are baked on. 

In the bathroom, it’s a good idea to disinfect your faucets, the toilet handle and seat, and wipe down shower walls with a squeegee.

A Few Times a Week

Give some attention to your floors. Dust mop those made of hardwood, sweep or vacuum entry mats, and vacuum any high-traffic areas, particularly if there are pets, kids, (or messy spouses!) in the house.   

Once a Week

It’s usually enough to go through the kitchen and wipe down the appliances weekly. Also, inspect the fridge and throw out expired food items (and those pesky, unidentifiable things that tend to get put back in until you’re sure they are bad. C’mon, no one is really going to ever eat those things!)

In the bathroom, sanitize surfaces. Dust furniture and vacuum those pieces that are upholstered. Change the sheets and pillow cases on beds that have been used. 

Vacuum or sweep and mop floors. 

Every Three to Four Months

You should clean your oven, whether it’s a self-cleaning model or one you have to buy oven cleaner for. Give the dishwasher a good cleaning — that means checking the filter for gunk and running it through with a vinegar cycle. Clean the lint out of the dryer vent as buildup can be a fire hazard. Wash the comforter living inside your duvet cover. Throw the bed pillows into the washing machine. Wash the range hood filter, this is where grease can really build up. Dust your ceilings and walls. Move the heavy furniture and vacuum underneath it. 

Twice a Year

Give some love to the gutters, whether you do them yourself or have them cleaned out professionally.

Annually

You can clean out your fireplace in the spring, after the fire season. (Have the chimney inspected in the fall before you start up again.)

Steam clean or shampoo carpets and furniture.

By no means is this little list exhaustive; there are many other items in the house that deserve the Cinderella treatment, from the pet bed and toys, to draining sediment from the water heater, your lampshades and curtains, the furnace filters, refrigerator coils, the windows, garage and basement, the handrails on the staircase, and the cup your toothbrushes sit in. 

What item is on your spring-cleaning list that you are about to get to?

“Are you thinking about selling your home? Maybe you thought you’d be in your home for a long time to come. Perhaps you thought your grandchildren would play on the same swingset your kids played on . . .”

Home sells for $100,000 over the asking price.

Home sells without ever hitting the market.

Home receives 56 offers in 30 seconds.

OK, maybe not 56 in 30 seconds, but it doesn’t stray too far from all we have been hearing: there is a significant dearth of available homes for sale. Any of these headlines could be written about any number of markets in the country, but our market here in North Jersey seems to be one of the hottest of them all.

Are you thinking about selling your home?

It’s a little bit of a scary prospect. Maybe you thought you’d be in your home for a long time to come. Perhaps you thought your grandchildren would play on the same swingset your kids played on, and sleep in their bedrooms when they came for long weekend visits. 

But every day, reading about the shortage of inventory for homes in your area gets you wondering if this is a really smart time to sell. 

Hmmm.

I spoke to a few home-selling experts in BIG (Believe, Inspire, Grow), a networking group for women entrepreneurs I belong to for some of their professional guidance.

Specifically, I wanted to know if my clients are thinking about selling, how much streamlining of their “stuff” and home prep is required to get the house to move, and if they did decide to move what would make them be an attractive buyer to the current owners of their next home. 

Sell Your Home “As Is” or Fix Up: A Real Estate Agent’s Perspective

Lucy Thompson, of Keller Williams Realty in Summit, NJ says that while it is still a seller’s market, the amount of work done to prepare a home for resale directly impacts the selling price.

“It boils down to what is more important to the seller — the maximum price achievable by pulling out all the stops or the average price achievable by leaving buyers to use their imaginations,” she says.

“There is a direct correlation between the prep work done and the rewards,” Thompson said. “Sure, you can leave everything ‘as is’ and look ‘average’ on the market and still find multiple buyers and perhaps achieve over list, or you can go all out and declutter, clean out, touch up painting where needed, spruce up older parts of the house, and fix red flag items before photographs are taken and showings start and, as a result, achieve astounding results, leaving no money on the table at closing.”

Regardless of what you may have heard, it is always a beauty contest and a price war, and you don't want the buyer to start asking for credits or work to be done when they feel they are already paying way more than they expected, Thompson said.

“It is nearly always better to invest time and money up front and get ready for listing rather than leaving things to chance and neglecting, at your peril, things that make buyers wonder what else is going on ‘behind the facade’,” she said.

Getting Mortgage Ready: Tips from a Specialist

What if you are on the flip side of the sale? You have your house all ready to market  and need to find a new place to call home. What can you do to make yourself look the most viable to an active home seller?

Cathy Maloney of Guaranteed Rate Mortgage in Chatham, NJ also suggests taking the time to do some “prep work,” although it is a different kind. 

She suggests that buyers not only secure a preapproval letter from a mortgage lender, but an actual mortgage commitment to make them as strong as a cash buyer. 

“All you will need is a sales contract and an appraisal to close because you can show the seller that you have your financing all set and approved and underwritten and you’re as strong as a cash buyer,” she says. “Instead of showing your bank statement that says you have $1 million, you can show a mortgage commitment that says the same, which will help people choose you.” 

So there you have it. It’s always better to do all of your prep work and not allow “chance” to figure into the equation.

Give me a call if I can help you tackle the decluttering process, whether you are getting your home ready to take advantage of this market, or just want to live more comfortably in your home. Either way, I can help you achieve A Simpler Life Now.

And here we are again — the beginning of a new year.

If you have been following some of my advice in this blog space, then many areas of your house have been streamlined, either in preparation for a downsize or just so you can live more comfortably in your space.

The beginning of a new year is a great time to assess your living areas, including your kitchen. Look around — has some of that clutter snuck back up on you?

It is just so easy for this to happen — please don’t think ANYONE is immune, including me.

Why do we let the clutter build up, and what should we do about it?

Keeping things we like around us is comforting, even if we have way, way too much of it. Cozy throw blankets. Aromatic candles. Well-loved books. Kitchen gadgets. These are the things that soothe us. But when the sheer amount of our loved items gets out of control and starts living in piles, the comfort becomes stress.

And then there are all those holiday gifts. Ones where the gift giver was so spot on, that it was something you just bought for yourself. Or ones where you might think that the gift giver never actually met you before!

We discussed the boxes of holiday decor that never make the cut. Resist the urge to pack it away again. Make an appointment right now for a local charity — like the Vietnam Vets — to come and retrieve these and other things you can part with. Just chose a date from their interactive calendar and set the stuff out early that morning. They will even leave you a receipt for tax purposes.

Pat yourself on the back for using all the at-home time during the pandemic to attack those junk drawers, scary closets, and seemingly bottomless attic and basement areas. Goodbye lidless Tupperware! Even the fridge was a project we took on together. Begone, soup greens from the Bush administration. (No judging if it was even the first Bush!)

But don’t rest on those laurels. This next go round should be a bit easier since you have gone through it all recently.

Start with the “what-if-I-lose-those-10-lbs” wardrobe items, and progress into the heels that were oh so cute — and expensive — but hurt each time they were worn. Gift or donate. Have you again accumulated take-out containers? Update some stained ones and recycle the rest.

There’s no need to fill up all your storage areas 

People tend to fill up their storage area with as much as it can handle. This makes it harder to find exactly what you are looking for, whether it is that purple scarf hiding among dozens of other scarves, or the warranty information for the smart TV.

So why do we have three unopened ketchups in the pantry and four packages of new panty hose (when was the last time that we actually wore pantry hose)? Is the fear of “running out” of something so great? Is it because the sale price was too good to walk away from? What would actually happen if we ran low on extra toothbrushes?

Is it because we just know that as soon as we get rid of something we will discover we need it? Right away?

It’s probably a little bit of all of that. And developing a reasonable approach to tackling the clutter is the only way it will get reduced.

Whether you do a room at a time or focus on a category like books or purses is up to you. Don’t start too large. Doing one dresser, or even one drawer in a dresser, is a perfectly good starting place. 

The professionals at A Simpler Life Now are really, really good at helping you figure out what to keep and what you really don’t need anymore. Please let us know if we can help with your projects.

If you’re thinking that downsizing might be in the cards over the next year or two, you can really get a jumpstart on paring down your possessions by starting with an edit of your holiday decor.

Streamlined holiday decor in neatly organized, well-labeled storage boxes is a home decorator’s dream! With a little work, this can be your reality. 

Holiday decorating should be fun. It should conjure up wonderful family memories. It should not be a chore because of the amount of stuff you have to contend with.

There are certainly going to be treasured family decorations that came from your parents and grandparents that you will pass along lovingly to your children when the time is right. These are special and should be stored in special padded cartons to preserve and protect them.

Those aren’t the items we are discussing today. I am talking about those junky plastic ornaments that leave a messy trail of glitter. The little Rudolphs with broken legs, the Singing Santa that no longer croons, and the dozens of little dreidels that were once used as party favors at a long-ago Chanukah party. 

Downsize and Organize Your Holiday Decor

Think about it: do you have boxes and boxes of decorations that you don’t even bother to take out from your attic or basement? Commit to going through them one last time to see if there is anything that really warrants saving, then donate, sell, or toss the rest.

1. You don’t need broken ornaments. You will never reattach that little hook on top.

2. Throw out the package of little hooks you bought five years ago for when you thought you would actually repair them. 

3. Pull out some of the really cute holiday cards and decorations your kids made back when they were young and display them. Take a photo of the rest, offer them to your children, and when they say “no thank you” toss them out.

4. Donate “still good” but “not good enough” items.

5. When it comes to putting items away, you can store round ornaments in egg cartons to protect them.

6. You can buy a store-bought reel for your Christmas tree lights, but you can also get creative and be efficient by wrapping them around coffee cans.

7. Sort, label, and consider storing much of your treasures in clear bins to help you identify quickly what is inside.

8. Put items away in reverse order to how you need them. For example, make sure you can access the skirt for the tree before the tree stand. 

9. Take a photo of your decorated rooms and store all of those items together in a storage box with the photo mounted on the outside for easy-peasy setup.

Your taste may have changed over the years. Perhaps your old tree was brightly colored and now you prefer a softer pallet. You can list unused decor on Facebook’s free marketplace groups. They will get gobbled up. 

The time to start this project is now! As you are putting away the ceramic pumpkins, the witch cauldron for candy, and the skeleton door decor, go over some of the Halloween things in the box that didn’t make it out, and think about getting rid of some of it. 

And if turkeys, gourds, and pilgrims are part of your decorating plan, you can use those decorations as a warmup to the big purge.

Of course, if you’d like help, give me a call.

Back in May, we ran a blog called 20 Items You Can Trash Right Now. It was about those things that take up  much needed space in our homes, making things look messy and overrun. And, yet, we keep them.

Maybe it’s because we want to be prepared “just in case.” Maybe it’s for sentimental reasons. 

The sad truth is, that often even though we have a supply closet full of those items, we often buy something new when we need it either because it is just a bit off, or because we don’t know exactly where to find it. 

This month’s blog is a follow up to that one, with some more specific ideas — because so many of you reached out to tell me that you wanted more. 

What? You haven’t done the first round yet? Well, start with either list and then migrate to the other. 

More things you can dispose of right now that you will never miss, but that, with their absence, will give you a lot more space and a sense of control.

This time, we break it down into five main areas of concern: your closets, the kitchen, the kids, bedroom stuff, and media.

In the Closets

Sheet sets. Oh, you were saving some to use as drop cloths? Your painter will bring his own. What, you wanted some extras if anyone needs to go camping? Is anyone really going camping? You are saving some for when you rent a shore house? Didn’t that last shore house come furnished with sheets and towels already? Keep one extra set for every bed, and maybe one extra “just-in-case” set for each size. That is it. 

Extra blankets. Let’s say you had guests come one winter and there was a blackout. Everyone needed to bundle up with an extra blanket. Keep one extra stored for every bed in the house and enough for a guest or two. It’s not going to get worse than that. 

Unused holiday decorations. Those broken ornaments. And the ones you really don’t like but bought because they were on sale. Get rid of them. Keep what you put out, the sentimental ones, and special ones the kids made. Get rid of the rest.

The lampshades and curtain rods. Getting rid of all the extras will bring you back valuable space. No one is going to need the old candelabra chandelier shades.

In the Kitchen 

Cell phones. Flip phones might be making a comeback, but not those kinds of flip phones. You can donate these in bulk.

Paper clutter. Takeout menus. Phone books. Address books. Everything is available online. Use up the old extra napkins and plates from kids' birthday parties. 

Extra mugs that are from old companies. You have your favorites that you use. You can save enough for all that company who are visiting during that winter blackout and who all need a mug of hot chocolate to warm up at the same moment. You don’t need the rest. Donate.

Expired stuff. Suntan lotion. Spices. Even coffee. Use up anything that will expire soon before you buy more. Replenish your pantry from the back so that you reach for older stuff first. 

Jars — Mason and otherwise. Canning those summer cucumbers sounded like such a good idea, but if another summer passed and you still haven’t gotten to it, donate some of those jars. People are always looking for canning jars on the free-community based websites.

Drawers of power cords and chargers. You probably got rid of many of the items that they were supposed to charge long ago. If you can find the cords that go to those flip phones, pair them up.

Water bottles. You will be shocked at how many of these have declared residency in your kitchen. Get rid of all but the ones you use. 

Freebies. The chopsticks, condiments, napkins, and plates that have exploded. If you never use them, then stop saving them.  

Used sponges and toothbrushes. Are you saving them for cleaning? You really only need one of each, and you can keep updating it when you change out your current ones. 

Cleaning rags. Keep one bucketful in the basement, get rid of the rest.

Reusable bags, shopping bags, boxes. If you bring your own bags to the grocery store that is wonderful. Check them to make sure they haven’t gotten grungy and change them out if they have. Repurpose old Amazon boxes. You can cut them down to resize larger ones to mail your own packages. Save a few in each size — you know they will mysteriously replenish themselves in just a week or two! 

Kitchen toys: The panini maker, the vegetti, the fondue pot, the ice cream maker, the avocado slicer, the watermelon baller, the fat separator, the onion goggles, the fun-shaped ice cube maker, the popcorn popper, possibly even the air fryer and the Instant Pot? Everyone’s list of kitchen gadgets that they don’t use will look different, but everyone has one. If yours is in good shape (even brand new, maybe?), pass it along.  

Wedding gifts. The things you put on your wedding registry way back when sounded great. But did you really think you were going to use them? If they are still brand new in the box, or have not been used since the Clinton administration, donate.

All the vases from flowers. How nice that people keep sending you flowers! Donate some of those vases to the flower shop at the hospital or back to the florists.

Used candles. Name one dinner party you had where you didn’t put out fresh candles?

Your Kids Stuff — And Stuff for Your Kids

Whether those “kids” are just starting their college applications, or are having children of their own, they have left behind a lot of stuff.

Much of the stuff they used as a baby is not even up to code anymore. The crib bumpers — possibly even the crib itself — might be considered dangerous. 

Do save some special well-made toys that your children enjoyed that you might want to play with your grandchildren, but boxes of puzzles with pieces missing and electronic toys where the battery exploded and are now rendered useless do nothing but take up valuable closet space. 

Some of their sports equipment — cleats, bats, frisbees, sticks — could be brought to sports consignment shops or donated. 

Separately, your treasured items, whether they are ornate antiques, heavy furniture, or delicate China service, might not be of interest to your children in their streamlined lifestyles. If they say they really won’t want it, begin to check with antique dealers or even try listing a few items on eBay. This includes the stuff you inherited from your own parents and grandparents. 

In Your Bedroom

In your closet? Skinny jeans? Or your boyfriend jeans? Or high-waisted jeans? It’s hard to keep track of what is considered in style these days. Whatever the trends, if it doesn’t fit, donate it. Including those expensive mistakes. As for all that stuff that is “sure to come back in fashion,” even if it does, it will be tweaked just enough that you will want to buy the updated version of it.

Same goes for the stuff you are saving for 70s and 80s costume parties. Save a couple of things, and donate the rest. 

Ditto exercise clothes.

Edit your entire inventory of nearly empty perfume bottles and get something new that you love.

Media

The last category to clean out is all the media that is taking up space.

Old Jane Fonda tapes. No explanation necessary. Again, YouTube videos.

This goes for all the old albums, CDs, cassettes, 8-tracks, and more that you probably couldn’t even play even if they are in great shape. Check around for dealers and collectors who might be interested in what you have.  

As for the VHS tapes, Netflix is your friend.

Cookbooks? Save the few you actually use. You can find recipes for anything online.

I look forward to hearing about some of the great things you have done with all the space in the areas that you have reclaimed in your homes. There is so much benefit to be had from living A Simpler Life Now.

Most people have too much stuff, and, honestly, a lot of it is, well, garbage! 

Do you have a complete set of House Beautiful magazines from the 1990s? How about the turmeric that you bought for a curry recipe you never got around to making a few years ago? 

The first step in getting ready to sell your home, or even just to organize it for you to live more comfortably yourself, is to pack up and toss some of the items that have outlived their usefulness.

This list is a great starting place to identify items that are eating up valuable real estate in your closets, kitchen cabinets, garage, attic, and basement. The amount of space you can find by just tossing out excess bags and boxes can be so rewarding. 

20 Items To Toss Now

1. Twist ties

2. Supermarket plastic bags

3. Old magazines

4. Bags of socks that don't match

5. Books of matches

6. Take out plastic containers and mismatched other Tupperware

7. Bags, bags, and more bags 

8. Old trophies 

9. Expired medications, sunscreen, and makeup

10. Old expired spices 

11. Outdated college books 

12. Old paint cans (by the way if the paint is dried up, the paint can go in your trash —  if not dried up, open lid, add cat litter and then toss when dried up)

13. The drawer full of Bed Bath & Beyond (or other expired) coupons

14. Duplicate or fuzzy photos

15. Bank statements and utility bills that you will never need to refer to

16. That yellowed pile of recipes that has been growing but you never look at

17. Everything that has been sitting in the “to-be-fixed” pile: the broken mug, the costume jewelry with the broken clasp, the sunglasses with the missing arm

18. Pens that dried up

19. All the cheap, branded stuff you picked up along the way but won’t really use, particularly because you have better versions of it, like tape measures, frisbees, sewing kits, magnifying glasses

20. Craft projects that you started but will never resume — the half-hooked rugs, pieces of tile for the mosaic project, assorted colored sand — you get the idea!

Why wait until you are ready to move to reclaim all this space? Do it now: pack up all these items and don’t look back when you dispose of them.

It’s hard getting rid of sentimental items and articles of clothing. But some stuff in our closets holds no sentimental value at all. Even still, sometimes it is hard to recognize items that should be trashed. Give me a call if you want some professional help.