Organize Your Home — 20 Items You Can Trash Right 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
Twist ties
Supermarket plastic bags
Old magazines
Bags of socks that don't match
Books of matches
Take out plastic containers and mismatched other Tupperware
Bags, bags, and more bags
Old trophies
Expired medications, sunscreen, and makeup
Old expired spices
Outdated college books
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)
The drawer full of Bed Bath & Beyond (or other expired) coupons
Duplicate or fuzzy photos
Bank statements and utility bills that you will never need to refer to
That yellowed pile of recipes that has been growing but you never look at
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
Pens that dried up
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
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.