Things you can get rid of right now and (and Never Miss!)
If you as an organizing professional how to get rid of clutter in your life, the first thing they are going to tell you is a list of things you can get rid of right now.
Starting the purging process can be intimidating… who wants to get rid of their stuff!
Well, that’s the whole point of this post!
I am going to list out 111 things that you can get rid of right now, and not miss them. Sounds kind of intriguing right? Getting rid of unnecessary clutter in your life that you won’t be regretting this time next week? That’s why I wanted to get this list up as soon as possible!
There are some things on this list that I never thought about. To be honest there’s a lot on this list that I didn’t even think I had, but ended up having multiple. I got rid of those really quickly and never looked back!
If you want to tackle your organizing project one room or type of clutter at a time, I’ve broken my list down into categories!
If you don’t quite understand why you would take time to organize your home, you should definitely read about it here!
Ready to get started decluttering? Let’s Go!
Paper
If your house is anything like mine, there is probably a drawer (or four) that is filled with papers. Old bills, receipts, you name it, it’s in there.
Paper is one of the easiest places to start your decluttering process – which is why I put it first!
Here are some things you can simply recycle or throw away right now:
- Old receipts
- Reference books – I have some from college I never read again. You can sell your unwanted text books at sites like Chegg and even Amazon to make some extra cash!
- Books you’ve read and don’t plan on re reading
- Unread books you never intend on reading in the first place
- Credit card & bank statements
- User manuals
- Old warranty packets
- Old business cards – the ones at the bottom of your purse that you never look at
- Phone books
- Takeout menus – their menus are online anyways
- Invitations & Save the Dates for passed events
- Old magazines – I finally got rid of those Tiger Beat magazines from the early 2000’s!
- Catalogues
- Old calendars and planners
- Filled notebooks
- Travel guide books
- Expired coupons & gift certificates
- Newspapers that are days and weeks old
- Greeting cards that have no sentimental value
- Random scraps of paper – I had so many of these at the bottom of my purse and in my nightstand. This made the biggest difference to me!
Toiletries & Health
As like most women, there are probably a ton of things under your bathroom counter that are collecting dust. It might be expired products or old medicine in your cabinet.
Take the time and go through your old products that you either never used or didn’t use in time!
- Old nail polish bottles
- Cosmetic samples you’ve had forever that you never tried out
- Cosmetics that are way past their use by date
- Sunscreen that is old
- Unused products – I swear like half of my bathroom counter was full with half empty bottles of lotion and face creams I’ll never finish. It felt refreshing to clear those spaces of clutter!
- Hair tools – if you haven’t hot rolled your hair in years, do you really need to be holding on to them?
- Hair accessories you never wear
- Medicines that have expired
- Perfumes & colognes that are over 2 years old
- Old vitamins
- Old toothbrushes
- All of those broken hair bands, bobby pins & barrettes
- Shower gel – you know, the bottle that’s gone crusty in the corner of your shower?
Clothing & Things You Wear
Okay I thought this was going to be the most difficult category. But since I decluttered them, I have yet to miss them! Turns out I only wear the same three things every day anyways, so the excess was excessive (lol).
- Mismatched socks – give your socks to Dobby and stop holding on to the lonely sock of the pair. Just get rid of them and free a house elf!
- Underwear with holes
- Bras that have underwire sticking out – you should burn these actually!
- Stained or worn out clothing
- T-Shirts you never wore – I got a lot of promotional free t-shirts in college that I didn’t even wear back then. It felt good getting rid of my old bar shirts!
- Old and gross athletic wear
- Shoes that don’t fit or provide zero support anymore
- Any accessory you haven’t worn in over a year
- Earrings that are missing their backs or their pair
- Broken jewelry
- Sunglasses that are scratched
- Glasses that have the wrong prescription
- Purses that went out of style – I’m looking at all those sequin purses from the Hannah Montana phase (please let me know I’m not alone in this…)
Linens
Even though you might not have a lot of things in this category, I noticed that these items took up a lot of space. Once I got rid of them it was amazing how much storage I had for organization!
- Towels with holes or that are just worn out
- Old pillows – if you don’t want to sleep on it now, you aren’t going to want to sleep on it in the future
- Spare sets of bedding
- Blankets – for those of you who are like me and have an excessive amount of them
- Dining room linens – I had so many placemats, cloth napkins, and table runners that I bought when I thought I was going to be fancy. I’m in my mid twenties and realize that life is not for me right now, so I finally donated them!
Technology
Walking through the isles at Goodwill it makes me feel better to see all the unused cords and other miscellaneous electronics left behind.
I can’t tell you how many things I’ve held onto in the past for those just in case moments. Turns out those just in case moments don’t come around as often as I thought. So I actually purged quite a bit in this category!
- Unidentified cords – nowadays almost anything runs off of a few basic and cheap chords. If I get into a scenario when I want something to work, I was much more likely to simply go out and buy a new one. Get rid of the old ones!
- Old CDs & DVDs
- Boxes for random electronics
- Remote controls that don’t work with any of your current tv setups
- Old remote controls
- Old and obsolete cell phones
- Any additional old electronics that you don’t use – check sites like eBay to see if that old Walkman is worth anything!
Kitchen
This might be an area you will want to check with your significant other, or even your mom. Apparently there is a reason Brad had 4 different styles of tongs…
Either way cleaning out my kitchen of clutter and things we didn’t use gave our kitchen a huge upgrade!
- Plastic grocery bags – I use these to clean out my cat’s litter boxes, but I don’t need 400 of them, and neither do you
- Expired food – check in both your fridge and pantry
- Old cooking appliances
- Magnets that are just sitting on your fridge
- Containers without matching lids
- Also just unnecessary containers in general – did I join a Pampered Chef program years ago and just forget about it? Cause damn I had a lot!
- Chipped dishes – unless it’s Chip from Beauty and the Beast
- Packets of condiments
- Cookware that is chipped or peeling
- Utensils you have multiple of
- Empty bottles
- Dishcloths that are gross or holey – for some reason my mother instilled in me that I have at least 20 dish rags at any given time. Don’t tell her I got rid of 95% of them
- Old recipe books you don’t look at
Outdoor & Garage
I got into a gardening kick a couple of months ago and went ham at the Harbor Freight down by our house. Turns out that kick lasted about two weekends and I never went back outside again. (Only kidding but kind of true).
We often overlook our garages and simply use them as our own personal storage unit. It felt good to see some things go!
- Tools you don’t need or don’t use
- Scraps of wood – for projects that didn’t happen or are finished and don’t need the excess materials
- Old paint gallon buckets
- Sports equipment you don’t use
- Garden equipment
- Cardboard boxes from your previous move
Crafts & DIY Supplies
Ouch this one hurt me, I’m not gonna lie! I’m bad at holding on to little scraps of paper just in case I want to use it in a project or not. Turns out I don’t ever paper mache or even scrapbook – and when I do it’s usually with a brand new piece of paper!
It took some time, but I definitely don’t miss all of my excess and useless DIY and craft supplies.
- Spare buttons
- Any materials from unfinished projects
- Pens with no ink
- Dried out markers
- Paint that has dried out
- Unused craft supplies
- Packaging from subscription boxes and art supplies
Your Kids Stuff
I personally don’t have kids yet, but I know my mom highly enjoyed decluttering our rooms when my sister and I went to our dad’s house.
Make sure to involve them in the process if they are older, it can create a sense of unity when setting organization standards for your home!
- Clothes they have outgrown
- Toys they don’t play with
- Broken toys
- All those plastic toys that come in Happy meals and carnivals
- Random crafts that have no sentimental value
- Equipment from hobbies they no longer do or enjoy
- Trash and candy wrappers – should be a given, but my little sister used to hoard candy wrappers
- Games with missing pieces
- Books that are torn or have pages missing
- Sticker sheets that are half used
- Furniture they’ve outgrown
- Equipment they no longer use
Cleaning Supplies
You may want to check warning labels to make sure you are getting rid of your old cleaning supplies the correct way. I even looked things up online just to make sure I was disposing of them correctly.
- Dried up shoe polish
- Cleaning rags that are gross or have holes
- Old cleaning products you don’t use
- Empty bottles from used up cleaning supplies
- Expired products
Other Random Things
There will likely be some other things you can get rid of right now that don’t fall into one of the above categories. I racked my brain thinking about some of those things, and listed them here!
If there was anything I didn’t list that you want to declutter, by all means be my guest!
- Extra suitcases, briefcases, and duffle bags
- Holiday decor you never set out each year
- Broken appliances
- VHS tapes
- Dead or almost dead plants
- Things you got when you played tourist somewhere – I got rid of the 200 necklaces I got one mardi gras. Don’t ask me why I kept them, I lived down there for Christ’s sake!
- Gifts you didn’t like
- Gag gifts you got as a secret Santa gift
- Old party supplies
- Anything you have multiples of
Congrats, you’ve made it to the bottom of the list! You should let me know how your decluttering project went! I listed one hundred and eleven things that you can get rid of right now and never miss.
Doesn’t it feel great to know your house is clutter free now!
Now that you’ve gone through and decluttering your home, you are probably going to want to learn some tips on organizing. I suggest you start with my post on How To Organize Any Room and go from there.
I hope you enjoy your newly decluttered and organized home!
