The last time I counted, there were four people living in our home: my wife, our two daughters and myself. And only two of us actually drink coffee. So why does our cabinet drawer struggle to hold 37 different coffee mugs? And why are there so many mugs bundled up in there that we usually can’t even get the drawer open? Since we’re not planning to have 35 friends over for a coffee party anytime soon, this article from BrightNest helped us realize that it’s probably time to get rid of most of those mugs, along with a few other things around the home that were making life much more complicated than it should be. Here are ten things around the home you can think about tossing, recycling, or giving away.
If clutter is stressing you out, you don’t need to overhaul your entire home. Start with repeat items. These are the things you really only need one or two to function, but somehow own ten.
Not sure what we mean? Here are a few extraneous items to toss today:
Although it’s easy to get attached to your favorite stories, books can quickly equal clutter, dusty shelves and wasted space. Share the knowledge and donate your read books to schools or used bookstores. Then, give your local library card some exercise. Bonus: If you switch to borrowing from the library, you’ll save some cash, too.
If you generally leave the grocery store with three reusable shopping bags, keeping four is appropriate. Once you exceed four, you’ve entered the scary-pile-shoved-under-the-sink phase. Avoid that at all costs!
Unless you have a constant supply of cut flowers coming into the house, a cabinet full of vases will likely never come in handy. Pare down your collection to the vases with sentimental value and toss the rest.
When it comes to dishware, we recommend having enough for one week, and then it’s time to do the dishes. So, if you drink coffee every morning, save your favorite seven mugs and donate the rest.
In the era of Netflix, CDs and DVDs have basically become irrelevant and can take up a lot of space. If you watched or listened to it 20 times, and you’re ready for 20 more, you should keep it. If you’re likely to never use it again, away it goes. Don’t want to say goodbye to your collection but are interested in having more space? Try downloading the movies & MP3s onto an external hard drive.
