This is an entire channel
based on an important premise: that the less we own the more we can focus
our lives on things that matter most. With that is the backdrop, here are 10 things that
you can declutter right now. Number one: expired food. I don't know if you're anything like
me, if you're anything like my parents, but there's a good chance you have expired cans
of food, expired spices, expired condiments... Find them, get rid of them. If they're things
that you use, replace with fresher items. Your cooking will be better anyways.
Number two: clothes you don't wear. I'm not talking about making hard decisions
about clothes that you think you wear a lot, or you might wear right around the corner, but
most people have items in their closet. They have items in their drawers, they have items on their
shelves. They have extra coats and purses and shoes and things they they just stopped wearing.
Move them on. Free up the space. Number three: puzzles and games that are missing pieces or that
you stopped playing decades ago. Easy things that you can remove and get rid of. You know that you
need to go through that closet or those shelves anyway. Just make the decision get rid of those
things and move on with your life. Number four: old electronics, cables, and cords. Technology
changes quickly. Electronics that you used six, seven, eight years ago are now obsolete.
You've replaced them with a better phone, or a better camera, or a better computer. There's
no sense holding on to those old things. Same with cables and cords. They've changed, the company
has changed what you need to charge your phone. Just get rid of the old ones. You can take them
to goodwill, you can recycle those electronics at places like Best Buy or Office Depot. You
can just call ahead. Most of those places will help you recycle those old electronics. Number
five: duplicate cookware. How many bowls of tupperware and unmatching lids do you need? How
many coffee mugs do you need? How many spatulas do you need? We tend to just hold on to all these
things, and we don't recognize that we've stopped using many of the items, and we just use the
exact same favorite ones over and over and over again. Get rid of the duplicates, free up space in
your kitchen. Cooking will become a lot more fun. Number six: old linens. Ged sheets, pillowcases,
towels, sometimes even cleaning rags that we use. We had old towels, they wore out, so we bought
new ones, and for some reason we held on to the old ones even though we have no intention of
ever using them again. There are a whole bunch of animal shelters in your area that could use those
linens. You could free up the space in your closet and they could find some of the essential supplies
that they need to do the work that they do. Number seven: luggage. Luggage takes up a lot of space
in our basements and our attics and our closets. Get rid of the luggage that you don't need.
Maybe your family has changed sizes. Maybe you've replaced the old ones. Maybe you just don't travel
as much as you used to. Get rid of the luggage. Number eight: boxes. If you move often, you might
want to hold on to some boxes that fold easily, but a lot of people get into the habit of
holding on to boxes from the items that they buy. Whether they think they're going to have to
take it back right away, or they think that if they ever do move they need to have the exact
fitting box for any given item that it might be, and these boxes tend to not shut down very easily.
They tend to take up a lot of space. Keep the moving boxes if you need to, but get rid of a lot
of those product boxes that you're holding onto. Number nine: unused personal care or personal
hygiene products. Take a look at your bathroom cabinet, your medicine chest. Expired medicine,
expired makeup, or cosmetics that you no longer use. That big supply of hotel shampoo samples that
you brought home with you. Free up your bathroom, free up that space, and declutter unused
personal care products. And number 10: books you don't intend to read again. Books can
be difficult for people. We can become emotionally attached to some. There are some books that we
refer back to over and over again. But most people have plenty of books on their shelves that they
don't intend to read again. They read it once, or they never read it, or someone gave it to them.
Take those books, you can take them to goodwill ,you can donate them to a local library where
they can sell them or lend them out, but either way there's probably someone who wants to read
those books. Once you remove them from your home, they can move on to someone else. The less stuff
we own, the more we're able to focus our lives on things that matter most. And once we get started
decluttering, the easier it is to find new places and more things to get rid of. These are 10 items
that you can declutter right now and get started
