I have been a professional organizer with reSPACEd for 10 years now, and I have found that there are some things that many, many people own that are almost always useless. Here are 10 I could think of off the top of my head. I would love to hear from other organizers, pros and amateurs alike, what they would add to this list:
- Baskets with handles. Unless it’s holding your kid’s Easter goodies at this present moment, it’s pretty useless. Round baskets are space inefficient, and their large handles make them space hogs.
- Mail older than two years. You don’t need to hang on to paper versions of your old credit card, utility and bank statements. Checks older than two years are useless. The rest of it is usually junk mail. Time to feed the shredder!
- Missing socks. If you went through a cycle or two of laundry and still couldn’t find the mate to your missing sock, chuck the singleton. It’s gone — and its replacement is only a few bucks.
- Little tiny plastic pieces in the bottom of your kids’ toy box. These will make you crazy trying to figure out what they all go to. No child will ever keep them organized (not even this pro organizer’s child!) nor will they typically miss them.
- Disorganized paper clips, rubber bands, etc. in your desk drawer. For just $5 or so, treat yourself to brand new packages of rubber bands and paper clips and toss the rat’s nest in your desk drawer.
- Yellowed, lumpy pillows. Ewww!
- Restaurant to-go stuff like paper napkins, ketchup packets, plastic forks. They just junk up your kitchen drawers.
- Photos and letters from your ex, your mean aunt, your judgmental cousin. I’m not into woo-woo stuff, but even I strongly believe these kinds of items are neatly packaged missives of toxic energy. Why hang onto something that makes you feel bad every time you look at it?
- Extra school pictures of your kids from prior years. Be brave, Mom and Dad, and toss all those extra 2″x3″ photos! You don’t need 12 copies of the exact same photo, I promise you.
- Tiny packages of extra IKEA parts. I’m pretty sure nobody has ever actually opened these plastic bags and replaced anything on their Ikea furniture.
That’s my top 10 list of useless items to chuck. Let go of the guilt and the good intentions, and free yourself from this clutter! Happy Organizing, everyone!
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