Sometimes when decluttering, you just feel overwhelmed and have no idea where to start. That’s why a quick guide is the most helpful way to start to tackle the clutter that feels like it’s just taking over. As fast as you can (because we can make this take the rest of the year if we wanted to, but we don’t!) go through this list and see how many garbage bags you can fill. Let’s tackle these 100 things to get rid of to simplify your home and reclaim your life!
Related: Step-by-step guide to get a disgusting house under control
Related: How to Fake a Clean House
Closet Declutter
Check out my list of how to ruthlessly purge clothes here if you need some motivation before you get started! A closet is a great way to start any decluttering project. The easy stuff is usually on the highest shelf or in a storage bin that you haven’t looked in in a while. Things you forgot existed are the best things to declutter first!
- Shoes that are worn out
- Clothes that no longer fit (aim to get rid of AT LEAST 15 articles of clothing)
- Clothes that you are keeping “just in case” – you can borrow or buy something to wear to the next wedding or funeral
- Clothes that are worn out or have holes (again, aim to get rid of 5-10 things)
- Jewelry that is broken or that you no longer wear
- Old shoe boxes
- Clothes you’ve been saving to give to someone but never get around to (ex: baby clothes, maternity clothes, etc.)
- Accessories you know you won’t wear (fashion belts, etc.)
- Mismatched socks, gloves, or anything that is supposed to have two but you can only find one. Pitch it!
Related: How to Declutter a Room in 30 Minutes or Less
Bathroom Declutter List
If you can get into the declutter mindset, the bathroom is the easiest room in the house to tackle. We all have a daily routine and the bathroom is likely where most of your get ready routine happens. Anything you don’t use on a regular basis in here can be thrown out.
- Almost used up items like deodorant, body wash, etc.
- Shampoo or conditioner you don’t use or have replaced.
- Old toothbrushes
- Beauty products that are expired or aren’t used on a regular basis
- Cleaning products you don’t use (I turn to the same 2 or 3 products for just about everything)
- Empty boxes or empty bottles
- Medicine cabinet – quickly go through and dispose of any expired or no longer needed medications
- Hair accessories you don’t actually use. For example, I had a million bows and barrettes that my daughters never used.
- Towels with holes in them (one towel per family member should be enough)
- Decorative towels. We’re a minimalist family. If it doesn’t serve a functional purpose, we typically get rid of it.
- Unused hair products
Kitchen Declutter
We have almost always had small kitchens, so I get the most bang for my buck in here. I’m ruthless when purging my kitchen because it’s the room I tend to get the most stressed in. It’s hard to function with cluttered countertops and tons of dirty dishes.
- Small appliances you never use. Unless you use your waffle maker regularly, get rid of it!
- Duplicate items you don’t actually need – we had like 15 mixing bowls and that’s just crazy pants. Keep 2 or 3 and pitch or donate the rest.
- Try to cut it down to no more than 6 pots and pans. For us, that looks like a skillet, large stockpot, smaller stock pot, soup pan, and a frying pan. Unused pots waste a TON of space.
- Keep one place setting per person and maybe one or two extras for guests. Everything else can go.
- Stained dish towels.
- Rags. We switched to scrub brushes that can be washed in the dishwasher. I hate the smell of kitchen rags so we don’t keep them.
- Phone books – we recently purchased a fully furnished home and it had 3 or 4 phone books in the kitchen. If you’re keeping these, get rid of them today!
- Mugs you don’t use. Unless they have significant sentimental value, they can be thrown away or donated. How many do you actually use regularly?
- Old or unused cleaning supplies
- Things you’ve become blind to – for me it was an old scrubbing pad that lived on the window sill.
- Extra salt and pepper shakers
- Check the expiration date on all of your food – unless it’s canned, if it’s expired, throw it away.
- Tupperware or storage containers without lids
- Tupperware lids without the actual container – why does everyone have 3x as many lids as containers??
- Old spices
- Condiments you know you’ll never use
- Doubles or triples of things. We had 3 can openers somehow. No one needs that many
- Gadgets you never use – we had a tofu press that was used only a handful of times
Junk Drawer
- Old batteries
- Random screws and nails
- Rubber bands
- Old menus – you can always look these up on your phone
- Broken and missing pieces that have accumulated here
- Old lighters and matches.
- Old receipts
- Dried up pens, markers, etc.
- Keys that don’t belong to anything
- Old key rings
- Old allen keys/furniture specific hardware or tools
- Random physical clutter that you know you’ll never need again
Kids Rooms
- Clothes that no longer fit (aim again for 10-15 items)
- Used up art supplies
- Art work that isn’t sentimental
- Toys that are missing pieces
- Puzzles that haven’t been built or are missing pieces
- Anything that is no longer age appropriate
- Extra bedding they won’t actually use
- Stuffed animals they never play with
- Random treasures they’ve collected but no longer value (house rocks are a great example)
Paper Clutter
I have a whole post about paper clutter and the genius way I tackled it for good here. If you are constantly overrun by paper, do yourself a favor and try out my method. In the meantime, here are some sure fire things to get rid of to make your life a little easier:
- Junk Mail
- Random flyers you’re keeping as reminders
- Menus (listed above under junk drawer but bears repeating)
- Outdated coupons
- Kids art (you can read how I handle the art that our 5 kids make here)
- Random post it notes and lists
- Old magazines
- Old to-do list(s) – I transitioned to keeping all of mine in one place in my simpler bullet journal. This has worked wonders for my productivity
- Most of what you have on your refrigerator probably falls under the “can be thrown away” category
- Old appointment reminders
- Business cards
Related: How to Test Drive Minimalism
Laundry Room
- Empty or almost empty containers
- Buttons
- Socks waiting for their match
- Tags, receipts, and other random pocket finds.
- Coins (obviously don’t throw these away, but almost every laundry room I’ve ever seen has a few of these)
- Stain removers and products you don’t use and love
Garage Declutter
We just got rid of 30 yards worth of stuff from our garage in the form of a dumpster. Granted, our home was fully furnished with lots of old things when we bought it, and most of that stuff is what went into the dumpster. Still, a shameful amount of it was ours. So much clutter that we didn’t have the storage space for so we paid to store it in an expensive storage unit when we transitioned to full time travel.
Now that we have a home, I want it to be as clutter-free as possible. Here is some of what we got rid of that I think you can probably trash too:
- Old games that no one plays
- Clothes I was keeping for that possible next baby
- A bunch of baby clothes that I thought held sentimental value when I initially decided to keep them (see sentimental items below)
- Old sports equipment
- End tables I thought we’d use but haven’t
- Old bedding
- Shoes that have aged since storing them
- Christmas decorations we no longer love
- Items that have broken in storage or in the process of moving
- Video games that are no longer played or go to consoles you no longer own
Sentimental Items
This is a great place to flex your declutter muscle.
Obviously if something is very sentimental to you, go ahead and keep it.
It is my experience thought hat we assign sentimental value to way more things than necessary to justify not taking action on them.
Old clothing, pictures, tickets from past events, etc.
Be honest about what actually holds sentimental value to you and get rid of the rest.
Get rid of anything that guilt is forcing you to hold onto.
This is such a common problem that I wrote a post about how to declutter without feeling guilty. Check it out before tackling sentimental things.
Instead of things actually being sentimental, most of the time, it’s guilt that you’re feeling.
Family members gave you something and they’d be hurt if they knew you threw it away, etc.
I encourage you to take pictures of things with minimal sentimental value and keep them in digital form. Everything that guilt is making you keep, get rid of.
What about things that are in good condition?
If you think someone can actually benefit from the things you’re getting rid of, go ahead and take them to a thrift store.
Some places even have receptacles for donations that don’t require you to work your schedule around your donation. This is a great way to pass your unused items on to someone that will actually use them.
Gather up your donations, put them in your trunk, and then set a reminder in your phone for a week from now.
If you haven’t found the time in the past week to donate things, you probably never will. Give yourself permission to throw it away.
Let me leave you with a little motivation that has really made a difference in my life over the years. First of all, decluttering is never done. Unless you live alone and are incredibly strict about what you allow through your front door, things will find their way in. Don’t think that your decluttering journey is over just because you’ve tackled it once. Also, don’t feel like it isn’t worth it. The amount of time I have saved by simply having less stuff is incredible. Working toward a clutter-free home is such a daunting task, but going through your entire home and keeping only things you actually love is one of the best ways to get rid of stress. Take it from me. Living a simple life with my husband and 5 kids means so much more to me than any physical possession ever could.
