10 Things You Need to Declutter from Your Life

declutter

No matter who you are or how strong your OCD is, we all have junk weighing down our closets as well as our relationships. Today we going to discuss some ways to minimize what’s beyond the naked eye. Let’s think of it as Spring Cleaning for your soul. So get ready to detach, ladies. Here are 10 things that you can declutter from your home, social media, and life in general.

1. Formal Dresses

If you’re like 90% of other women, you probably have some formal dresses sitting in your closet that you wore ONE time and never touched again. Bridesmaid dresses, prom dresses, pageant dresses, gowns you bought for a special occasion — you know the ones. You thought to yourself, “Oh, I’ll definitely wear this again when the right event comes up.” 10 years later and you are still waiting. Or maybe the right event did come up, but it either didn’t fit or you decided to get something new (since it’s now out-of-style). Don’t worry, this happens to us all. However, it’s time to part with those sequins, beads, tulle, and satin. Select a day to snap pictures of your beauties and sell them online or donate to worthy cause like a local Prom Closet.

2. Gifts you Never Really Wanted

One of life’s guarantees is that you will receive countless birthday, wedding, and shower gifts that you will never use, need or want. And since someone gave them to you, you feel the obligation to hold onto them. Wrong. Declutter that random platter. Regift those placemats. Find a new (and loving) home for all the knick-knacks from Grandma. They aren’t doing anyone any favors boxed up in your attic or shoved in the back of a kitchen cabinet.

3. A Toxic Relationship

A relationship doesn’t have to be romantic to fall into the “toxic” category. It could be a coworker, friend, or even relative. But if that person is consistently depleting you emotionally, it might be time to cut ties. I’m not referring to the annoying, demanding, or just plain unpleasant people in your life. In my experience, they’ll probably be sticking around for awhile. But those relationships you’ve formed that are manipulative, resentful, and maybe even physically or emotionally abusive — those are the ones you need to either create some space between or cut off immediately. These are the the people capable of sabotaging your happiness and most likely holding you back from being the best version of yourself. Identify those individuals and find ways to distance yourself in order to improve your overall well-being.

4. Catalog Subscriptions 

I’ve decided that worst parts of being an adult are taxes and junkmail. Unfortunately you can’t escape taxes (unless you want the IRS coming after yo butt) but you CAN alleviate the latter. If you are receiving catalogs you never signed up for, take a moment from your day and unsubscribe. You won’t have to worry about them filling up your mailbox just to throw out later, plus you’ll [ideally] save a few trees in the process. I recently just heard about Catalog Choice which is a good tool to use for unsubscribing in bulk.

5. Old Toiletries

It’s the shampoo you used twice before your Matrix came in. The face wash that definitely did not help your acne. The foundation that the intimidating salesperson at Sephora said you just HAD to have and you felt pressured so you bought it even though you knew you’d never use it. Okay, maybe that last one is just me! Somewhere in your bathroom, however, you’ve got what us Rodan + Fields ladies call the product graveyard. Go through it this weekend and toss the [almost] empty bottles, expired products, and things you simply haven’t touched in years.  

6. Facebook Groups

I think we’d all agree that Facebook is SO nice when it comes to keeping up with old friends, posting about your favorite memories, and reminders of important dates. What it’s become as of recently is a forum for complaints, political rants, and direct sales groups. If you want to bring the simple joy of Facebooking back, then it’s time to declutter online too. Go into your “groups” and remove yourself from any that sell products you aren’t interested in and “unfollow” any people that tend to give off bad energy in your feed. You’d be surprised at how much more you’ll enjoy a daily scroll when you are only viewing the posts you WANT to view.

7. Plastic Bags

The never ending pile of plastic bags is the next thing to declutter! It’s really great if you reuse them for your trash bags and help reduce landfill. But do you ever actually get through your pile or do the plastic bags keep amassing like they do at my house? We literally have one of those huge blue IKEA bags filled with more bags sitting in our laundry room. Guess what? Time to join me in recycling these puppies once and for all. Or try a organization tip like this.

8. Fancy Bras

This one is tricky for me because I look at a drawer full of froofy, frilly bras that I wore one time and think, “Dang, I spent a lot of money on these! Surely I’ll wear it in the future.” But then again, will I? I’ve found that the longer I’m married, the less time I want to spend in a scratchy brassiere. And let’s be honest, Ben doesn’t care anyway.  If you find yourself only sticking with your basic cottons, nudes, and full-supporters like me, make that extra room in your drawer today. Free the Girls is an amazing service where your donated bras help give jobs to women rescued from sex trafficking. You can also check out The Bra Recyclers for those of you green gals and Donate Your Bra which distributes them to Breast Cancer support groups and shelters.

9. Tupperware

Another graveyard you’ll find in your home is the pile of mismatched Tupperware. If you’ve got pieces that have lost their lids or just appear to be getting old, toss them out. It’s probably a good idea to replace them every couple of years anyway. Insider tip: I like to purchase new Tupperware and Pyrex on Black Friday once all the crowds have dispersed. They are generally super-discounted and hanging around late into the day. Because who rushes into Walmart after eating Thanksgiving lunch with food prep on the brain?

10. A Bad Habit

There’s nothing like kicking a bad habit that brings a little order to your life. Whether it’s too much TV, biting your nails, or something more serious like substance addiction, finding help to overcome it can be a total game changer for your well-being. Life is too short to fill it with unproductive and stress-inducing activities.

There are 2 comments

By Carol | April 19, 2017 at 10:36 am

Those are all great suggestions! But what about Grandma’s old china??????? You can’t give that up can you?

By Alice Decker | April 19, 2017 at 1:20 pm

Oh my gosh, Mom. Seriously?! I said “knick-knacks” not “family heirlooms!” LOL

Leave a Reply to Alice Decker Cancel reply