The decluttering craze has taken over the world, and is making us all a little KonMari crazy. I personally love the KonMari method, however it’s not for everyone. If you’ve caught the decluttering bug but don’t want to go full stream with it, try starting your journey on a smaller scale.
Here are 10 things you can declutter from your apartment this month:
1. Old Textbooks
We all tend to hold on to textbooks longer than we should just in case we might need them someday. Now is the time to get rid of the ones you know you’ll never open again. Chances are you’ll find another college student who needs them and will buy them from you.
2. Expired Make-up
We all have an old mascara or two that is wayyy past it’s expiry date. Now’s the time to get rid of them, and any other expired make-up that may be lurking in your cosmetic bag. Aside from not working well, expired make-up can cause infections, breakouts, etc.
3. Expired Medications And Old Prescriptions
Most pharmacies will accept and dispose of expired medications. If you’re like me, your medicine cabinet may need a clean out, and now’s the time to do it.
4. That Huge Pile Of Mail And Flyers
This falls under the “I might need it someday” category. If it’s older than a few months and completely useless to you in the future, get rid of it.
5. Those Too-Small Clothes You Wore In High School
You will never fit into them again, trust me. I decluttered recently and found clothes that were 10 years old that I was holding on to “just in case”. Of course we all want to be healthier and our best selves, but fashion changes over the years, and if by some miracle we do happen to get back down to our 15 year old size, we can just repurchase new, better clothes.
6. The Bag Of Cables And Chargers
We all have this bag of cords that we no longer remember what they were used for. We all need to get rid of it, like yesterday.
7. Old Manuals And Handbooks
Why do we hold on to these? Do we ever really go looking for the manual that came with our blender or vacuum cleaner anymore? Worse yet, with the vacuum cleaner we threw out years ago. Personally, I just google any and all problems that may occur with my appliances, and most manuals are online in PDF form if you do need to refer to one for something.
8. The Gifts We Received And Hate
Why do we keep these? Chances are, most of us have a piece of decor or an outfit that we keep just in case the person who got it for us comes over someday and might see it. I also attach memories to belongings and tend to feel super guilty when I discard something that was given to me by a loved one. If we simply admit it, we are just adding to clutter and stressing ourselves out over something we don’t even like. Let’s get rid of it.
9. Product Packaging And Boxes
Raise your hand if you have at least 1 cellphone box, a few shoe boxes, the box your computer came in, etc., in your apartment. Yeah, me too. If you can’t re-purpose it, get rid of it.
10. The Junk Drawer
If you look in my junk drawer right now, you’ll find spare and expired batteries, broken sunglasses, glow sticks, thumb tacks, pens that don’t work, random kitchen items, a phone book I’ll never use, and more..so much more. It’s time to clean out our junk drawers, even if they will be full again in a month’s time.
Have you caught the decluttering bug? Comment below and let us know how it’s going!
