You’ve probably decluttered before by throwing out the sock with no twin, maybe even Marie Kondo-ing your closet once. But there’s a whole bunch of random stuff that doesn’t always seem like trash, so it hangs around for years…and years. It shouldn’t. Here are seventeen things that pro organizers say you should throw away today. Do you still have any of these?
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Charging Cables For Devices You Don’t Own
Most people have a drawer full of mystery cords and cables. But if you can’t name the gadget they go to, it’s time for you to let them go. Keeping them “just in case” is pointless, and you can always order a new one online if you find that you need the cable again. However, the chances are that you probably won’t.
Instruction Manuals For Appliances
Unless you’ve recently forgotten how your microwave works, there’s no reason to keep that manual in a kitchen drawer, as it’s just taking up space. Most manuals are online now anyway, even the weird brands, so holding on to them is silly. At the end of the day, it’s simply clutter that you don’t need.
Plastic Containers With No Matching Lids
You open the drawer, and then you see a tower of food containers that look fine, until you try to find a lid. Most of them don’t match anything anymore, but you keep them, thinking that one day the missing lid will turn up. It won’t. These leftovers are crowding your cabinets for no reason, so you might as well throw them away.
Appliance Boxes You’ve Been Saving
Why are you hanging on to the box your air fryer came in? Sure, you could tell yourself that you’ll need it in case you move or resell it, but the truth is, it’s not helping you. Cardboard takes up way too much space. Most people never end up using the original box for anything, and if it’s been in storage longer than the warranty, it’s simply dead weight.
Empty Candle Jars You Planned to Reuse
Some candle jars are cute, but it’s time to be honest with yourself. You’re not actually going to use them for anything, despite the number of times you tell yourself you’re going to “figure something out.” Chances are, they’ve been sitting empty for months with wax residue and no plan. You’re not reusing them, but collecting them, and there’s a big difference between the two.
Brackets and Screws
You probably have a little bag of leftover hardware from that shelf that you took down, which you’re keeping just in case. But these random metal bits usually outlive the item they came with, and there’s no point holding on to them if you don’t even own the shelf or TV anymore. You’ll never remember what they belong to, anyway.
Default Fridge Accessories
There’s a bin under your sink with a wine rack and some egg holders, as well as some plastic shelves that came with the fridge. You didn’t use them then, you’re not using them now. It’s unlikely that you’ll start randomly rearranging your fridge layout five years in, too, so just let it go. They don’t serve your real setup.
Random Keys
Nobody knows what all those mystery keys open, yet they’ve followed you through two moves and four apartments. If you haven’t identified them by now, it’s unlikely that you ever will, especially since you would’ve figured out if they did unlock something important. In the worst-case scenario, you could always get new ones made.
Event Tickets
Concert and museum tickets sure are fun to collect, but now you’ve got a random stack of them that you haven’t looked at in years. Sure, you could tell yourself that you’re going to scrapbook them. However, you know deep down that that’s not really true, and you’re really just hanging onto trash. Take a picture if you want, then clear them out.
Launder-If-Needed Clothing
You know the shirt, the one that fits weird or feels off, but you still keep it in your closet for when it’s laundry day and there’s nothing else to wear. You avoid it unless you’re desperate. As such, it’s not actually part of your rotation and is instead just a backup you don’t like, so it’s time to give it the boot. Maybe this will force you to do laundry more often, too.
“Someday” Project Supplies
You’ve likely bought materials for a hobby you never actually started, whether that’s calligraphy pens or paint supplies. The only thing those untouched supplies are inspiring is guilt. Any projects that you’ve put on pause for more than a year are projects that you’re probably over. It’s time to throw them away.
Sentimental Gifts You Don’t Like
While that gift was thoughtful, it doesn’t fit your taste or your space. Still, you keep it because you feel bad getting rid of it, but the reality is that you don’t need to. The person who gave it to you probably forgot about it, and keeping it out of guilt only makes you resent it more. Get rid of it.
Specialty Kitchen Tools
You bought a kitchen tool that you’ve only used once, and it did the job well, but it’s been sitting in a drawer ever since. The recipe was a hassle, and you never made it again, nor do you have any plans to. Holding onto this tool doesn’t make it useful. Instead, you’re housing a tool with no actual job.
Rare Items
Maybe you had to preorder it, or maybe you waited six months for it, but either way, that doesn’t mean you have to keep it forever. Unless it’s something you use or something you really like, how hard the item was to get doesn’t matter. It’s not an investment. It’s just taking up space, and it’s really quite pointless.
Multiple To-Do List Systems
Using five different places to track your tasks makes it harder to know what’s actually done, rather than making you organized. For example, holding onto sticky notes and a planner, as well as a whiteboard, is just silly. Pick one and ditch the rest. It’s not helping you to “keep options,” but rather, it’s splitting your focus.
One-Off Specialty Cleaning Products
Look under your sink and you’ll likely find a cleaner for one surface in your house that you used once and forgot. It could be stone polish, grout foam, or something else. Whatever it is, these products probably don’t make your life easier, especially since you keep reaching for your all-purpose spray. That’s what you actually use, so the rest can go.
The Default Desk Setup
You don’t need a tray for paper if you never deal with paper, or a pencil holder full of pens you don’t touch. Keeping desk items because they “should” be there, but you don’t use them, is futile, and it’s not helping you work. You don’t have to keep things that don’t fit how you actually do your job.
Disclaimer: This list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.
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