Perhaps it is just the folks I surround myself with, but it seems like clutter is getting a lot of buzz these days. My decluttering journey kicked up a few notches a few years ago when I became a father and my family moved to a larger house. Along the way, I've come across some things I wouldn't have considered clutter years ago. Here are 7 of those things. Maybe they'll spark you to look in different directions while you simplify your life.
- Wine - My wife and I drink wine, but not often, and that was the problem. I'm no wine expert. I'm not even a wine enthusiast. So why did we have 25 bottles of wine in the house? None of it was anything worth letting age. The more wine you get, the more racks you need, and then you need places for those racks. We've turned that around now. For us, we don't need more than 5 bottles. The best part is, I'm excited when guests bring a bottle rather than thinking "great, another bottle of wine we won't drink for months".
- Food - Having a large pantry can be bad. You feel like you need to fill it, but why? If you haven't eaten the food in a year, why do you think you ever will? The same for sauces and leftovers. It's a game for us now to see how many things we can finish off. It sparks new flavor experiments. Some good, some bad. Have fun with it, but also make it part of the game to have as few leftovers as possible. Don't be wasteful.
Magazines - I blame my father for this one. He had a wall of car magazines in the basement. Stacked shelf after shelf. He enjoyed the magazines so much, he felt he had to keep them because surely he'd want to read them again some day. Even with this pre-warning, I found myself subscribed to more magazines than I could read. I couldn't just throw them away. I had to read them. I also found myself saving magazines like my father had. I now get 4 magazines, more than I want, but I look forward to them arriving and very much still enjoy reading a physical magazine, so I'm happy. Protip: If your magazine has a binding spine, you can tear out the pages you've read and recycle them right away. I started this when I'd take magazines on business trips to save weight in my carry-on bag, but now I use it all the time. I don't waste time figuring out what I have and haven't read and it feels good to be making progress in the magazine.
- Clothes and Shoes - Plenty of people have clothes clutter. My take away from this was I reached a critical mass of clothing. I've been the same size for over 15 years and had enough clothes such that hardly anything ever wore out. Is it worth keeping in your closet if you only get to wear it twice a year? I don't think it is. Try the hanger hack to figure out what to ditch. Now I focus on having fewer, but higher quality, items. Anyone have recommendations on how many shirts a male adult should own?
- Movies - I used to feel the need to own a movie that I wanted to watch more than once. With Netflix's turn around times these days and online streaming, I haven't bought a physical disc all year. Whatever I want is at most a day or two away. It isn't worth the cost and space of owning most movies.
- Dishes - Collectible cups that aren't even a full set anymore...why? Like the food, just because you have the cupboard space, it doesn't mean you have to fill it. An empty kitchen cupboard can be a great substitute for otherwise having to buy another endtable or shelf to store whatever needs storing.
Gift cards - Fake money as I like to call them. They fill our wallets and purses. They fall in value from ridiculous fees. I especially hate them because they drain me mentally. I know the value of a dollar. I can't not spend them. We have a new focus to try and spend (or regift) these as soon as we can, but at the same time, I don't want to buy things we don't need, so it is a challenge. Any ideas on getting rid of gift cards?
