Cleaning out clutter can be a tough task, especially if you have been letting it build up for a while. Instead of setting aside a huge block of time to take care of months’ or years’ worth of clutter, take baby steps by throwing away only one type of item a day. And by throwing away, I mean recycling, selling, donating, or — as the last resort — trashing. Here’s a list of 116 types of items that will take you about four months to dispose of:
- The other side of a pair of lost earrings
- Scraps of wrapping paper
- Cards people have given you with no sentimental value
- Receipts you don’t need
- Ticket stubs
- Socks with holes
- Old t-shirts
- Leftover change
- Dried flowers
- Magazines
- CDs
- Hair elastics that have lost stretchiness
- Hair accessories you don’t use
- Shoes that don’t fit or that you don’t wear
- Extra photo prints
- Little knickknacks (designate a bowl and fill it)
- Kitchen things you don’t use
- Cooking utensils you have two of
- Tired bras
- Scarves you never wear
- Clothes that don’t fit
- Gifts you don’t like
- Old towels
- Old makeup
- Old toiletries
- Old or unused hangers
- Expired or sample-sized toiletries
- Extra buttons
- Expired sauces
- Toys your pets don’t play with
- Expired medication
- Dried-up nail polish
- Bills you don’t need to keep
- Expired coupons
- Old paperwork
- DVDs you don’t watch
- Snacks your pets don’t eat
- Damaged clothing you can’t mend
- Stained clothing you can’t clean
- Old prom dresses
- Scratched nonstick cookware
- Old underwear or swimwear that’s losing its stretch
- Outdated electronics
- Rusty jewelry
- Stockings with runs
- Pens that don’t work
- Clothing you’ve outgrown
- Necklaces and bracelets with broken clasps
- Cables and wires you don’t use
- Worn-out sheets and bedding
- Empty or near-empty bottles of cleaning products
- Old mending buttons for clothing you no longer have
- Worn-out bath mats
- Broken electronics
- Purses you never use
- Flatware, plates, and glasses that don’t match the rest of your collection, plus dingy children’s plates you no longer use
- Old pillows
- Worn-out shoes
- Wedding invites
- Save-the-dates
- Wedding favors you don’t use
- Old wallets that you don’t use
- Broken kitchen equipment
- Spare furniture parts you don’t need
- Furniture manuals
- Boxes
- Unused vases
- Extra tupperware you don’t need
- Old mail
- Junk mail
- Travel brochures
- Bobby pins
- Old crayons or art supplies, plus markers that have run out of ink
- Random containers and jars
- Unused stationery, stickers, and sticky notes
- Ripped denim
- Old artwork or old children’s artwork
- Used and ripped envelopes
- Broken or old iPhone cases
- Old unused batteries
- Extra and unused coffee mugs
- Old spices
- Address labels for your old house
- Wrinkled ribbon and bows for gift wrap
- Cards or gifts from exes
- Frequent shopper cards you never use
- Matchbooks
- Old shopping bags
- Old calendars
- Old folders
- Magnets
- Clothes that are outdated or from college
- Broken Christmas decorations
- Christmas lights that don’t work
- Frayed towels
- Expired food
- Computer cords, firewire cord, etc. that you don’t use
- Old and outdated software
- CDs for old computer programs
- Old cell phones
- Hand-me-downs that you’re guilt-tripped into keeping
- Freebie or promotional t-shirts you never wear
- Old fortune cookie fortunes
- Old bank statements
- Old planners
- Delete email subscriptions from sites
- Delete emails you don’t need
- Delete unwanted music from your iTunes
- Extra buttons that come with newly purchased clothes
- Games that are missing pieces
- Old schoolbooks you’ll never use again
- Papers you have backed up on the computer
- Books you’ve already read and don’t want to display
- Cell phone covers you’re over
- Old manuals to electronics
- Cell phone accessories you don’t use anymore
-Source popsugar.com