I made this decision a long time ago and have never regretted it.
Almost never.
There may have been a few times when I thought about regretting it, but then didn’t.
Don’t worry! I’m NOT talking about gift bags. Of course I keep and re-use those!!
I’m talking about the tissue in gift bags.
I used to keep it. I couldn’t imagine not keeping it. But then, I started to notice that every time I re-used tissue, I spent way too much time looking for the least wrinkled, least obviously used pieces.
I also noticed how much I sneezed.
The sneezing sealed the deal for me. As someone who fails to retain her natural beauty when she has an allergy attack, I try to stay away from things that are guaranteed allergy triggers.
Yes, there have been a few times when I had to pilfer a sheet of tissue from a friend’s overly-tissued gift at a party. (With her permission, of course!) But generally, I’ve never missed having stacks of carefully-folded-but-still-unavoidably-wrinkly paper.
I try to buy the large packages of white tissue whenever I need/remember to buy some, and white goes with almost any color bag.
What do you NOT keep?
Here are some other pre-made “don’t keep” decisions that make my life better (and my house less cluttered)!
Used Gift Cards, Holey Socks, Freebie Cups
My newest book, Decluttering at the Speed of Life wherever books are sold!
--Nony
I rarely keep birthday cards I receive. I have some from the kids and my husband, but not all of them. It’s hard to remember what I don’t keep since I don’t see it around and I’m in the habit of tossing it! 🙂
I’ve been purging lately and found the St. Judes charity that uses card fronts of all kinds for crafts with sick kids. This charity made it much easier for me to part with cards. Address:
St. Judes Ranch for Children
Recycled Card Program
100 St. Judes St.
Boulder City NV 89005
Thanks so much for this info, Laura!!!
Thanks Laura… this great cause will make me get rid of all the cards I’ve kept for “sentimental” reasons. I checked out their website and there are a few do’s & don’ts
https://stjudesranch.org/about-us/recycled-card-program/
Yes, thank you for this information! I will start collecting as the season goes along.
I live in Boulder City , NV and I forgot that St, Jude’s uses the cards. It is a wonderful place that helps youths in all types of situations. Thank you for the reminder and since my daughter is decluttering I will tell her also!
Thanks so much for sharing this! I think that is fantastic!
Thanks Laura. This is such a good idea.
Thank you so much. I just went through my Christmas cards and will send them to St. Jude’s Ranch for children.
Love this!!!
Thank you thank you thank you. I have a box full. Finding a worthy cause makes it so much easier to pass these on!
Thank you for the address. Happy to send my collection off instead of throwing away.
This is a great way to recycle old cards that goes to a great cause, but they don’t accept Hallmark, Disney, or American Greetings cards, which unfortunately rules out most cards… 🙁
Also, for Christmas card covers–Adult Day Programs take ALL holiday card covers as well as BLANK holiday cards and BLANK birthday cards. Card & Board Games that you want to discard including decks of 52 cards or send to charities, items for BINGO prizes. The Activities Director will appreciate it bigtime!
I wish I could let go of cards.
I scan them and then get rid of them! They are soo prety but the just stay on my thumb drive! It also reminds me of high school before cell phones came along and we nust to write letters to each other between classes.
I don’t keep that stuff either. I also don’t keep happy meal toys, empty boxes . . . hmmm . . . Like Carrie said, I can’t think of anything else because I can’t remember and I’m pretty good about tossing stuff. Now I’ll probably start paying attention, though.
i quit buying wrapping paper a few years ago. Now I go into my quilting stash and wrap with the Christmas fabric…then it goes back into the stash.
You might be interested in this article and project. I found it really inspiring and the stories that have come out of people making their own fabric gift wrap to keep or pass on to loved ones have been lovely.
http://needleandspindle.com/?p=2487
Great idea!
This past Christmas I bought a handful of pillow cases from a local thrift store. Worked great for soft gifts especially and I just tied them up with a little ribbon. I can use them a bunch of times!
I know somebody who not only keeps the tissue, but irons it, and then folds it carefully into plastic bags by color.
I could never… not ever….
Oh dear. She must have a lot of time on her hands.
I only keep tissue paper that’s unique. My daughter has a knack for finding such paper. I fold it for storage. When I want to use it I do press the wrinkles out with a warm iron. Works like a charm. It can be time consuming but worth it versus shopping for the perfect paper.
When I wash windows I dry w/ tissue paper! No lint !!
Believe it or not, random pens. I bought a box of the kind I really like about 2 years ago and use those. You would think they all disappear, but I still have at least 5 of the 12 left…
I was just thinking about doing this. I have so many pens I don’t pick up to use cause they are just Meh. But I love sharpie pens and was like maybe I just order a big box of them from amazon and donate/junk the rest. Great idea!
i also try to keep only necessary pens, but I happen to know that nurses (especially in nursing homes) always need them so my extras go to the nursing home staff I visit.
please donate your pens to school secretaries! I go through mine about every three months (picked up at conferences) make sure they write and take them to school. They can NOT keep them around
Schools are a great place to take pens/pencils you won’t use since students always “forget” them! They will also gladly take old magazines for projects.
You can also donate working pens and pencils to charities that help children in third world countries get an education such as “Pens for Kids” or “Pencils for Kids” OR find a pen recycling program in your area instead of just tossing them out! ☺
You have inspired me to clear out all the random pens in the house,and only keep the ones I love! Have just dumped nearly 70!!! I am now looking for something else to purge!
The napkins and plastic utensils from when we order take out. I have good quality plastic and don’t want the flimsy stuff taking up room. Ditto with the napkins. As for tissue paper I buy one multi colored stack from target about once a year and use these nice shiny white bags most of the time. I do reuse gift bags if they are nice. Otherwise they are what I put mu to be donated stuff in.
I am a natural born recycler … & hate to see pretty things just being tossed out. If there’s a way of using them, I will. I guess it comes from the generation where we had a kitchen drawers for string, brown paper packets, and rubber bands. The sturdier paper grocery bags were always used for trash in the days before plastic bags. Come to think of it, I don’t know when I last saw a plain brown paper bag or a piece of string. lol I even still have my first high school atlas that is covered in brown paper, with a pretty picture cut from a Christmas card … & then covered with clear plastic. That is now 50 years old & is as good condition as when I first got it … except for browned page edges, but that’s just from age. Yes, I still use it too! 🙂
I like to save the plastic cutlery from take-aways for mixing up polyfiller or putty, etc. when I’m filling nail holes in the walls, or in wood after nailing, etc. There are always things that I can use these for, and save using my eating utensils. I also use the plastic bowls as they are handy when I just want to mix up small amounts. They are also handy in the garden … measuring fertilizer, stirring up liquid fertilizer. I also use empty plastic water bottles for watering my indoor plants as they don’t poor too fast but are big enough to water all those small indoor plants. So, I suggest keeping all those things, to a degree … but putting them in the garage with the tools & painting materials.
I also like to save the tissue paper as it’s pretty just scrunched up inside the top of the gift bags … It just fills them nicely so that the gift is still hidden when given.
There are so many pretty cards out there that I hate tossing them out,. Our Post Office used to have a special bin where they collected all the Christmas cards & recycled them. I also used to save them for my sons kindy & pre-school. However, they can also be cut into pretty squares or circles, etc. & used as gift tags on your gift bags … that way you don’t have to just toss out all those pretty cards, but get to enjoy them again when giving … just punch a hole in the corner & tie a ribbon through them.
Cards also come in handy for bookmarks. I regularly have a few books on the go at once, so it’s great to have a supply of book-marks to just go to, without tearing a piece of paper from a pad. I also like to give books as gifts … & wouldn’t dream of giving a book without a book-mark. It’s also sweet to add a little bow at the top of the bookmark from all those ribbons from parcels.
I also save certain sized boxes. They come in handy for storage, esp. if I just cover them with some of the pretty gift wrapping I receive on presents. Just use a light spray of glue & cover the box. Pre-cut to the shape & size you want …. & you could even use the cards for writing labels on the boxes.
My mother died 2 years ago. We don’t know what we could have accidentally thrown away of value since we had to pitch 2 homes crammed full of carefully folded bread bags, millions of oatmeal cans, years of newspaper, every promotion from every fast food restaurant still in it’s wrapper, every card/letter anyone sent her from the 70’s until the present, the list could go on and on…….the amount of stuff was overwhelming….she hid her valuables some was found, some wasn’t. If the things waiting to be reused take up more than one cabinet or closet, do your family a favor and clear it out before they have to.
This is such a great comment. Thank you, Cherry!
What Cherry said. I’ve had to go through this as well. There’s no telling what of value was lost in the process both financially and of sentimental value. A two story farmhouse with an attic, a storage building and a large garage. All crammed full. Bank statements and tax returns going back to the 50s! Newspapers, magazines, telephone directories. The list is endless and so was all that stuff.
Do your children a big favor and donate those pretty things you don’t want to go to waste to a school. Let the children enjoy them.
What Cherry said. I’ve had to go through this as well. There’s no telling what of value was lost in the process both financially and of sentimental value. A two story farmhouse with an attic, a storage building and a large garage. All crammed full. Bank statements and tax returns going back to the 50s! Newspapers, magazines, telephone directories. The list is endless and so was all that stuff.
Do your children a big favor and donate those pretty things you don’t want to go to waste to a school. Let the children enjoy them.
We went through the same thing with my dad. It all happened the same time we were moving across the country. We literally threw everything on an 18 wheeler I could not physically go through and throw out fast enough and had to do it when we arrived at the new home. The amount of money ($100,000) or more that my father spent keeping his “things” was so not worth it. We made about $3000 on the stuff we didnt keep, thinking about the thousands he could have had extra was so sad. We are still (5 years later) dealing with his “stuff”. Now i have 2 boxes left i need to part with but they are hard so i give myself a little break on those..considering i had an 18 wheeler full, 2 boxes is nothing.
I love your recycling ideas.
I recycle business magnets as I love to cover my fridge with magnets. Cutting out a pretty color or picture from a magazine, I tape the picture to the magnet’s front. Voila, pretty magnet.
Another crafty thing I enjoy is to cut out pictures from magazines and place them in the coasters that have a clear “glass or plastic” top in order to display gorgeous colors, etc.
Carolyn, I like those ideas. I had recycled business magnets once to make my own holiday magnets, but I especially like the coaster idea. I love certain texture and prints and colors that I find in catalogs and magazines AND I love to change those same things out in my home for each season. Such a great idea to combine the two for extra yet less cluttered decor!
I lost my son last year and had kept cards he gave me (he was so good at picking out the perfect card) I went through them and picked out the best ones,were he actually wrote something in them. I knew these were from his heart. I put a few in picture frames. The best are the ones he made in school as a little boy.. I have these in each bedroom. People that visit and stay overnight New how special he was and it always bring good memories of him for them.
I LOVE this idea. We lost my nephew almost 2 years ago, and I think framing his artwork would be a wonderful thing for my brother and his wife to do. So sorry for your loss.
Wendy, I also remember when we used brown paper bags for our trash and garbage because there were no plastic bags. Also when I would get home from school my Mom would make me take off my dress and hang it to be worn one more time before washing and ironing. Can you imagine how this would help our environment today!
When you order takeout, let them know that you don’t need all the accessories. No plastic cutlery, napkins or condiment packages. Much less waste generated and nothing to possibly ‘keep for later’.
Plastic silverware. I do not have room in my life to store something so cheap and so rarely used.
Pencils that have lost their erasers. I know this is such a small thing and I had to think really hard. But yes, I actually used to keep pencils that had no erasers with the mentality that I could use the pencil as long as I didn’t make any mistakes.
Foolish. And pencils are what….12 for a $1 or less. Insane I tell you.
But a lot of other stuff I keep. Like tissue paper. So I better get to trashing then um…yeah…TRASH!
I’m a teacher, so I always keep these. There are always students who lose their pencils. I hope everyone donates a lot of this stuff to schools!
I am so glad you posted about the schools!! Many schools can use almost EVERYTHING someone wants to get rid of. I donate any “craft related” item to our art department. broken crayons, old wrapping paper, used tissue paper, old cards, yarn, beads, any left over “craft kit gift” stuff that didn’t get used and somethings household items that can’t be sold or i think is to icky to donate to church, I will take to the art department and it can be used for still life drawings.
our school also has a family resource center that often needs EVERYTHING! clothes, underwear, combs, soap, lotion, shampoo, notebooks, pencils, backpacks, shoes, happy meal toys, whatever. She even takes household items to use in the “Christmas Shoppe” for students to come and shop for a gift for their mom or dad or such, who otherwise wouldn’t have a way of giving a gift to someone they love.
Donating to school is the easiest way for me personally to declutter. I don’t have to make any special trips. I keep a wal mart or grocery sack by the backdoor. once it is filled, i stick it in the backpack of one of the girls and tell them to take it to mrs. robin at school!! And its GONE!!!! Its fabulous!! AND I know that what i am sending will actually be used. In some capacity or another!!! WOOT!!
Love the idea of the school store for ‘buying’ gifts…
I purchase the erasers that fit on the end of pencils and keep using them.
Before I donate eraser-less pencils, I find a pack of eraser tips and put them together and then donate…
I know most teachers if not all teachers don’t want them so who do you donate eraser-less pencils too?
I don’t know if that makes sense for us. In our parts eraser caps as 12 for $1 and a box of pencils are 12 for $1 so its the same price to just buy new pencils. Do you have a cheaper place to buy pencil caps or are our pencils cheaper here?
On the other hand, buying the eraser caps keeps the pencils out of the landfill. They still work, so you might as well use them.
Donate them without erasers. When students are taking standardized test many of the bubble sheets do not allow erasing. We are always looking for eraser free pencils for testing.
Condiment packages from drive-thru restaurants, “free gifts” that stores/doctors/door-to-door salesmen/etc try to give out to customers (I firmly say no to these at the source if I can but sometimes they mail them to my house), birthday or holiday cards that simply have a signature from the giver with no other handwritten sentiment, pens and pencils and anything else that doesn’t work, dead batteries, keys that fit no lock we own, broken anything, torn clothing/towels/bedding that can’t be mended easily and well, half of a pair that doesn’t function on its own – this means you lonely mitten or earring, shipping boxes, and anything that was given to us that is cheap or ugly or easily broken like kids meal toys or party favor type items.
Even though I recycle shipping boxes I do inexplicably tend to hang on to the plastic air-filled pockets that amazon uses. They are always in my way – I should toss them!
I admit it, I got an extra hole pierced in one ear so I could wear lonely earrings. It definitely wasn’t because I chickened out halfway through getting a second hole in BOTH ears. 😉
Oh my word, this is AWESOMENESS!!!! For real! I LOVE it!!!
That was the reason we all got a third piercing in the 70’s for those single lost earrings!!!
Laughing at the condiment packets b/c one thing my husband wanted for Christmas was packets to keep in his desk at lunch and darned if i could find them.. unless i wanted restaurant quantities (think HUNDREDS)… we save up the catsup ones for that purpose. But alas, we never found the mustard, or the salad dressing…
hahaha when you go inside the gas stations they always have some, just buy yourself a hot dog 🙂 my grandma used to keep them and when we would go through a drive thru she would holler out, throw condiments in the bag. She would go home lay them out on the table take what she wanted and the rest she took to her friends at church. I would ask,” what are you doing with those?” She would throw them in grandpas lunch box for work. If his friends at work needed something they knew where to look.
It is also good to keep a few in a container in your own fridge for those times when you run out. I grab a couple of extra over plastic ware, napkins, and condiments when I get fast food so I can have them for my desk at work.
At the Walmart deli they have mustard and mayo packs 1 I get them to put in my husbands lunch!
Hi! Minimums.biz has all kinds of individual packets of almost anything you can think of.
I like to cut torn t-shirts into squares to use for dusting, oiling wood furniture, etc.
I find air-filled plastic packaging annoying and enjoy jabbing it with a knife to liberate the air. They then fold down to a very manageable size and are ready for the recycle bin.
I let my daughter and her friends stomp them and make lots of noise. They love it! Then I can throw it out.
One of my cats likes them. Currently I’m saving a few to put in the bottom of a large flower pot that I intend to put on the deck next summer. To save on potting soil and weight. Just recently read about that one.
Stomp on them, then toss them. It’s great for stress relief! Haha.
When I was in high school I had some spare tiny keys, like diary type keys. I was a pack rat, worse than I am now, and didn’t want to just throw them away. I had some stud style earrings and got an idea to wear the keys on my ears with the studs holding them on. People complimented me on my creativity.
There are other ways to incorporate odd keys into jewelry but they require a skill level greater than “earring post A goes into key hole B”.
Cut the air filled packing plastic and recycle it with your plastic grocery bags.
Cardboard boxes…..I used to save them “just in case”. Now, they just go in the garbage can.
Recycle, don’t trash. Save the planet. : )
Have you considered that I may not have recycling capabilities? Also, I think it’s best to remember that we have to do what works for EACH of us. I believe Nony has taught us that much.
That’s so true, Erika! Our recycling service recently stopped in our town, and it has thrown everyone for a loop!
Cards were always hard for me to throw away – and I mean even Christmas cards from people I barely knew. Not anymore though. Still working on the ones for birthdays, especially the ones that were also from my dad.
I did have to laugh about the boxes comment because I have a bag of boxes on the bookshelves in my office. Cracker, cereal, granola bars, you name it and it’s broken down and stacked in that bag – and I start saving them around October. Why? For wrapping Christmas gifts. I just hate using nothing but shirt boxes for under the tree, so I add variety by saving empty food boxes. Of course, whatever isn’t used by Christmas morning is in the trash, but for a couple of months every year, I ‘hoard’ them. 🙂
That is a genius idea.
Love the box idea! I do it too… it’s like a game, fitting random things into random boxes. I’ll put one sock in one box, mate in another. Big pile under the tree.
Good idea about the boxes!
I’m not very sentimental, but I do keep cards from hubby and my daughter. Other ideas to dispose of used greeting cards:
Donate somewhere. I have a handicapped relative who lives in a group home. They take used greeting cards, cut off the pictures and make new cards that they send to family throughout the year.
Turn them into itty, bitty boxes. Great for jewelry gifts or to put under a miniature Christmas tree. Tutorial here http://www.kid-at-art.com/htdoc/lesson16.html
Pass the pens, which I seem to collect in abundance somehow, along to doctors’ offices or front desk at a school. They always seem to be trying to keep people from walking away with their pens.
Y’all are all gonna laugh. I collect pens. I gave over ten totes of different pens. I am also a teacher and gave never let my students use my pens. This year I decided to let loose and said go grab a pen so we can edit your paper together. My whole class went silent. I found like seeing them being used so now I still have a few sacred ones but have slowly released them to be loved by others. #confessionsofacrazypenteacher
Can you scan the cards from your dad, or atleast take a cell phone photo of it? Then you’ll have a digital image and not lose the memory. ♡
My mom cuts the printed pictures off of christmas cards that she receives and uses them to make her own gift tags for presents.
Great idea!
Choose three of the most sentimental cards and have them framed so you can display them as a group each year. A beautiful Christmas decoration to treasure.
I read that and just had to say, I married into a family that uses Cereal boxes to stuff Christmas presents into for easier wrapping. I had no idea. First family Christmas party and I got a box of Frosted Flakes. SO confused. They all laughed when I thanked them for the cereal.
Tabby, that reminds me of when my parents were young newlywed and my dad was stationed on a ship out to sea (he was in the Navy). In January my mom received a letter from my dad thanking her for the smoke detector she sent him for Christmas. Mom laughed and wrote back to him that in her family they know not to trust the box your Christmas present was sent in and he should open it. Mom had packed some special cookie and candy inside for him! And used popcorn for the packing material.
lol….we also do this in our family.Its always exciting wondering what it actually is. Its also entertaining when you use a box & it doesn’t match the person who receives it, i.e. adult male=feminine product box;)
I am famous among my family and friends for recycling food boxes to wrap gifts. It started one year when I was short of cash and made dipped cookies for everyone at Christmas. I couldn’t think of any way to pack them without breaking, then realized they would fit perfectly in Pringles cans. The look on everyone’s faces was priceless when they all thought they had received a n of potato chips.
cards, gift bags (unless they are perfect and generic holiday), tissue paper or gift boxes even the one with lid and bottom wrapped separately (I give those back to my aunt or mom for them to store reuse). otherwise I recycle them all.
I will save large (1 meter sq or larger) untorn wrapping paper. I save brown packing paper from Amazon and reuse as wrapping paper.
Unfortunately i had to give up recycling. The rental we live in doesn’t have pickup and there’s no general drop off in my town except for pop cans (we don’t drink soda if i can help it). For the longest time I had this huge bin in the middle of my kitchen with recycling spewing out of it and every couple months I’d bag it all up and drive it up to my mom when I visited. But by that time I had plastic jugs and jars all over the house and paper everywhere. So for now I’m giving up on being green to save my house and sanity.
I notice a lot of people have said cards were a problem for them. Just in case it helps: for my wedding and bridal shower I knew I wanted to keep my cards but I wouldn’t look at them in a box. So I punched holes in the spines of all of them and tied them into a “book” with ribbon. Its so much easier to enjoy them and I can keep them upright on my shelf where they take up almost no space 🙂 definitely a worth while project if cards are one of those sentimental things you want to keep
That is a great idea, Ti!!! Would you mind sending me a picture and I can share the idea here on the blog? (Or if you have a blog, I’ll link to a post of yours about it!)
Your post makes me think that I should go through our cards from our wedding over 18 years ago. I bet I don’t need to keep all of them. Actually, I think I will make a note on my online calendar to peruse them this upcoming anniversary. We’ll enjoy the sentiments and then decide if we want to keep or have them available in another form like you suggest.
I used the cards I got when I became a grandmother to frame the baby’s pictures in my photo album. They made perfect frames . I cut off the signature and glued it to a corner, as well. Now when people look at my album, they can see their cards being used and sentiments preserved.
I did the same thing starting with my daughter, who is 33 yrs old. I punched a hole in all cards ando tied with a pink ribbon. Did the same with both my boys using a blue ribbon
Along this line, our kid’s third grade teacher provided a round click style key ring to all the students on Valentines Day. He had them punch a hole in the valentines and keep them together on the ring. Brilliant idea.
That is a great idea. When I moved out of my house of 30 years, I held onto my cards. Great idea to manage them
I hardly ever keep greeting cards. If it isn’t from my husband or children, I never keep birthday cards. If the Christmas card doesn’t have a photo of the sender, I throw it out after the holiday. Even with a photo, it’s inly safe a year or two. This is the reason I never give birthday or Christmas cards either.
My mom cuts the pictures out of picture christmas cards and makes a collage out of them. We hang it on the freezer in our utility room. We make a new collage every year and trash the old one.
Happy meal toys and my kids’ homework (marked, though). I’m mean.
I’m mean too!! I say, “Great job! Now go throw it away!”
Sunday School crafts.
Happy Meal toys.
Most of the kids’ artwork — a few pieces get hung, or scanned before tossing.
Condiments from takeout.
Used gift tissue 🙂
I just got brave and made myself *stop* saving vegetable scraps for the compost bins. We haven’t gardened for two years, and I already have two big bins of finished compost… I think I can do without saving more potato peels for a while! But oh! the guilt of that is still with me!
Perhaps there are gardeners in your area who would love to come and pick up your compost. Save you the guilt.
Would love that compost
I freeze vegetable scraps. Makes the best stock!
I have tried getting rid of stuff and my kids freak out that I am disposing something they made for me with love. This summer I plan to go through what I have and borrow an idea I read somewhere else…..take photos to create a photobook with all their creations : )
Outgrown items. I use to save everything for the garage sale that never happened and before I knew it, I was hording clothes, shoes and coats that no one could use! Now I have the kids sort their own clothes, shoes and coats and bag them up (I don’t even look – why keep what they hate) and post on Facebook for free. Friends always snatch them up right away and they get tons of use out of the items just collecting dust at my house. Now THAT makes me happy and frees up tons of closet space 🙂
I don’t keep used gift bags. They get wrinkled and mis-shapen, and that drives me crazy. I like things crisp and fresh. I have several rolls of wrapping paper I got on clearance for $.25 each and I always seem to have a freshly emptied box to wrap a gift in. The rolls fit easily under my bed. I do keep some used tissue paper. I use it to make envelopes for handmade cards. Maybe I’ll post a blog about it after Christmas.
Christmas cards. Last year’s get tossed out when we get the tree stuff out the following year. The only exception are cards from elderly grandmas, especially if they wrote a note. All others hit the recycle bin. I also toss most birthday and other occasion cards as well.
I now throw my kids socks even if they still fit if they are suppose to be white and are now a sad grey. Socks are so cheap over here it would just be wrong! Also if I can’t get a stain out of there clothes I’d save it for them to just wear around the house. But when eBay.uk sells kids t-shirts without stains for 99p it’s just wrong. Feels good knowing I can be proud of my kids no matter when they get spotted!
I have used last years cards for the decor in my house (punch a hole in the corner and hang them with ribbon… but then they leave…
I try not to keep random papers anymore. I’ve also decided to let my magazine subscriptions run out this year. This will same me time (reading), money, and less clutter sitting around my house. I’m getting there…slowly!
As a craft mixed media artist, I have tubs dedicated to my hoarding…My daughter also loves to create trashion fashion and so extra packing, boxes, bubblewrap, tissue, brochures, TP rolls, used envelopes, greeting cards, cans, bottles, old clothing…all gets filed into to its respective box to be used on future projects. We containerize it so it does not become a large pile of junk and upcycle it into something fun and useful. Journals, ornaments, holiday decor, art projects, sewing projects, mixed media art …it’s a good thing.
and into clothes…I forgot the clothes that are made out of these items too! 🙂
I don’t keep envelopes. The moment I get the mail, I’m able to reduce the size of the stack by at least half, just by recycling all the envelopes immediately.
I keep packaging envelopes, because those are quickly reused for paperback swap. I keep them with the shelves of books that I have available to swap.
Keep the mailing envelopes esp. padded ones if you sell on Ebay and such… Saves a lot of money. And they leave almost as fast as they come in!
I really am catching on to your idea of pre-made decisions. I’m going to add used tissue paper to my growing list :)! I think I need to put a limit on the gift bags I keep as well, though. Thanks for always inspiring!
If it helps, you might pick one medium gift bag to hold the gift bags you want to keep. It becomes the container. You can keep more than can fit in the bag. I have one for birthdays/generic and one for Christmas gift bags.
Another limit within the limit – love it! Thanks, Carrie!
You are welcome. If you want to take it a step further, use another bag to hold the limit on any bows, ribbon or um…tissue paper!
This is what I do too. Works well.
Packaging from new products of value gets stored for a limited time (in case we need to return an item) and then get pitched. I try to do so within a month or two (short term warranties vary in length).
Underwear and socks with holes. (At this point we can afford not to wear them!)
At the end of next year we also will have 7 boxes of receipts, etc. I intend then to start emptying the oldest box each new year and recycling it for the new year’s receipts. Hopefully, this will mean we don’t stockpile years of receipts like someone I know did before we got married. 😉
I admit that I do keep used tissue paper up to a point to reuse if I can. But, I also use bits for stabilizer in sewing sometimes. It tears away easily and what doesn’t will wash out in the laundry later. 🙂 However, I like your idea of just buying a large package of white and discarding it after use. I could even use a fresh piece for the bits I need for sewing. Hmmm. I’ll try not to buy it till I need it, though. 😀
Good plan on the receipts, but seven years? Could you reduce even further? I was keeping ours for about a year at a time. I now only have three months worth, and each month I shred the oldest month. If I see one as I’m shredding that needs to be kept longer (for warranty) then I do keep it with the owners manual.
I’m betting they are tax receipts. I do the same thing….7 years is the max the IRS would normally look back.
Maybe you could scan them.
We probably could scan them, but we don’t have a scanner and it would be time consuming from my perspective. I can’t even keep up with the spread sheet he started for me which is even simpler to use than a scanner. 🙂 hehe
But it just dawned on me that I could photograph short ones with my phone and send them to my computer! Now that’s a possibility! Wonder if I could remember? 🙂
Yep, my husband wants the receipts kept for tax purposes and reference. I don’t know if they all need to be kept or not, but that’s what he wants and so far they only amount to one shoe box full per year, which isn’t much compared to some of the other junk we have stored. (I’m working on the garage pile, by the way. I’ve made quite a lot of progress!) 🙂
I keep most receipts until the end of the year. Then I go through keeping the tax related items and warranty items which go with the manuals. I used to keep all tax return. 3 years is usually good unless there are issued, then 7 is better, if they suspect fraud forever. I scanned all the ones past 5 years and kept the rest.
IRS can audit for up to 7 years so that is a good idea. My father traveled for business and stapled/paperclipped his receipts + mileage and so on to each calendar day so that at the end of the year he had all the info plus a file of bills paid by month for his accountant.
Before he died an unscrupulous stockbroker weaseled $25,000 out of his account without him realizing it was happening. I engaged an attorney (I had power of attorney and was on his accts.) and the week before Daddy died, it came down to proving the source of funds for the purchase of the underlying security. Because I had all his cancelled checks for 35 years, labelled in the check boxes they came in, I was able to find it and recovered the money. It was one of the last things I did for him and to be able to tell him that meant the world to both of us. The checks took up 2 file drawers. Don’t be too hasty throwing out receipts, checks and other records because they can be important many years later.
Great idea! This is one area that it is great to save “too much”. I work at a credit union and have often had requests for copies of cancelled checks and such. Sometimes we can provide them but there have been several instances when we can’t (company converts check to ACH, too many years back, etc.) If someone travels for work or if they own a business its a good idea to save receipts, checks, and other records especially with as easy as it is to scan in documents and save digital copies.
I recently decluttered 10yrs worth of saved paperwork. Bills, reciepts, etc. I ended up with an entire trashcan full of stuff that has to be burned. I decided not to save it anymore after an article I read! I am all about less clutter in my home all the time. Now my garage is full of baby clothes that I almost sold, but was informed not to sell yet as we may need them soon! Paper & beauty products have always been my biggest source of clutter. As a beautician I never feel I have enough product!
When I retired this past summer I shredded 20 years and 9 huge hefty bags of paper. It took a month! No more!!!
I did the same thing when I retired.
my oldest daughter just started preschool this year. for two months straight, she brought home at least two art projects EVERY DAY. i finally had to say enough is enough and dump them all. i only kept one really nice leaf print that i intend to frame, that my son did one just like it. i couldn’t even bring myself to take pictures of the ones i tossed bc one of my major clutter issues is pictures.
I need someone to tell me that I shouldn’t keep magazines. They are taking over my home.
Don’t keep magazines. Did that help?
I agree, you don’t need to keep magazines. My guess is you think there is valuable information in there that you can’t find anywhere else. But now many recipes can be found online, even on the magazines own website. The tips for vacations, fitness, beauty and organization are repeated over and over in those magazines and guess what? It is all online too!
Recycle all but the current issue of each subscription! You can do it.
Many Thrift stores have a section, selling “recent” magazines—DONATE them
I used to feel like I needed to keep magazines for that one piece of info….but you know what? Now I throw them away (or recycle) and NOT ONCE have I ever regretted it!
I try to view them now as for entertainment purposes only – something to be read in a cozy chair, with a nice beverage, and then tossed.
I don’t keep them. I take them to read in waiting rooms (I’m at my son’s speech therapy every week), then leave them there for someone else to enjoy.
Don’t keep the magazines LOL! i feel ya. I have a stack of “Christmas magazines” from years gone by. My husband made me take them out of the Christmas closet and go thru them.. to see if i will make anything. I didn’t. I still might keep them- or go thru and halve them. I stopped subscriptions too. Martha Stewart.. Real Simple…REALLLY? i don’t think i will ever be that so.. gone they went… (I had a harder time w/ the food ones…) I have tons of catalogs that i wonder if i will look thru but still trying hard to toss toss toss…
Magazines to nursing hospitals/homes or donate to kids classes. I have a pair of scissors, accordion file and a recycle can next to my magazine stack! Easy to tear out articles or recipes… and file them for later -better filing or read and toss!
I do the same thing. What I do now is keep the whole year and give away “set” to public library
You can often get a digital subscription.
This week I saw a commercial on TV by a toilet paper maker. (Commercial so interesting, I don’t remember what company!) In it they introduce their new toilet paper that has NO CARDBOARD ROLLER! They show an endless flood of cardboard rollers coming at you down the street of a large city with skyscrapers in the background. They proposed to save humanity from this flood!
I had mixed emotions! I remembered when I was pre-school Sunday School coordinator for our church. I put out a plea for such stuff and paper towel and TP rollers were big in the response.
I actually visualized a cartoon for the response. “Craft Coordinator opens the SS craft closet door–and is flattened by an avalanche of cardboard rollers!”
ON THE OTHER HAND, I also thought “What are all the SS teachers going to use to make napkin rings for Mother’s Day, binoculars, rhythm band shakers, tube-people, etc.?
In the UK, we’re not allowed to use toilet rolls for crafts as they’re considered unhygienic, so into the recycling they have to go. If there’s no roll, how do they fit on the holder on the bathroom wall?
They still have the inside hole to place on the holder, just no cardboard. I LOVE them. When the roll is done, one less step..insert new roll, no garbage. Makes me feel less guilty about using my Kuerig 🙂
My mom used to resue our old Christmas cards from the prior year, and then cut out gift tags from the fronts of the old cards! Thinking about doing the same! As to just tossing them Jan 1
No kids meal toys
No shopping bags
No catalogs or magazines- we use our IPad
No clothes we no longer have the dream of fitting into again. They get sold on thread up.com or donated to our local church.
We don’t accept children’s hand-me-downs. I appreciate the thought but we just don’t have the room
Dog food goes into a beautiful glass container
No creal boxes. That gets poured into a nice airtight container
We go through the cabinets 1x every 2 months and clear out expired items
We live in a tiny 2 bedroom apartment and manage just fine
What do you use for your dog food container? You wouldn’t happen to have a link, would you?
I don’t know if this would help for a dog food container, but we bought a Kingsford charcoal keeper a few years ago at Lowes… its tall and thin and holds a 20-25lb bag of dog food.
We have 3 of these same containers for cat food in 2 places and one with cat litter!
Hi, a note regarding magazines, I donate them to my high school. They especially like any home magazine like HGTV. They use them in home ec. class for home projects. You could also check with your local homeless shelter or lighthouse to see if they would reuse them.
I love the tissue idea, I also keep it, then I never use it so, my new resolve is to toss it!
It kind of bothers me that everyone posting seems to be just throwing things away. I hope everyone means they are recycling most of this stuff and/or donating it if possible. Maybe it’s because I’m a teacher and I and my colleagues are constantly needing supplies, but also because my city has a great recycling program that makes it more cost effective to recycle than throw stuff away.
It sounds silly, but even plastic utensils are useful for me. In the staff lounge, our silverware set is always disappearing. I put our extra utensils there and they always get used for people’s lunches.
And writing utensils! We always need writing utensils–there’s always a kid who comes to class without one, and I have a stash of “found” writing implements that they are welcome to use.
Good to know–I’m big on reusing/recycling, too and I will now think of the local schools, as well.
I don’t keep tissue paper or gift bags that aren’t perfect. And I’m always surprised at birthday parties when the other moms are astonished when I answer the “do you want to keep these” question as we’re cleaning up, with a no with no hesitation.
I do keep delivery boxes from my work. Occassionally I get the kids to clean their room with boxes. We make it a game: see who can fill up the most! Also, I purge using them. I put things I am considering getting rid of in them and then store then under the carpet. After a month or so – they’re so easy to get rid of.
I do something similar with my kids homework. I look at it, day good job and tell them to put it in the box. My kids are really sentimental with all their stuff. When the box is full it goes to the carport. And eventually gets pitched. They don’t even realize what’s happening! It’s a win-win.
my work friend and I keep small shipping boxes from work. we call them “handy boxes” – then after Christmas I get rid of old fragile decoration boxes and pack them in the stronger saved ones. Our packed decorations get neater every year. And our sentimental items are safer.
Two tips… I am an obsessive paper towel user… in the kitchen and bathrooms. Keeps us pretty germ free by not sharing hand towels especially with lots of kids in the house. Yes, they are costly but I consider it worth the cost. But I always save the rolls and drop to the elementary school art teacher for projects. Toilet paper rolls too. We keep a box in the garage and when it is full we deliver it to school, And my other tip is to take photos of all school projects except ones you intend to frame or display (and even then I take pics). Each kid has an album on the computer of these keepsakes. It moves the paper right onto the recycle bin and they love reviewing thir projects on the big screen. We’ll have them forever !!!
It is so funny that you posted this because I can NEVER find my tissue paper when I need to use a gift bag and end up having to buy some. I can’t even find old used wrinkled stuff. I guess I need to organize my gift wrap stuff a little better.
This post inspired me to toss ALL of the plastic lidded containers that my husband gets from KFC. They are a nice size and shape, but the lids are very hard for me to get open, and I can’t use a rubber scraper to get out the last bits of things because the sides are fluted. When I read about someone tossing the plastic silverware they get from take-out, I thought to myself, “I never have to fuss with these horrible containers again!” and OUT they went with the recycling. Yippee!!!! He also buys lunch meat in sturdier and very useful containers that I do keep, but only as much as my drawer for them with “contain”. Thanks, Nony!
I don’t keep worksheets the kid bring home from school. When their folders come home on Friday I ooo and ahh over them and then I have trained the kids to toss them. I keep the bigger projects for memory boxes and the journals they do daily work in. However with three in elementary school we get way to many worksheets. I counted one week when it seemed like we had a lot and there were 43 of them! If that were the average and there are about 35 weeks in a school year that is over 1500 pieces of paper. I just don’t have time to deal with that and with what we do keep I don’t have any regrets!
When I was a schoolteacher I took all of the Valentine cards from my students and laminated them into the shape of a rectangle for a placemat. One side showed the front of the card, one side showed the back with their signatures. 25 years later…still have it.
For the most part we opt out of the gift giving festivities. But I gave up on raping paper long before I gave up on gift giving. Two year old boys look at a role of wrapping paper and see a sword. Being a crafter I have been the beneficiary of fabric collection purges and that fabric you love that you will never make any thing out of is perfect for presents. One christmas when wanting to make extra stocking but kept messing up, I bought crushed red velvet cut into rectangles and made draw string bags and called them santa bags.
As far as not letting stuff get in the house policy, it’s a no buying anything the first day you see it. I have to wait at least over night. This means no yard sales. If I am being good I will research extensively or at least a little. Most things I find myself purging came from a yard sale. Free clothes are usually the best and kept the longest I think because I can try them on at my convince and the bag of reject s all leave right away. My husband and I have made a goal to be “zero waste” in 2020 definitely not something most would try. But trying to shift our thinking. Looking at the realistic shelf life of a given item and what are we going to do with it when we are done: donate, recycle, re purpose, compost or land fill. I choose to not find out the sex of my baby and planned the shower before it’s birth to avoid stupid gifts. You know the stuff that is too cute to resist but you will never use. With babies changing sizes so much in the first year. And having so much gear I really really don’t want to get a new set of everything next time around. After a year that is different.
My daughter has a birthday party in the morning. I’m vowing to go through my two tubs of used gift bags, gift wrap, etc. before then. Some is MANY years old and wrinkled from being gone through for every random gift need. I’ll only keep what really looks worth keeping! Thanks for the motivation 🙂
My sister-in-law and I used to send birthday cards to each other with our message/signature on a post-it-note instead of writing in the card itself. That way we could resend the card to someone else. Now we don’t even bother doing this haha.
I save all the Christmas cards that are photos. BUT, I slap them in a big scrapbook. I’m not careful about how they go in or matching colors with other cards or the background. I just slap them in while in front of the TV. Then I leave the book on the coffee table at Christmas. I LOVE going thorough all the cards and seeing how families change and grow. I also include our family card and some cards that are extra special even if it isn’t a family card. It goes in the Christmas box and out of my sight for the year so it’s not a big deal. 🙂
Noni,
I have a couple of additions to the consumable Christmas Ideas. K-Cups which are costly but many workplaces are providing the machines and a minimal offering of beverages. The newest k-cups will not allow use of the cups you can refill and re-use.
Also, a jar of Jewelry Cleaner was a welcomed gift that replacing yearly sounds reasonable to me. Love your ideas and your followers!
I don’t keep anything that doesn’t “spark joy” and make me happy. Whether it’s fabric from my quilting stash or clothing. If I no longer love it, out it goes.
I go after Christmas and stock up on white tissue at 50% off. I keep it in the cabinet with my bage for easy access.
I keep receipts for a short time and then shred it. I am in the process of going to school and trying to get rid of “stuff” in our home. Our children are grown and married and we have closets full of stuff. My goal is to get rid of most of it, down size into a much smaller house and be debt free, after school loans are paid. I have been trying to talk my hubby into a tiny house. We decided that neither ones of us wanted to go quite so tiny, but the idea of no mortgage payment is ver appealing.
I don’t keep lids or caps. Like the lids from non-stick cooking spray, moose, hairspray, cleaners, air freshener, etc… I also don’t keep tissue paper, or happy meal or dollar store toys and every year or so I go through the stuff in my kids rooms and get rid of broken or not played with toys. My whole house is in need of a serious purge but I’m hoping to get this accomplished!
I am now 65 and I want to share with you a few things that I have learned. When planning ;your home, plan it with your “older” self in mind. Drawers in kitchens are much easier on elderly backs and easier to see into than low cabinets. Reduce your house plants to half or less. Keep the ones that flourish for you and let the others go. Get rid of carpet. Vacuum cleaners and carpet shampooers are hard on older backs and shoulders. Carpets are large cause of dust and mite allergies. Dust mops are quick, easy and light. Unload tables and shelves of do-dads and other dust collectors. Give away as gifts or donate to thrift stores. Open shelves are also dust collectors. Use display cabinets with glass doors. We spend the first half of our lives collecting “stuff” that clutters up the last half of our lives. Learn to live with less and you will have more time for living a more carefree life.
You are awesome. Approaching 62 with a huge house full of 30 years of stuff. Beginning to recycle but have a long way to go…
After Christmas I considered throwing all of mine out, but then I remembered we are moving soon so it will come in handy to wrap all of my (many) breakable items. After we move and I unpack I’ll be happy to toss it all. Hmmm…what do I not keep? Leftover food. We never, ever, ever, ever eat it. For years I would keep leftovers and nobody would eat them. Then they would be forgotten in the fridge and we all know how that turns out. It’s such a biohazard by the time you find it that you just have to throw away the container too.
p.s. I don’t mean I kept the leftovers for years! haha! It’s just something that I would do for years until I figured out we would not ever eat them!
I am very reluctant to save gift bags I receive after my daughter found a huge cockroach in an empty gift bag from her baby shower. I can buy them at the dollar store so I stock up once a year, and only buy enough for one year.
I no longer keep yogurt, cottage cheese, margarine, sour cream bowls. I used to keep them, telling myself I could send food home with company on holidays. My new frame of mind is it’s not worth cluttering up my cabinets for the rare holidays I entertain.
I keep the gift bags, as long as they can be folded up to store flat in a covered box. I got a large pack of white tissue paper this past Christmas, and store it in a translucent garment bag in a small closet. The bag reduces the amount of dust entering the folds of the tissue paper. I am sneezing much less when I package up a gift.
One of my most prized possessions is an envelope with my name on it with my grandpa’s uncertainly scrawled handwriting. It’s one of the last things he gave to me. Before his old age he had beautiful writing and engraved jewelry. I keep the latest card from my loved ones and throw the other ones out. That’s about 5 cards total.
The thing with kids artwork now is you can take a photo and keep it electronically! My granddaughter’s very first art project was too cute and my daughter wasn’t going to give it up to me so I took a pic…printed it out and framed it for myself! You can take pics of all of them and keep them all electronically and print one here and there if you wish but at least you’ve kept them w/out taking up any space!
Can also be done with cards that you just can’t throw away. I keep one from my Grandmother for my birthday, just days before her passing but also have a photo of it electronically, just in case!
I have an old shredder that only shreds in strips that I use for old wrapping paper and tissue paper then I use that to stuff my gift bags. No need to worry about it being wrinkled.
Have periodic large “throw outs” in your life. My youngest child reached 10 years – so we had an “end of childhood clear out” – we got rid of nearly all our toys, kids books (gifted to other kids), kids ornaments, bunk beds etc, then treated ourselves to a re-paint and re-carpet. It has set us up well for the next 10 years : the teenage years.
In order to engage my husband in this project (a natural hoarder), I set a deadline of completion for when *his* overseas family were coming to visit 3 months later. It was a great motivator!
After reading the comments here, I realized that though I’ve been working for weeks on my “pre-MIL’s-visit decluttering,” I’ve been using Slob Vision for two large Tupperware containers full of swag pens that I picked up while working at conventions (last one worked at – over 8 years ago!). I was totally overlooking these containers, while thinking I’d ferreted out just about every last bit of clutter! Meanwhile, I did realize that I was keeping boxes of new pens that I got for free or nearly so, thanks to back-to-school deals.
While sorting through the containers to separate out pens that no longer will write, I found random items such as a purse-size partly used container of hand sanitizer, a white-out pen (had bought another of those when I’d needed one), and a crumpled, possibly used Kleenex (ewww!).
Re comment above about saved cleaned containers such as from cottage cheese, etc.: For over a year, whenever I asked my mother why her BF wasn’t around when I would have expected her to be, my mother said BF was busy decluttering her late MIL’s home. Recently, I talked to BF. She told me that her MIL had saved probably tens of thousands of various containers as well as lots and lots of other stuff, with occasional treasure found among the trash.
Re comment above about a roach hiding in a gift bag: Due to experiences friends have told me about and also reading I’ve done, I’m very wary of this type of incident. In particular, I won’t take the boxes offered for packing my purchases at Costco. I think boxes that have held food or been near food-containing boxes are at high risk for harboring roaches.
I used to have the same need to save the tissue paper from Christmas, and felt sad to see these beautiful papers thrown out. I started saving the pretty ones and using it to lay between the layers of ornaments fro the tree. We store our ornaments in big Sterelite boxes, so the paper cushions everything and I use it to wrap fragile ornaments that go in smaller boxes. Each year some is too torn and is thrown out from the ornament box, but it’s allowed me to keep my ornaments safe and enjoy the bright tissue papers!
I also keep used tissue paper. If it’s too wrinkly to reuse (which it usually is), I use it to wrap Christmas ornaments and holiday decorations. I also use it to pad a gift so it doesn’t jostle around in the box. I also bring home bubble wrap from work which would normally be thrown away. I use it in the same way as the tissue paper. I always bring home a few boxes which my husband throws away! I brought home quite a few of varying sizes at Christmas time and used every one of them and didn’t have to hunt some down or buy any!
I dont keep a million colouring pencils for my kids anymore. I went through their textas, pencils and crayons and tossed most of it out. They do not need 10 yellow crayons….only 1. So they have one set of textas, and I find the lids stay on this way. One set of coloured pencils and one set of crayons. I put them in tins and they stay organised. They also have a tin with highlighters and sparkly gel pens.
I never know what to do with those photo cards people send out for Christmas. I feel bad for tossing them but honestly I don’t want all the clutter in the house. I don’t display them so why keep them. anyone have a good idea on what to do with these?
I have one of those wall hanging card holders. I will be displaying them on mine and then will throw. You can’t keep everything! Guess, if they are really close friends/family, you could put them in a small photo album and just replace with new. Then you always have a recent photo of them. Oooh, think I might do that now 🙂
I took all my old keys (seemingly millions!) stapled and tacked and glued them onto an old wooden wreath form with the skinny parts pointing outward, alternately spray painted areas silver and gold kind of in a sun ray pattern and hung that puppy on the front door. It’s kind of heavy, but an over the door wreath holder held it nicely anyway. So I guess I keep useless keys. And condiment packets. And plastic silverware. And brown paper bags. And old tissue paper (my crowd could care less if it’s a bit wrinkled or I’ll iron it out – used to keep the wallpaper samples that came in purses for the same reason, packaging). And every old card I’ve ever gotten. Holy smokes. If I died tomorrow my people would think I was one of those hoarder types. Wait. I am. Dang. Will start working on fixing that TOMORROW!
Regarding birthday cards. A friend once told me to display them on the stairs and take a picture of them all, then donate/throw. You have then got a photo of the cards for a reminder. I am not doing scrapbooks for my children (I have two boxes full of keepsakes, tickets, cards and many of the pictures the have drawn/things they have made at school). I have started taking a picture of everything and I am going to put them into one of those photo books. Then I can throw everything away! Cannot wait for the extra space!!
I turn my cards into gift tags. Reuse when possible! I buy tissue in bulk after holidays but will reuse some to wrap ornaments in the rest gets tossed
Sometimes it’s hard to be both frugal AND clutter-free. If I keep an assortment of used, but in good condition, tissue paper I don’t have to buy any. I ask for it after parties, etc. It doesn’t take up much space, far less than wrapping paper rolls. We aren’t very messy, I like certain areas organized, and right now, FRUGALITY definitely wins.
I’m from a family of hoarders. Thankfully not the ‘dead cat under 30 years of garbage in the living room’ type of hoarding.
Grandma had an entire drawer of twist ties, rubber bands (most would break), and so much cr*p that I couldn’t list it all here. She had fancy drawer organizers for all of this stuff. I think some of the twist ties were from as far back as the 60’s.
After cleaning up after my mom died and then later on when my grandparents died, I can say I never keep more than 2 twist ties or a rubber band in the ‘junk’ drawer. I don’t keep gift bags or the tissue paper, well I don’t get many gifts, so that isn’t an issue. When I do, I don’t keep the bags. I recycle plastic containers and never use them as Tupperware.
I recycle a lot of stuff. Having a ton of junk in the house is about as tolerable as a big pile of dog poo being left in the middle of the living room. (I know someone that actually doesn’t clean up after her dogs…)
Reading these sites and other people’s comments helps keep me motivated to not keep stuff or let things like junk mail or anything become piles. When I had TV, I’d watch those organization shows, they really got me motivated. I donated 2,000 books in one decluttering session!
Great! I love your tips. And, I agree, making the decision ahead of time is very helpful to me.
As a teacher, sewer, and a crafter, I hang on to lots of stuff. I’m looking at retiring next year and have started purging teaching materials I know I will never use again, and I’ve stopped saving everything in case I need it for school. It’s a great feeling to let some of these things go, and it inspires me to clear out more. I live in the Midwest and our basement flooded this weekend. Most of our things were off the floor or in plastic tubs, but we had to move EVERYTHING to the upstairs rooms to rip out the ruined carpet. The piles are embarrassing, and I am determined to only keep what truly matters and let the rest go. And since it’s all sitting in front of me wherever I go, it’s going to get done soon. I am so looking forward to having less stuff and more empty space. (And yes, it will be donated or recycled. )
One year my daughter sent me a gift in a bag and the next year I sent her a gift in the same bag, changed the to and from names marking out the previous. Come the following year she again used the bag, crossing out the names, etc. The bag eventually became a little worn and the next year I got it back with band aids on it. We have added duct tape, patches, etc. and have had a lot of fun with that old bag. At one point we taped another tag to the bottom of the original as we ran out of room. I counted 21 crossed out names. Want to talk about recycling? We may hold the record.
I LOVE this!!! How fun!
Dig in, De-clutter, and Give to someone in need. Many good ideas have been listed. Here are some more. The day laborers you see waiting for jobs need backpacks, blankets, towels, gently used work clothing, gloves ,socks, long underwear. Make up a bag and just hand it over. Look for a church in a low income area to donate baby/child clothing, toys, stuffed animals, BOOKS, school supplies, wrapping supplies. DVD’s and CD’s to senior centers/assisted living. set up a spot at Church to recycle adult books you have read. Food banks need food cleaning supplies, shopping bags as well as food, use your coupons and if you do not need item buy it to donate. Pet shelters often need towels. Yarn-even small scrapes, cookie tins, to a church or organization that will use it. Low income schools need art/craft supplies, books, school supplies, buy extras in August and donate. I try to think of it as getting things where they are needed more then de-cluttering. I tell friends to never throw anything away until they check with me. I give out a list of the things that I collect and get to better homes. Live near Livingston NJ? Join us 🙂
I take my mags & paperback books to the VA hospital..My husband is a vet. When we go the clinic or hospital I leave them with the volunteers who distribute them around the waiting areas..
I deliberately don’t keep jam jars! Occasionally I slip up if one is particularly attractive but it is so quickly joined by a host of others that I bitterly regret having not had the courage to get rid of it in the first place. I never really need one!
After Christmas, I pack away that year’s cards with all my wrapping stuff. The next year I cut out the fronts to make pretty and personal gift tags.
I save some of the tissue paper that I receive in gift bags. I mostly use it for wrapping breakables that I take to my favorite thrift store.
I see that some people don’t like to give gift cards as they think they are too impersonal. So what kind of gifts do they give. All of my daughters & granddaughters maintain clutter free homes, so I do not like to give them something that they think they have to keep. A gift card (I ask where they would like one from) gives them the opportunity to buy something they really want (or need) instead of having something to clutter their homes or feel guilty about getting rid of.
My husband & I are big on recycling. We only have about half a trash can of trash each week. Everything else goes to the recycling bin, the compost pile or my favorite thrift store that benefits abandoned animals, especially elderly & sick ones.
I love that and am going to implement it! I don’t keep gifts that my kids don’t love. I donate them. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the thoughtfulness of the giver, but young children receive so many gifts, and many of them just aren’t that interesting to them, or they’re redundant or too many to enjoy. And of course, clutter the home. When they’re young, the kids don’t remember a gift that didn’t interest them much from the start. I stash those gifts away and if my child doesn’t mention it for a couple weeks, I put it in the donate pile. I like that some less fortunate child can get something new. Plus, as my kids get older, I ask them to help me identify used items around the house to donate a few times per year.
Our basement flooded during an epic winter melt of 200 inches of snow along with spring rains. Everything that could absorb dampness did and it smelled like a damp, musty mess. Getting rid of everything was a lot of work and as it turns out, I haven’t missed anything. Out of sight, out of mind, and buying new holiday decorations was fun. Updating was nice.
I’m happy to find you through Pinterest today!
I’m glad you found me too! Isn’t it amazing how it’s possible to NOT miss things?
Ha! I just got real good at turning loose of “stuff” about 4 years when I found out I was pregnant with my oldest. We live in fairly small house and though we have 3 bedrooms, we have almost no closet or storage space! So the room my husband used as his closet and space had to be made into a little girls room. Hubby doesn’t turn loose of stuff easily. Only exception is if it’s being used or needed by someone else. Trashing it is not an option. So here’s what I no longer keep.
Clothes…. rule is if I haven’t worn it in year and half and won’t be wearing it in next few months …it’s gone. That would be 2 winters or 2 summers I haven’t worn it and if I decide to wear it after that, chances are it’ll be out of style or I’ve already purchased newer items making it even less likely that I will wear. This includes the hundreds of teeshirts my husband and I seem to accumulate. Since hubby’s show their wear and he can’t trash even with holes in them, I compromised. .bought a totehe keeps in his work trailer and I cut tees into rags. Great for the dirty jobs, for staining wood and I’ve used for random things like rigging a baby monitor in odd place (protected furniture too)
Socks….missing their mate….hate em! Drive me insane … so I lay them on dryer go through collecting all clothes and checking under beds and in couches. Wash and dry everything throwing all socks there on dryer. After all laundry is done, match what I can…rest are trashed or put in small container with cleaning supplies. Oh and when I trash it, I remove top couple of trash containment and place socks there then pile everything back on…WA lah …hubby never sees nor digs out ?
Magazines, jars (usually keep 2 on hand for draining grease rest go buh bye), flower vases, makeup with 1 or 2 colors left, bills (after paid) even though I pay most online and have opted out of paper billing a trillion times, they obviously are trying to help the USPS out bc they keep on a coming, happy meal toys, stuffed animals(littlemore flexible here but not by much), boxes… whew that’s a book! Sorry! I had to become very good at this very quickly… and to keep me on track, every weekend, one thing is organized and gone thru…may just be a night stand, 1 kitchen drawer or my whole laundry room but something is done almost every weekend, and keeping it going like that once you’ve done all areas, it doesn’t take long. Usually commit one hour to that and 2 times a year I do bigger tasks like closets and under beds
I’m just getting this concept that there should be whole categories of stuff that just gets tossed. I used to save all the plasticware we’d get from takeout but we never use it. Keeping it feels like punishing myself for not remembering to ask for the servers to not put it in my bag. Out it goes.
I know this may make you rethink your decision to throw away gift tissue paper buuutttt……it irons beautifully…. Seriously….your welcome…sorry.
One thing I won’t keep anymore is anything that requires ironing – clothes, tissue paper, or anything else. And I got rid of the iron and ironing board, too!
I also decided to start tossing birthday and christmas cards. I keep Christmas cards taped to the wall unless the first or second week of January and then in the recycling they go! I OCCASIONALLY keep really pretty ones that I intend to maybe possibly frame one day…..
Birthday cards stick around for a few weeks and then toss.
I take the plastic silverware & condiments to work. All it takes is one potluck & it mostly all gets used. I’ve been trying to purge lately. I find it’s easier to let go if I give it to someone else who can use it. Old towels& blankets are needed at animal shelters. Nursing homes are good to take magazines & comfortable clothes. I enjoy finding alternate uses for things but realize I need to draw the line. I had a magazine I got from my grandmother from the 70’s. It had Travolta & Stallone jogging on the cover. I got rid of it along with many other magazines because people kept telling me to throw things away. Most things I’m glad I got rid of but this one magazine I wish I had kept. I can’t throw out cards with family pictures. I have them in a decorative box & some in photo albums. I have a field behind my house. I flatten large card board boxes & use them to keep weeds down. I give plastic bags thrift stores. I’ve gotten better about getting rid of clutter but have a long way to go. I enjoy reading the comments & hearing other’s ideas. There is a fine line between being frugal/resourceful & being a hoarder. I’m sure many of our grandparents had smaller homes with smaller closets but they reused things & didn’t waste or have as much clutter. Many downsize in later years. Try to give away or recycle as much as you can rather than throwing it away. I know sometimes people move in a hurry or have to deal with a loved ones belongings. I just mean in your regular day to day. Reuse, recycle, give away. Not meaning food goods or make up, hair products. Somethings really do need to go. Never had a roach in a used gift bag. I do save those plastic things bedding comes in to keep things separated or dust free. Love the St. Jude idea. I live near Memphis so will have to share that idea!
Well I’m not one to keep a whole lot of the things that everyone has mentioned and I recycle whatever I can (including the air pockets, as these are recyclable–look up places to take them–I take them to a Walmart nearby). My sister, though, is something else. She takes after our mom. HOWEVER, her bags of bubble wrap, brown paper, tissue paper, and plastic food containers were WONDERFUL when I moved. I used almost every bit she had–and as I unwrapped it all, I put it into various boxes and then returned it all to her (at her request). She keeps the boxes too, as they are paper boxes and have tops. Cardboard, though, is not great to keep things in long term as they can attract bugs. One thing my mom did that I do follow her in is “skying” everything in the basement. It’s all on top of something that is not water permeable. That way, if the basement floods an inch or two, it will be okay (just have to get the water out and dehumidify FAST). The styrofoam blocks that come in packages are great for that, as are shelves on wheels. By the way UPS stores will take bags of clean styrofoam peanuts.
i just downsized from an 8 room home with an acre of land, to a 29 foot trailer in a campground. You wouldnt believe the crap i tossed out or gave away. Why did i need oil change reciepts from a car i didnt even have anymore? lol less is more.
I do not throw out small leftover quantities of cooked veggies. Instead, I keep a large ziplock bag in the freezer so that I can freeze the little bits and then add them to the big bag for soup. Do the freezing immediately after the meal, rather than putting it off—you’ll forget how old it may be when you notice its container in the fridge, and there’s no reason to endanger the family’s health for this little economy.
As for decluttering, I am now trying to sort through all the “Stuff” we’ve kept for years, and not enjoying it a bit. I’m 74 and my husband is 78; we now want a smaller, clutter- and dust-free one-bedroom home, which would have been a better choice the last time we moved seventeen years ago. Out of town visitors can stay overnight with our daughter and her husband, who have four bedrooms! Believe me, youngsters, the day will come when very few, if any, “things” are appealing to you. Throw out anything you can spare and buy no replacements!
2000!!? Wow, good for you!
Good points! If it never makes it into the house in the first place, it can’t become clutter1
Please do not throw out old letters of family members, at least until you have a chance to read them.
My most precious possessions are the letters that my father wrote in WW2 and Vietnam; and the letters my grandfather wrote in WW1. No one ever knew about the WW1 letters until I found them after 100 years.
Used tissue paper is one thing I won’t keep. Everytime I needed it, I would get new ones anyway because it was too wrinkly. Same for gift bags. I donate most of them. When I need one, half of the time it’s not the right size so I end up buying one at the dollar store anyway.
I don’t have much place to store them anyways and it fall in my 20-20 rules. If it cost less than $20 and I can get it in less than 20 minutes: it’s clutter and need to go.