Many times things come into our homes in innocent ways, but when they quit serving their purpose we feel guilty about not using them, we forget the items are in our home, or we feel guilty about the money we wasted and stubbornly hold on to them to use someday. In my experience ‘Someday’ rarely ever comes!
The 34 Items I threw out were things I needed to permit myself to get rid of. One-third of my discard pile had no reusing or reselling value. The pile consisted of items like completely worn-out clothes, clothes for my fantasy self, clothes that I wish I could still fit into, or seven pairs of mismatched gloves that I have been hoping to find for the last two years!
These things made me frustrated every time I saw them. I kept them because I was upset that I wasted money, I didn’t want to throw out perfectly good clothes, and I really did want to use the items! I needed to permit myself to get rid of things that reminded me daily that I used to be a smaller size, or that I made bad choices with my money.
Feeling frustrated every time you see an item is not good for your mental health or your relationship with your family. It’s much better to learn from your mistakes and let the items go.
Annie Eklöv
Learning from your mistakes can help you let go!
I have a general style that I look good in, and so do you. My style has changed some over the years different periods in life require different clothing like pregnancy, or directly after birth before you lose the pregnancy weight.
I held on to pregnancy clothing and clothes that I wore after my children were born way too long. When I became pregnant with my last child, I didn’t feel good about myself in many of the maternity outfits that I wore with my first two children. I had a pesky 7 pounds that I couldn’t seem to get rid of from my first pregnancy and some of the maternity clothes felt tight!
I finally had to come to terms with the fact that my body would change through the years, even though I do my best to stay in shape and stay healthy. I had to let some of my wardrobe go when I was pregnant and again when my third child was three and invest in clothes that made me feel good about myself RIGHT NOW even if I had a few extra pounds that I couldn’t seem to burn off!
If you can identify something you learned from the items you need to discard, it can be easier to let them go because you can be confident that you won’t make the same mistake again at least not intentionally.
Annie Eklöv
Often when it’s hard to start decluttering your home, starting with trivial items like torn undergarments can get the momentum rolling. Often if we just get started on the easy items we get excited about transforming our home, and continue into slightly harder spaces!
Items in Your Closet That You Can Get Rid of and Never Miss!
33. Purses, I have one purse for my everyday life and 2 vintage formal purses which I rarely use but they are nice to look at.
34. Bags, tend to pile up. It doesn’t matter if it’s beach bags, material shopping bags, or plastic bags you get for free they tend to accumulate. I went through all my bags last year and only kept my favorites. This last year they started taxing plastic bags at the grocery store extra which means plastic grocery bags got really expensive. I now have a new problem. I have a pile of cloth grocery bags that is far bigger than necessary! If you’re like me you may need to go through bags every year.
1. Any Intimates with holes. I don’t know why, but we tend to hang on to underwear past its expiration date.
2. Clothes that do not fit you well. These could be items of clothing you don’t pick often because the items make you readjust them all day, or you have to wear layers of shaping underwear to feel good in it, it’s a hassle, or you feel it’s the wrong color and it makes you look pale just to give a few examples.
3. Clothes that are not comfortable. We all have our pet peeves. I dislike clothes or bras that rub me under the arms.
4. Cheap jewelry that you haven’t worn in the last two years.
5. Tarnished cheap jewelry. Most of the time you can’t polish cheap jewelry.
6. Fancy clothes that no longer fit.
7. Shoes you haven’t worn in the last two years.
8. Shoes with holes or shoes that are obviously worn out.
9. Shoes that are not comfortable even though you tried to break them in.
10. Scarfs and accessories that you haven’t worn in the last two years.
11. Any Winter clothes that are poor quality. If you or your child were wet from the snow, or rain, or just cold in your old winter clothes you may need to rethink what you have in your winter wardrobe.
12. Glasses that are no longer your prescription. If you can’t see well enough out of them to use them as an extra pair it’s time to let them go.
13. Socks that do not match.
14. Backpacks that are cute and trendy yet unpractical and you never use them.
15. Old backpacks. If you kept every backpack from junior high and high school it’s time to let some of them go. I still had some backpacks from high school that were in good condition, but I never chose to use them. They now have new homes.
16. No-show socks that don’t work. I probably buy a new pair of no-show socks every year because I like the look of shoes without socks, but I don’t like the feel. Most of these no-show socks just slide under my feet after 20 steps. The other day, I discovered that these socks which I doomed, ‘To uncomfortable to wear’ are still clogging up the back of my sock drawer! It was time to say goodbye.
17. Get rid of clothes, that you were given by siblings or friends that don’t fit your style. Clothes that you took because they were free. If you’re not actively using them already they will never be favorites.
18. Donate Christmas gifts, you don’t actually like or wear. This could be a Christmas sweater, socks, or a scarf to name a few of the most common clothing gifts. Your friend or family member who gave it to you wouldn’t want their gift to be a burden. The gift was meant to communicate that they love and care about you, and it already did this when you received it.
19. Gloves that don’t match
20. Old Jackets you don’t really like. If you have more jackets than you need try donating jackets to a Jacket Drive this year or to a secondhand store I find that I feel better about getting rid of things if I know that they are going to help someone else.
21. Pajamas you don’t wear. I think we all have extra pajamas that we don’t really like. This is probably due to the fact that pajamas are a popular Christmas gift.
22. Comfy clothes you don’t feel good about yourself in. If you don’t want your neighbor to see you in the clothes it’s probably time to get rid of it. I used to have comfy clothes that made me feel fat. The waistband cut into my after-pregnancy fat, and I felt much better about spontaneous visitors when I exchanged these pants for ones that fit me correctly.
23. Earrings that don’t match. Unless you’re very trendy and often wear one earring or mismatched earrings.
24. Free t-shirts from promotional events, or t-shirts that were free because they are advertisements. Unless you work a grubby job and need t-shirts which quickly become stained and worn then you probably have more of this type of clothing than you think.
25. Any clothing that doesn’t fit your style should be donated because you will rarely if ever choose to wear it.
26. Clothing that doesn’t match your climate. I moved from the sunny USA to Sweden and I need more coats here and fewer summer clothes.
27. Extra buttons. The kind that comes with new clothes. I keep these but I still can’t find the right button for the right outfit when I actually need it! I finally gave up trying, and I get similar buttons out of a button jar my grandma gave me when I need to sew on a button. If the buttons accompanying the outfit are special then sew the buttons to the inside of the garment and you will always know where they are.
28. Socks that don’t match.
29. Get rid of trendy items of clothing if you bought them to follow a trend and found that you just don’t like them.
30. Clothes that you are trying to fit back into.
31. Stockings or hose with a run.
32. Stained clothes that can not be cleaned
33. Clothes with holes. (If they shouldn’t be there)
34. Items that flake. old pleather, clothes with glitter, and garments with sequins are all examples of clothes that flake.
Check out my other post for more decluttering inspiration
16 Ways to Start Goal-Oriented Decluttering!
33 Things In Your Home Office You Can Get Rid of Today With No Regrets!
34 Items In Your Closet That You Can Toss and Never Miss
17 Toys Your Kids Will Never Notice You Threw Out!
32 Kitchen Items You Can Toss Today and NEVER Miss!
Decluttering kids toys and other monsters in their rooms.
copyright Annie Eklöv