A new year is generally a time for new things! We all come from that Christmas high with new clothes or purses or whatever to bring home. A lot of times, you just bring new things into your home without adjusting what you already have.
I have a few tips and tricks for you guys when it come to cleaning house.
Clothing & Shoes
- If you don’t wear it in six months, donate it! If it’s in great quality, you might even be able to sell it if you have somewhere like a Plato’s Closet or even an app like Tradesy. A simple trick for this would be to turn all of your hangers backward. When you take a clothing item out to wear it, flip it around. At the end of six months (or a predetermined amount of time), donate anything with the hangers backward.
- Donate it if it doesn’t fit. We all have goals to fit into clothes from when we were younger and/or thinner. While that is a good goal, are you really going to want to wear that dress from college?
- If there are holes in it, you can probably let it go. You only need so many grunge clothes for painting or outdoor work.
- If you’ve grown out of the shoes, let them go. If you can no longer walk in them, let them go.
- A lot of times, we keep things because we hope that there will be an occasion for them. I have a pair of sparkly (essentially meant for a hooker) stilettos. I’m not going to ever have a use for those again. They were fun in college, but I think I’ve grown past it a bit.
Books
- I am a firm believer that you don’t get rid of books. I can’t help you here.
Food
- Spices do expire! Take a look at them once a year. Expired seasonings will lose their potency.
- The same goes for canned goods.
- Toss old tupperware. You can get mold and all sorts of nasties embedded in old tupperware if not cared for properly.
Around the House
- With household goods, it’s a good rule of thumb for “One in, one out”. Get a new candle? Toss the one that’s barely holding on. Updated blanket? Try donating an older one to someone in need.
- A lot of times, cleaning supplies pile up. Get rid of those with “just a drop” left.
Hopefully this will get you started. I have it on my to do list to do this week. I moved a bag of donation items into my new apartment because I ran out of time to donate them. I still haven’t donated them…
