These 13 quick things to declutter right now show you how making small changes can have a big impact on the clutter in your home!
I didn’t think I was a hoarder. My home is pretty tidy – we don’t have piles of stuff everywhere…or so I thought.
You see, without even realising, I’ve become the biggest hoarder of tiny things. Seriously, if there was a TV show called Tiny Stuff Hoarders – I would be on it.
I’m into home organising and decluttering but I won’t pretend to be a domestic goddess. I wanted to start somewhere though.
Getting rid of clutter can be overwhelming to start but here are 13 things you can declutter right now:
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13 Quick Things You Can Discard
1. Bobby Pins & Hair Ties
Go through your bathroom, bedroom, kitchen drawers and cupboards and pull out every bobby pin and hair tie you find. Then your car, handbags and pockets. Trust me, those little things are everywhere!
For any bobby pin that’s lost its grip, is the wrong colour, looks gross or you don’t need – bin it. I did this and lost count of the ones I found – I imagine somewhere in the millions. I mean, how many bobby pins do we need anyway?
Same with hair ties – be ruthless, chuck those elasticated space-suckers.
2. Product Instruction Manuals
For years, I kept every one of these in case 1) the product broke and I needed to fix it or 2) I sold the product and thought I would get more money if I provided the manual too. WRONG on both counts, in my experience.
So for a long time, there has been a dedicated drawer or cupboard in my kitchen for “manuals”. What a waste of space! They can all be located on the internet these days, right? So bin them.
3. Underwear
Now I know some of us have nostalgia about certain bras and undies but, come on, when was the last time you pulled out your wedding bra or a pair of holey grey granny pants to reminisce about the “good old days”?
Make a pile of all of your underwear and sort through, discarding anything you will never wear again. Be ruthless, you undie-stand me? Ho ho ho!
Related: Modibodi Underwear review.
4. Cables
How many phone cables or chargers do you really need? And what about the cables for the devices you don’t even own any more?
Similar to the “manuals drawer”, I found that I’d been hoarding cables for YEARS. Some of them didn’t even work any more.
If you no longer own the product, throw away it’s cable-y companion. If you haven’t used a cable in a year or more, you probably never will – throw it. And chuck whatever you used it to charge back in the day for bonus points!
5. Magazines
Again, not a large item but when you have kept 20 editions of the Weight Watchers magazine even though you never looked through them once after the first read, it’s a big sign to recycle them out. Just me?
Same goes for wedding magazines after your wedding – recycle. Or donate to friends.
Related: 6 Recycling for Kids Tips
6. Pens
As you did with the hair stuff, pull out all of the pens you can find in your home. Throw away the ones that don’t work and keep only what you really need.
Donate the rest to kids who need them more than you do.
7. Medications
Your well-stocked medical cabinet is useless if the items inside are expired.
Check all dates and discard any that are passed their use by date. Replace only the essentials.
8. Kids Toys
You know those crap plastic toys from the front of magazines? I don’t know about you but I’m constantly finding that crap around my house, despite not buying those magazines for years.
Remove all of the large toys from the toy box and when you’re left with the tiny stuff at the bottom, be ruthless about what your kids still use and need.
We regularly donate useful toys that are in good condition to charities (not the plastic magazine stuff, I should add).
I have some more tips on how I declutter with kids things so let me know if you would like me to share them.
9. Cosmetics
As you did with your medications, go through your bathroom cabinet, bedroom drawers and handbags. Pull out all skin care and make up and discard anything you no longer use or that is passed its use by date. Same goes for toothpaste, soaps etc.
For any new products that haven’t been used, donate them to charity, to a friend or even sell them on eBay to make a little side cash.
10. Christmas Decorations
I add this one with a heavy heart as I’m a big hoarder when it comes to Christmas decorations. Because…Christmas!
For any decorations that are broken and unfixable, discard them. It will save you space and time every December when you pull them out just to put them away when they’re unusable.
11. Jewellery
When I recently decluttered my jewellery, it was hard. Every single piece had a big memory and it took a few goes for me to finally discard most of it.
I had jewellery that reminded me of special occasions, events, travelling and more and it was very difficult to say goodbye. I adopted the KonMari approach of holding each piece in my hand, thanking it for the memories and only keeping the items that still sparked joy and that I would still wear. Not many did and I haven’t regretted my decision to declutter any pieces.
12. Socks
Socks…where do they go? I mean, where does one of them go?
Go room to room and grab ALL of the socks. Including the ones in your laundry basket. Match those muffins up and throw out any random strays. Clear the clutter fast!
13. The Junk Drawer
You know the one, we all have one. Some of us have one in every room! Mine lives in the kitchen.
It’s the drawer that all miscellaneous crap is thrown in. Batteries, (more) cables, unidentified objects that serve little purpose but you’re too scared to throw out in case you might need them “one day”.
You probably won’t.
Tip out the drawer and throw away anything you haven’t used in six months. If you desperately want to keep something from the draw, find a better storage place for it that will ensure you use it.
Related: My Pantry Declutter
Want to do things the Marie Kondo way?
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Free Decluttering Checklist
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Things to Declutter Summary
I hope these 13 tips on how to declutter your house for hoarders of small stuff has given you inspo to clear out some of the unnecessary things from your home.
They help me organise my house a little better.
Do you have suggestions for organising your home? Or other ideas on how to declutter your home fast of the small stuff?
NEXT STEPS:
- Check out my Decluttering printables on Etsy!
- 33 Super Fast Things to Declutter Right NOW!
- The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying – the best decluttering books are by Marie Kondo :)
- The Secret To A Tidy House and Tidy Mind
- How to Declutter your Clothes + Free Closet Declutter Checklist
- 7 Vegan & Eco Friendly Gifts for Women
- Declutter your Digital Life – Start Now
- Period Proof Underwear from Modibodi Australia + 15% off Modibodi Coupon!
- LG QuadWash Dishwasher Review
- Find out more about Marie Kondo here.
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Disclosure: this post on easy things to declutter right now contains affiliate links. This means if you click through and make a purchase, I might receive a small commission. This doesn’t affect the price you pay.
We’re about to move and this post has come in perfect timing. Need to sort out the crap and manage all those loose bits better.
Someone once told me the organisational tools I had had become the clutter. Seems if you have difficulty understanding this likely you are a hoarder too. Is it semantics that hoarding is seen negatively yet collecting is seen positively? Who didn’t learn to collect as a child, anyone remember their stamp or shell collection or did your grandparents have a teaspoon collection, one for every place they had visited ?
I think people retain things for a variety of reasons that are personal to them. We were raised to value people and items and not to be wasteful. Some people think it is silly that rather than throwing plastic cutlery into the rubbish, I keep it and when I have a container full donate it to the local community centre. For me this works and there is always a spoon there when I’m visiting for me to use :)
Personally I collect buttons, a legacy from my grandmother who was a dressmaker and started with some of hers. They are beautiful to me and are kept in a glass container on the window sill – their beauty is from my loving memories of her also they look pretty to me and are wonderful for replacing list buttons and entertaining children. So I am a hoarder of buttons and proud of it!
I also acknowledge that there are people for whom hoarding is a medical condition and would encourage them if they choose to to seek medical help.
YES you’re so right about the different perception of hoarding Vs collecting Dianne! I think it’s lovely that your collection stems from such a beautiful and meaningful relationship too :) x