According to Productivity coach and professional organizer Clare Kumar of Streamlife…
✗ Cellphones – we all have old ones lying around. Wipe them and either sell them or recycle them. (I don’t see ever having a use for that 1990s flip phone that’s lying behind the work bench in the basement…)
✗ Cords and chargers – cords from old phones, tablets, computers, televisions or just back-ups that have been piling up for years. Recycle them or just give them to someone who could use them. (How do I know who could use them when I don’t even know what most of them are for?)
✗ Clothes – they end up being the largest pile of unnecessary junk in your home because we can’t seem to let go of them. If you have good clothes in good condition that you never wear anymore, consider selling them at a consignment store or online. (What if you have bad clothes in bad condition that you still wear all the time? Asking for a friend…)
✗ Old cameras – unless you are a professional photographer or you have some type of sentimental connection to the device, you probably have zero use for your bulky old digital cameras. Save the photos, wipe the cameras and recycle them.
✗ Treasured items – we hold on to vintage or family heirlooms as keepsakes, and if you don’t want to let go of them, find a use for them. If you have a tea set from your mother sitting around, use it to hold makeup brushes or lipstick. Or integrate keepsakes with your workstation or use them as art. (Or you know, use it to drink tea…)
✗ Gifts – Often we hold on to gifts because we’re afraid to offend the gift-giver. Donate it, sell it, re-gift it — whatever the item is, if it has no value or space in your life, get rid of it. (Hard to find a taker for those knitted ties from Grandma, though…)
✗ Makeup – make it a habit to let go of fancy packaging, limited edition beauty tools and colors or trends you don’t see yourself wearing anymore. If they are gently used, you can also consider selling or trading them online. If unused, donate it to a shelter. (Wait…you’re telling me that women sometimes let makeup accumulate?)
✗ Magazines and newspapers – people end up with mountains of magazines and newspapers because they don’t have a proper system for filing them. It can also be hard to let go of print publications that don’t exist anymore. Keep any clipping that holds nostalgic value to you, scan the ones sitting in boxes, and recycle the rest. (Newspapers aren’t the type of thing you want to read more than once anyway…)
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