Are you looking to remove some of the clutter from your life, but are overwhelmed by the task? Start small! You can start decluttering now, with items you can declutter in 10 minutes or less!
I am fed up!
I am fed up with the amount of stuff in my house. Minimalism is not my goal. The stuff in my house just feels like it’s threatening to drown me. It is never-ending and seems to spontaneously replicate on a daily basis.
Despite being so over the amount of stuff all around me, I’m afraid to tackle a huge decluttering project right this very second. I’m hopeful that these big decluttering projects are in my near future, but I want to start small.
Small bites of decluttering are a really great place for me to start every time I feel the need to declutter. A small project gets me started, and we all know you need to build a little momentum when you start something. Starting with a small project also scratches that productivity itch without sending me barreling toward the exhaustion of toxic productivity that I’m so sensitive to.
If you’re feeling the need to remove some of the stuff in your life, but you’re also wanting to start small, you’re in the right place. You can start with small mini projects of items that you can declutter in 10 minutes or less. Shall we declutter together?
Items to Declutter in 10 Minutes or Less
Orphaned socks
We all have that bin of orphaned socks in our laundry room where mismatched socks languish. I know I do. I have a wire basket across from the drawer and if I can’t find the match for a sock, in it goes! Now, this is a great system if the sock’s partner just didn’t make it into the washing machine, or was stuffed between the couch cushions, but this system falls apart if the sock is gone for good. Why? Because those orphaned socks stay there for all of eternity. But guess what? You can add this orphaned sock basket to your list of things to declutter in 10 minutes or less. In fact, I bet it doesn’t even take you two minutes.
Junk mail
Mail is the bane of my existence. Our mail usually consists of a bill or two, five or more political advertisements, a grocery store flyer, and a professional journal on any given day. I almost immediately stack the bill and the professional journal on my husband’s desk (physical bills are his territory in our house), flip through the flyer to identify any coupons we might use, and stack the rest on the end of my kitchen counter. Why do I do this? Why don’t I just immediately throw it in the recycling bin? It gets worse too, because I don’t even do that when it’s in my way the next time I’m in the kitchen. Clearly, I love to infuriate myself, because there is no other explanation for this ridiculous behavior.
If you have a similar pathology when it comes to dealing with your mail, add it to your list of things to declutter immediately. This is another task that won’t even take you 10 minutes. My hope is that if we take care of the huge stack that’s on the counter now, we will stop the madness and deal with the junk mail on a daily basis. Who’s with me?
Broken toys
I think we have every toy that has ever existed in our house. And approximately 30% of these are either broken or missing pieces. I keep thinking I can fix the broken ones and find the missing pieces, but let’s be real, I won’t. So instead of keeping what essentially amounts to trash in the playroom, it’s time to declutter. I promise you can declutter in 10 minutes or less because you know which toys or broken or missing pieces. Just go grab them now and toss them.
Expired food
I really try not to waste food, but sometimes it happens. That can of Beefaroni you bought when a hurricane was coming got pushed to the back of the pantry. You didn’t quite make it through that bottle of poppyseed salad dressing you bought for a random recipe. These things happen, and it’s really easy to just let these expired foods continue to take up residence in your house. But when expired food clogs up your pantry or your fridge, it leads to everyday frustration when you’re just trying to grab the creamer for your coffee.
When you take your food as a whole, getting rid of anything that is expired might sound like a big decluttering project. That’s why you break your food stores into zones (fridge, freezer, pantry) and do one at a time for a category of items you can declutter in 10 minutes or less.
Unworn accessories
I am not an accessory girl. You’ll find me wearing the same earrings almost every day of my life (since age 10 when I got my ears pierced) and using the same purse for years (until it falls apart). Because I have now accepted this fact about myself, I’m good about not buying extra accessories I know I won’t wear. But Sara in her 20s hadn’t caught on to this aspect of her personality and bought a ton of accessories she swore to herself she would wear all the time. After over a decade of it just sitting in the closet, it’s time for these neglected items to go to a home that would pay them a bit more attention.
For me, unworn accessories are absolutely something I could declutter in 10 minutes or less. I keep all of my accessories in a single bin in my closet, and none of them have seen the light of day in years. I just need to dump the whole bin in a bag and take it to my local donation center. If your accessory stash is more extensive, break them into categories and have multiple 10-minute decluttering projects (shoes, jewelry, bags, etc.).
Books
Books come into our houses for lots of reasons. We have old college textbooks (my husband is very guilty of hanging onto these), books for pleasure, kids books, books you get as gifts, and reference books. I don’t know about you, but I could not have enough bookshelves in my house to hold all the books that have entered my house. So, books have to be on the decluttering list pretty constantly.
At first blush, this is a biggie. But again, break it into projects you can do in 10 minutes or less. Look at your textbooks in one 10-minute session, do your kid’s books in another, and your finished fiction in a third. In just a few small chunks of time, you’ll have your book situation better under control.
Toiletries
Toiletries can pile up so easily. You bought a new sunscreen that you didn’t like, you tried a new hair cream that didn’t work, you don’t want to throw away the bottle of lotion that’s almost empty, but you also don’t want to expend the effort to scrape the inside of the container. Before you know it, you are drowning in toiletries.
That stops today, folks. This is an easy thing to declutter in 10 minutes or less. Just look at your bathroom shelves or cabinets and pull out the things you like and use on a daily (or weekly) basis. The rest goes. Find a women’s shelter that accepts toiletries, give that hair cream to your sister-in-law who might love it, and for goodness’ sake throw out the empty lotion bottles!
Linens
Unfortunately, sheets and towels don’t last forever. With regular use, they unravel or get holes or have been stained or bleached. Don’t keep stuffing your linen closets full of these linens you don’t use anymore. You got good use out of them, but it’s time to let them go. Grab a bag and head to your linen closet. Throw in anything you’re no longer really using that’s just taking up space. You’ve just completed a decluttering project in 10 minutes or less. Bravo. Now find an animal shelter you can donate them to so they have a second life, even in their imperfect glory.
Kids’ art
OK, mamas, this one might be tough, but you can do it. Kids are constantly creating art. Every day brings with it multiple pieces of art per kid when they are little. It’s so great that they get to express themselves and make these pieces, but it’s important to understand that the value in kids’ art projects is in the doing, not in the keeping. I’m not telling you to throw out every single piece of art your kid makes. Of course not. I love to keep anything that has their hand- or footprint, and I have a frame for each kid that I use to showcase the best of the best. Anything else gets piled up for a while until it drives me nuts and then it gets recycled. Kids’ art is absolutely something you can declutter in 10 minutes or less, it just might take a bit more time to convince yourself not to feel guilty doing it.
Nail polish
If you are a lady who paints her fingernails or toenails on occasion, you probably need to go through your nail polish stash, and you can do it in 10 minutes or less. Gather up your nail polish and be ruthless. Do you hate the color? Bye bye! Is it old and dried up? Toot-a-loo! Life is too short to keep nail polish you won’t use.
Pens
I have so many pens in my house. When I was engaged oh so many moons ago, I asked my then-fiancé’s family for a nice blue pen for Christmas because I was going to address my own wedding invitations. Boy did I get what I asked for. In addition to the very nice gel pen that I did use for the invitations, my husband’s uncle gave me an entire gallon bag full of blue ballpoint pens from the bank where he worked. When I tell you that we still have dozens of these bank pens still hanging around 8 years and 5 moves later, that is probably an understatement.
What this means is that I don’t need to buy pens. Like ever again in my life. This also means that I need to throw out the pens that are almost out of ink or that I just can’t stand to write with. Even if you didn’t receive 100+ pens for Christmas one year, you need to go through your pens too. Add this task to your list of items to declutter in 10 minutes or less today.
Dog toys
If you have a dog, you know exactly why I’ve added this to the list of items to declutter in 10 minutes or less. You buy your dog toys. The dog plays with the toys until they’ve been completely annihilated. The rope toy is unknotted and the squeaky toys have lost their squeakers. But yet, the carcasses of these toys remain, littering your floors. You can’t throw out ducky! Yes, friends, you can. Your dog won’t hold a grudge, and he might even love you more when you bring him a new ducky to beat up.
Other posts
If you’re looking for help getting your house in order, you might want to check out these posts:
Are you ready to start decluttering your house now? I’d love to know what you’re starting with, so be sure to tell me down below or over on Instagram @sarainseason.