Editor’s Note: Throw out doesn’t necessarily mean put in the trash. Recycle, donate, sell or put in the garbage is what I mean. Putting that in the title makes it a little long…
A little over a week ago, my wife and I did a deep clean of our house, and it was, in a word, awesome.
Even though we had only been in our house a little over eight months, we were able to get rid of enough stuff to donate seven boxes of clothes, linens, and electronics; recycle two bags of papers; and throw out three bags of stuff that should’ve been gone years ago.
On top of that, our home now bigger and far more open, we can actually use the office, and, in general, we just feel a lot better because we’re not being suffocated by junk!
Obviously, I’m happy with what my wife and I did and I think we made some real progress. That being said, I just found an article on Wise Bread that really, really wish we would have had prior to our deep clean.
In the article, “25 Things to Throw Out Today,” author Paul Michael not only lists the 25 things you need to throw out, but he also references my favorite quote from the movie Fight Club:
There’s a great quote from Fight Club, one of my favorite movies. It comes from Tyler Durden, Brad Pitt’s character, and it’s prophetic — “The things you own end up owning you.” After watching several seasons of Hoarders, that’s got to be one of the most truthful statements ever to come out of a movie.
Now, we all have a little hoarder inside each of us. We see some things that we just can’t bear to get rid of, probably because there’s an emotional attachment to them. Sometimes things are valuable, and we keep them for that reason. On rare occasions, we don’t even know why we’re hanging onto something, but we are.
Well, there’s a great feeling of liberation that can come from shedding these items. If you’d like to feel it yourself, here’s a list of 25 things that you should throw out today. And by that, I mean donate, dump, trash, incinerate, whatever you like… just remove them from your life.
You should certainly take the time to read the entire article, but for brevity’s sake, here’s the entire list of the 25 things you should throw out today:
- Clothing and shoes you haven’t worn in the last 18 months
- Old paint
- Contents of the junk drawer
- Dated receipts, paychecks, and bills
- Unread books
- Expired medicines and vitamins
- Cups and mugs
- Plastic containers
- Linens
- Power cords
- Magazines
- Spices
- Old greeting cards
- DVDs, VHS and audio tapes, CDs and video games
- Makeup
- Old underwear, socks, and bras
- Dated technology, including old cell phones
- Coat hangers
- Toys
- Those “fix it up” projects
- Cribs, car seats, and other baby/toddler products
- Perfumes and colognes
- Jewelry
- Rugs
- Food
This, obviously, is a very inclusive list and highlights a lot of items we hold on to for nonsensical, and even reasonable reasons.
For me, getting rid of things like power cords, plastic containers, coat hangers, etc. is difficult because it’s easy for me to see a scenario where I could use the items in the future. The problem is, those scenarios hardly ever come to fruition, so all I’m left with is something I don’t really need taking up space in my house.
Long story short, print out this list and over the next weekend or two, deep clean your house. Sure, it’ll be painful while you’re in the middle of cleaning, but once you’re done you’re going to have gotten a rid of a lot of stuff and you’re going to feel great for it!
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