Have you made it through the first ten days of the 30 Day Minimalism Game? (If you don’t know what this is- watch the video below) Or are you simply looking for areas to gravitate towards as you declutter your home? Either way, we have a list of things to focus on today if you are feeling a little lost in your paring down journey:
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- Seeds: Perhaps you bought some seeds because you promised yourself you would sprinkle them all over your healthy breakfast of a morning and still reach for your beloved cereal. Or maybe you bought them to feed the birds in your old home which had a garden but now you live in an apartment. Whatever your reasons for having an excess of seeds in your space, give them away to a bird lover or someone who digs a fibrous breakfast.
- Oats: Maybe you want to be someone who has oatmeal or porridge very day for breakfast but when you wake all you ant is cereal or toast instead. If this is the case, give them to someone who loves a bowl of the hot stuff in the mornings.
- Nuts: They are a healthy snack, but if you never reach for them when you’re feeling peckish, you won't feel the benefit of them will you? So, give them to your local food bank or to a friend or family member who likes to chomp on them.
- Kitchen gadgets: I’m talking about the waffle makers, the food processors and popcorn machines that are taking up huge amounts of cupboard space because you had aspirations to make fancy foods but would rather buy the pre-packaged, no fuss variety instead. It was a nice idea but you were fooling yourself. Gadgets such as these do really well on second hand sites, especially during lockdown as many people want to try new things without inviting too much money, so try your luck on there.
- Tools: Most of us have one too many tools- how many spanners or screwdrivers can a person use at one time? Pick your favourites and discard the rest or you will only be searching through the poor quality ones to get to the item you really want. Imagine if you could just reach for the top notch one right away!
- Prom memorabilia: I am not telling you to ditch everything from your memorable night- but instead of having the physical pictures, you could digitize them and get rid of the paper copies. Why not press a petal from your corsage so you can preserve an element of it to laminate and use as a bookmark for instance?
- Proposal items: Again, if you have a few things set aside from when your partner proposed to you- is there anything you could take pictures of to preserve the memory without keeping the actual item? The engagement cards that were sent to you perhaps?
- Plumbing equipment: If you enjoy some at home DIY, you may have some things lying around in your plumbing box that aren’t necessary anymore- cut offs of pipes being the main offender here- for ‘just in case’. If there’s a slim chance you might need it in the future and it's not expensive, save yourself the space. Chances are you will never reach for those little pieces again.
- Kidney Beans: And other tins that you are never going to crack open- check their best before and give them to a food bank if they still have time left on them. Don't feel bad- most people have a tin lurking at the back of their cupboard that is never going to feature in one of their dishes.
- Fruit: It’s not a huge category, but check your fruit bowl and see if there is anything that is starting to grow fur. Look at your dried and tinned fruit stores too- perhaps there is something in there that you don’t fancy throwing into anything you make or is no longer safe to eat. If so- pitch these and vow to only bring fruit into your home from now on that you actually enjoy.
- Kid’s stuff: This is a broader area of your home if you are a parent but you could take one aspect of your child’s bedroom or playroom and tackle this- their clothes or their wooden toys for instance and focus all your energy on these, leaving another section for another day. Bag up anything they no longer play with or have grown out of and pass it on to a friend or family member with a younger child or fill one of the donation bags that get posted through your door and leave it out for collection.
RELATED: 10 Things you can declutter on 10th March 2021
If you have children who go to nursery or school, you are bound to have a stash of lunch boxes, drinking bottles and containers in your cupboards- not all of which will be functional or being used. Perhaps you used to take your lunch to work every day before lockdown and now work from home permanently so don’t need yours anymore. Evaluate what you need and discard the rest so you can use that space for something more important... to read more click HERE
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