Sometimes we all need just a little push of motivation. That’s the point of this post; I personally need a little push when it’s so hot because all I want to do is lay on the couch and read.
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Gift bags and gift wrap
I had two enormous bags filled with gift bags and I have decluttered it down to one. In that one small bag there are Christmas, birthday and a few general bags. I also gave some “little kid” gift bags to one of Kendra’s friend’s moms as they have two little ones so are probably going to make good use of them.
The way to think about this: how many gifts do I realistically give? how many do I then need?
2. Recyclable bags
It’s almost a joke amongst South Africans that every woman has at least ten Woolworths bags in her boot and keeps buying more. I am not in this target group but I do have 3 recyclable bags in my car (plus the Baggu bag that is always in my handbag) which I always take into the shops. Where I do fail is that I take one because I only need eggs or onions or whatever, and I end up with enough groceries for two big bags. I then use my bags, and the rest of the groceries lay loose in my trolley for packing into the remainder of my bags when I get to my car.
The way to think about this: take more bags into the store than you think you need, and definitely make a quality decision to not buy any more until they are all used up. Also, you can use the pretty ones as gift bags for large items (I used a pretty one as a gift bag for a blanket recently).
3. Cables and chargers
We all have cables and chargers for things that we don’t own, not sure what they’re for or have too many of (I have six rechargeable light strips and each one came in its own box with a charging cable – I keep one upstairs and one downstairs, and the rest are in “storage”).
Do you have phones, tablets or laptops that don’t work? Take them to a computer place and ask them to dispose of them safely. Otherwise, label each charger and cable with washi or masking tape, so that you know what goes together. I have several cameras and each one has a colour – green, purple and pink. That means all its bits and bobs get that colour’s cable tie so I know at a glance which things to store with each camera (I store the smaller ones in pencil bags with all its cables – in the olden days, there was a cable to charge the camera and another to get photos from the camera to the laptop).
4. Promotional items
Notepads, pens, lanyards, etc. from seminars and conferences will multiply if you let them. I have a very good plan – we do use the notepads for notes to one another in the kitchen area (please iron on the inside out – for cleaning lady – or these rolls are for supper – for my teens), I take the pens to work where I hand them out and similarly for the lanyards.
The way to think about this: don’t even take them from the conference venue. I used to be good at this and I seem to have slipped, especially on the matter of lanyards. If you don’t take them, you don’t have to make a decision about them later.
5. Water bottles
I honestly don’t know how but the water bottles multiply in my home. I recently went through them and noticed that we’d bought some but they were still tagged and unused, so I moved them to the gifting area for teen gifts.
As for water bottles with company names on them that you don’t need, I did a really good declutter last year around the same time (summer in Jhb), filled them all with ice-cold water and carried one or two with me every day for a week and… while driving to the office, handed them to beggars at the traffic lights. I thought this was a great idea because cold water is always useful and they could use the bottles to ask for water at nearby houses.
The way to think about this: how much water does each person in your house drink? For example, I drink 2L so I need 3 x 500-ml bottles plus my gym bottle which is 750ml. I technically do not need more than these four. (Spoiler – I’m 100% sure I have more than 4) I also keep some at work. I’m still trying to convince Dion that he needs no more than two bottles 😉
6. Candles
This is an area I really need to declutter. We went through a phase where we had tons of candles dotted around the house for loadshedding purposes, and then last year we got solar (hallelulah!) and now we never use candles, so I need to set aside just enough for “fancy table” purposes, keep a few tealights for the bathrooms and donate the rest.
The way to think about this: what is the highest number of candles you might ever use all at the same time? Keep that amount and declutter the rest.
7. Cleaning products
I am not even really bad at this and still I feel like I have too many. I used to keep a set in each bathroom but I think that is overkill – I’m sure one set upstairs and one downstairs will work just fine.
Secondly, many products can do double duty. For example, if you use a disinfectant toilet cleaner, that same product can be used on your ceramic tiled floors. I also use Zoflora for many purposes: nice-smelling drains, counter cleaner, shower spray, toilet spray, bathroom cleaner. The same goes for laundry –
The way to think about this: what is the least number of products I can use in my kitchen/ bathroom? Which products can do double duty?
Extra challenge: use up everything you own before buying more, and when you do buy, buy just one item.
I hope this has given you some quick ideas of where and how to start. Which one will you kick off first?
PS please notice I didn’t say books but that is an easy-peasy place to start because all of us have books we no longer want to read.
