10 Easy Things to Declutter in Your Home Right Now
If you know you need to declutter but keep thinking, “Where the hell do I even start?”—start here.
I’m giving you 10 easy things you can declutter from your home right now.
And we are keeping this easy.
We’re not touching Grandma’s china. We’re not opening memory boxes. We’re not trying on every piece of clothing we’ve owned since 1997. And we are definitely not making any major life decisions today.
We’re going after the things you already know can go.
These are the low-stress, no-regrets items that are taking up space without adding anything to your life. Pick three from this list, make a few quick decisions, and keep moving.
Ready? Let’s Spot & Toss™.
1. Expired Food
Start with your refrigerator or pantry.
Look for expired condiments, old sauces, questionable leftovers, stale snacks, and ingredients you bought for a recipe you are clearly never making.
And please check the back of the refrigerator. There is probably a bottle of mustard in there from the Obama administration.
Use common sense when looking at expiration dates versus best-by dates. But if something smells questionable, looks questionable, or has been sitting there so long that you no longer remember buying it, it’s probably time for it to go.
And if the food is technically still fine but you know your family is never going to eat it, be honest about that too. If it’s unopened and safe to donate, donate it. Otherwise, let it go.
This is an easy win—and your refrigerator will immediately feel better.
2. Expired Medicine
Next, check your medicine cabinet.
Look for old cold medicine, expired allergy medication, dried-up creams and ointments, and prescriptions you’re no longer using.
Somehow, we keep putting the new medicine in front of the old medicine until we’ve created a small CVS in the bathroom.
Take everything out just long enough to check the dates. You don’t need to reorganize the entire cabinet or order matching containers. We’re only looking for the obvious things that should no longer be there.
Just remember that medication shouldn’t always be placed directly in the garbage or flushed. Follow the instructions on the label or use a local medication take-back program for safe disposal.
3. Dried-Up Nail Polish
Ladies.
If you open the bottle and the polish is basically glue, why are we putting it back?
Is it going to rehydrate itself?
Dried up? Done.
While you’re there, look at the colors you haven’t worn since 2014. You don’t need 37 bottles of nail polish when you consistently use the same three colors.
Keep the shades you actually enjoy. Properly dispose of the ones that are dried out, separated beyond saving, or never going on your nails again.
4. Makeup You Don’t Wear
Go through the makeup you regularly move around but never actually use.
The foundation that is the wrong shade.
The lipstick that looked amazing online and terrible on you.
The mascara you didn’t like from the first application.
The eyeshadow palette with 47 colors when you only use two.
Before you buy another acrylic makeup organizer, edit the makeup.
You may discover that you don’t need more storage. You just need less stuff.
Pay attention to products that have changed in texture, smell, or color, along with anything that irritates your skin or is past its recommended use period. Your face deserves better than expired makeup you didn’t even like when it was new.
5. Hair Products You Don’t Use
We all have that product that was supposedly going to transform our hair.
You used it once.
Your hair said, “Absolutely not.”
Now it has been sitting under the sink for two years because you paid $26 for it.
Here is the truth: the $26 is already gone. Keeping the product doesn’t bring the money back. It only allows the disappointing product to keep taking up space.
If it’s unopened, give it to someone who will use it. If it’s open and has been sitting there forever, dispose of it.
Keep the products that work for the hair you actually have—not the hair you thought you were going to have after watching somebody’s tutorial.
6. Shoes You Don’t Wear
I’m not asking you to declutter your entire closet.
Just find the obvious shoes.
The shoes that hurt.
The ones that don’t fit.
The pair you haven’t worn in years.
The gorgeous shoes that only work if you don’t have to stand up or walk anywhere.
If every time you wear them, you regret your life choices before you reach the end of the block, donate the shoes.
You already have enough going on. You do not need footwear working against you.
7. A Piece of Furniture You Don’t Use
This is a bigger Spot & Toss™, but take a look around your home.
Is there a chair, side table, bench, cabinet, or coffee table that you don’t actually use or love?
I don’t have a coffee table because, for me, it would be another surface to collect clutter and another thing I have to dust. I know myself well enough to know that the coffee table would not remain a beautifully styled moment. It would become a holding area.
Sometimes we assume that empty space needs to be filled.
It doesn’t.
Empty space gives you room to move, room to breathe, and one less surface to manage. If a piece of furniture serves no real purpose and you wouldn’t miss it, consider selling, donating, or giving it away.
8. Old Towels and Linens
Go to your linen closet and ask yourself two questions:
How many people live in this house?
And how many towels do we own?
Is the math mathing?
Look for stained towels, scratchy towels, sheets for beds you no longer own, and the towel everyone in the family somehow knows is the bad towel.
You know the one. Nobody chooses it, but nobody gets rid of it either.
Keep the towels and sheets you actually use, along with a reasonable number of extras. Old towels in usable condition may also be welcomed by local animal shelters or rescue organizations.
You do not need to operate a small hotel from your linen closet.
9. Shelf Trinkets
Look at your shelves, dresser, bookcase, or mantel.
Notice the little vase, the random figurine, the candle you don’t like, and the object someone gave you 12 years ago that you continue to display out of obligation.
Ask yourself one simple question:
Do I actually like this?
Not: Who gave this to me?
Not: Should I like this?
Not: Could I possibly use this one day?
Do I actually like it?
You don’t need to decorate every inch of every surface. You also don’t have to keep something simply because someone gave it to you.
The gift served its purpose when it was given. You are not required to store it forever.
Keep what makes you happy. Let the rest go.
10. Mugs
Finally, we need to talk about the mugs.
Why do mugs multiply?
Vacations. Mother’s Day. Christmas. Work events. School fundraisers. Free promotional mugs from companies you don’t even remember.
And yet, somehow, everyone in the house uses the same three.
Open the cabinet and look for the mugs nobody reaches for. Remove the chipped ones, the uncomfortable ones, the ones that are too small, and the free mug from a conference you attended in 2016.
Keep your favorites.
I promise you will survive the separation.
Why You Should Start With the Easy Stuff
You do not have to begin decluttering with the hardest, most emotional things in your home.
Actually, please don’t.
Start with what is obvious:
● Expired
● Unused
● Uncomfortable
● Broken
● Unwanted
Every easy decision gives your brain a small win. You see something, decide what to do with it, and complete the action.
That is what Spot & Toss™ is all about:
One item. One decision. Keep moving.
The more you practice with easy items, the more you begin to trust your decisions. Eventually, letting go becomes less intimidating because you have proof that you can do it.
Pick Three—Not All 10
Please don’t read “10 things” and decide you now need to spend three hours doing all of this.
Pick three.
Check your refrigerator while the coffee is brewing.
Throw away the dried-up nail polish tonight.
Put one uncomfortable pair of shoes into a donation bag tomorrow morning.
Done.
That counts as decluttering.
You don’t need six garbage bags sitting on the curb for your effort to count. Small decisions create space too.
Start with the dried-up nail polish.
Start with the bad towel.
Start with the mug nobody uses.
Easy counts. Small counts. And it all adds up.
With Love
Margo
Ready to Keep Going?
If you’re thinking, “Margo, this is the kind of decluttering I can actually do,” join the 7-Day Spot & Toss™ Decluttering Challenge.
Each day, you’ll receive one small area to tackle, simple things to look for, and a quick audio message from me to help you keep moving.
No marathon cleanouts. No destroying your house in the name of decluttering. Just small, realistic decisions that help you get stuff out.
And coming October 13: Let’s Talk About Clutter, my new book about why we keep so much, how clutter affects us, and realistic ways to begin letting go.
