The First 15 Things I Decluttered As A Minimalist

Extra fabrics? Unused scarves? Decorative pillows? There must be somewhere you can find a use for them, right?

What I actually ended up with was clashing colors, patterns, and textures– and super gaudy decor 😬. Maybe you can relate.

Back in college, I can remember talking with a roommate about how bland his room looked (it was minimalist and gray: go figure), and he responded with

“well, your room is incredibly gaudy.” 

I started looking around, and it clicked. Was my room gaudy? Purple scarves hanging from the bed to the window– yep, it was.

This was the first thing I decluttered even BEFORE I became a minimalist. Lesson learned…

You don’t need to use something strictly because you own it.

When I started the decluttering process, the first thing to go was the gaudy decor items. Like many of you, I came from the upbringing of “use what you have”–and that meant anything you have.

 

Much like with the extra decor items–you think you need to use them, but you don’t!

This could be the hand-me-down you acquired or a gift you had zero use for but figured out a way to use it–even though you didn’t need it in the first place.

Convincing yourself to find a use for an unnecessary item will always result in trying to find a place to incorporate it into your space.

Whether you’re shoving furniture in a closet to be used as an extra shelf or setting up documents and papers into an intricate filing cabinet that gets stored in an old wooden cabinet–

it stems from the mindset that if you have it, you HAVE to use it.

Somehow, my family ended up with a lot of furniture–which meant a lot of things got passed down to my sister and me. Not even heirlooms, just random furniture. 

At some point, I had to choose between holding tight to my “have it, use it” mindset and my ability to walk freely throughout my living room. 

Another struggle many of us have is the love of a GOOD DEAL.

Have you ever gone thrift shopping and seen low-cost furniture you didn’t need but convinced yourself to find a use for it because it’s just SO cheap? – I have. 

If you want to know what to declutter first for the BIGGEST impact- take a look at the furniture. It’s big. That’s exactly why furniture was one of the first things I decluttered.

We’ve all faced that one piece of extra furniture that we hate but feel obligated to put somewhere.

 

Cords seem to be one of those items we naturally accumulate and it’s also typically hidden making it one of the things we often forget to declutter.

I spent DAYS trying to declutter and sort through cords because I wasn’t sure what they belonged to and I didn’t want to risk getting rid of something important.

I took all the old cords that hadn’t been used in a long time and tried fitting them into random items throughout the house to see if they were compatible with anything.

Although attempting to declutter your cords may seem unnecessary, the truth is:

Most of us have cords sitting around that no longer belong to anything.

Therefore, you’re almost guaranteed to have success freeing up some space if you face the whole cord situation.

Do you ever find yourself cleaning and pulling out random cords scattered everywhere? 

 

Often, they’ll cross your path when you start digging through those filing cabinets from goodwill you convinced yourself you needed–or in random drawers. That filing cabinet was one of the first things I decluttered.

Once I started digitizing, I naturally kept going because I realized how much easier it was.

By the time I was finished, I could condense all of my documents into a single black zipper binder (that I still use to this day).

You can save so much space by going digital!

It’s a great place to start decluttering, for sure.

Papers have been one of the biggest pain points that I hear about from readers and subscribers. It comes at us from everywhere and is a great place to start if you’re wondering where to start decluttering.

 

Let’s face it…

getting hand-me-downs can be exciting, especially if someone has excellent style. I’ve been there and done that which is why my wardrobe was at the top of my list of the first things I decluttered as a minimalist.

Sometimes, we hold onto specific attire for AGES because we have every intention of wearing it – someday. Most of the time, that day never actually comes.

It’s easy to justify the “hoarding” mindset with clothes because it feels thrifty and maybe even eco-conscious, steering you away from fast fashion. 

I used to think thrifting was so exciting – I remember getting excited about how many things you could buy for a mere $20. 

The hunt can be addicting.

For me, deciding to declutter came down to a mindset shift- switching up the game from from “what bargains can I find?” to “what can I let go of?!”

Different game- still fun. 🙂

With one, you end up with way too many clothes; with the latter, you end up with space and clarity. I chose the latter.

Ask yourself this: is this my style? And is it something I actually see myself wearing?

Are you someone who takes in a lot of hand-me-downs?

 

Many of the classes I took required different types of media.

So, over time I accumulated a lot of expensive art supplies and totally convinced myself I’d use them again…eventually.

When it came down to it, many of the supplies ended up just being stored under my bed. (I know, I’m the queen of “don’t put stuff under your bed!” but that used to be me).

Eventually, I realized that those quality supplies were being wasted hidden under my bed. They would be better served by someone else.

If you have a hobby that you used to be really into and have found yourself falling out of, that’s where to start decluttering. For me, it was art supplies. That why those were of the first things I decluttered.

You may have heard me say this before, but I was granted an art scholarship when I went to college. 

Honestly, they didn’t even use 80% of it.

Many of the items they owned were things that I liked and held onto in hopes they would one day grow into them or develop a liking for them. 

They didn’t care about those things and that didn’t change.

I’ll never forget the day I brought my 2-year-old, now 16, one of those tickle-me Elmo dolls–so cool– she was terrified and wanted nothing to do with it.

I held onto those things for a while before realizing it only made sense to give them to a child who actually enjoys playing with them.

In our household, my kids had way more excess than me. 

It’s easy to form an attachment to the books you own. There’s just something about keeping the story and characters nearby.

For me, it served as a reminder of the characters I’d come to love and the story they told.

But here’s the truth of the matter, I never re-read any of those books. Instead, they became a lost collection, never to be enjoyed or read.

I hoped that my daughters would grow an interest in them as they got older–classic mistake.

They got older, and low and behold, were not interested in my books (even my daughter who loves YA books only wants to read HER YA books- the new stuff that’s promoted on social media…not mom’s old books).

Learn from my mistake.

At one point in my life, I was a total YA book nerd. I was in book review groups and pushed to read 50 books per year.

My grandmother sold Merl Norman makeup for years, so we acquired an abundance of samples– and those Estee Lauder gift boxes were a family fave for Christmas.

I grew up believing makeup was valuable because it can always be used!–eventually.

In the end, It became an excuse to keep an excessive amount of makeup that I wasn’t even using. Even when I had excess I still only used a minimal amount of it.

One of the first things I decluttered when I started practicing minimalism was makeup that didn’t fit my minimalist usage.

Your makeup collection should reflect items that you genuinely want to wear.

Quality over quantity in all things.

You’re better off spending a few extra bucks on some good stuff that you’ll LOVE using when you do use it.

I grew up in a very make-up-friendly family. We had bins upon BINS of makeup. 

 

At the time, I had a lot of physical pictures and didn’t want them damaged. Unfortunately, most of those images can’t be placed today.

I remember them, clear as day! The photo I took of my 14-year-old when she was only a year old, sitting on her toy shelf looking like one of the dolls. 😩 It was ADORABLE and I haven’t seen it since the move.

When people tell me that they feel uncomfortable digitizing photos, I can’t help but think of that picture of my daughter that I WISH I had digitized. Unfortunately, that happened before I decided to go minimalist.

All I can say is, I wish I’d done it SOONER.

Photos may not have been one of the first things that I decluttered intentionally, but they’re definitely the first things that I digitized.

It may seem counterintuitive to start with the valuable things, but if it means keeping a lasting version of them? Then I’d say its a great place to start decluttering.

I started my minimalist journey while moving across the states. We tried fitting as much as possible into our SUV which downgraded many belongings.

 

I was guilty of owning a significant stack of pillows. 

I’ve gone through the Goldy-locks motions of trying memory foam, then a feather, and everything in between. I had a whole collection.

The first things I decluttered from my pillow collection were those that I knew weren’t fixing the problem, then I dwindled down from there until I achieved my duo of perfection- 2 goose feather/down pillows that do the job right.

Find what works for you, rinse, and repeat.  This will eliminate the need to have overwhelming options of meh effectiveness.

I don’t know why, but pillows seem to proliferate and accumulate over the years. Well, I guess I kinda DO know why- months of back pain “treatment”. Pillows are cheaper than mattresses, right?

 

Same – at least I used to be.

Have a look at your current cleaning stash. Do you really need ALL of them?

I’ve found that having 1 for glass, 1 for wood, and 1 for all-purpose is plenty.

When I started learning about minimalism, I found that others in the community were leaning toward fewer and more eco-friendly cleaning options. 

It made me realize I didn’t need a million different supplies to have a clean home. This might be where to start decluttering if you’re drowning in chemicals.

Some people manage to get by with just 1 cleaner for EVERYTHING. Not saying that has to be you, just know that it’s possible, you can declutter a lot of those bottles. 100 products aren’t needed to get the job done.

Are you guilty of owning a separate cleaning supply or solution for every material in your home?

 

even if it was a little old and scratched. 

It had nothing to do with being cluttered or a hoarder but more with making use of something that still had life. Ironically, one of my LEAST favorite events has always been “pan digging”.

It’s loud and heavy and all-around unpleasant.

I absolutely CHERISH having 4 or 5 high-quality pots and pans that don’t flake Teflon when I use them. 

One of the first things I decluttered was unneeded kitchen cookware and I’ve been on top of it ever since.

I grew up in a household where if someone was giving away a pan, you took it–

 

One second you’re getting a pen from the dentist’s office. Then, a magnet from your local grocery store–office supplies pile up fast.

After all, who knows when you’ll need something like a paper clip–or one of those little pincher things that holds papers together.

You can probably relate to the scattering of “things” at the bottom of a bin or drawer.

It became clear that I was never actually using any of it which is why office supplies became one of the first things I decluttered when I started practicing minimalism.

If they had truly been valuable to me, they wouldn’t have been sitting at the bottom of a drawer years later.

When you start to declutter, it’s important to get real with what you’re you’re ACTUALLY using because simply owning something doesn’t make it useful.

Oddly enough, despite running an entire business from home, I own fewer office supplies now than I used to. 

 

Before I started to declutter my space, I had boxes of nail polish– many in colors I would never consider wearing.

Unlike some other items on this list, nail polish isn’t something you can just give away–no one wants used nail polish.

Therefore, you’re faced with throwing these “perfectly good” things away. Makes it tough.

At first, I struggled with this because it felt so wasteful. The truth is, if it’s not being used, it’s already being wasted.

If you want to know what to declutter first, look for those things that you find yourself saying “It’s just so wasteful” about. That’s a key indicator that it’s probably clutter.

One of the first videos I made when I started my YouTube channel was regarding things I only owned 1 of (one of those “things” was nail polish).