30 Things To Declutter Before 2022 (Part 1) | Minimalism

The past year and a half has been challenging in more ways than one, but it's challenged the way that we experience our homes. So while this new home-centric experience may not have been pleasant for many, I do think that it's had some positive impacts because it's encouraged us to try new things in our homes and to more closely examine the type of environment that we're cultivating and surrounding ourselves with. So whether that conclusion was good or bad, I do think that that awareness is always good. But at this point, we've had time to adjust and trial and error some things, which means that it's a great time to declutter some of those failed experiments or belongings that we've transitioned out of over the past year and a half. For many people, fall is also a time of preparation and getting organized. Kids are going back to school, the holidays are gonna start dominoing shortly after, and for a lot of people, summer vacation is coming to an end, which also means that spending time outdoors is gonna soon be coming to an end. And that makes this also a great time to prepare your space for that extra love and time indoors. So today we're gonna be talking about 30 things to declutter before 2022 or at the closing of 2021. This is gonna be a two-parter because it's gonna be a little bit longer. So we're gonna talk about the first 15 things today, and then you can come back next week to check out the second 15 things on this list of 30 things to declutter before 2022. If you're new here, my name is Mia Danielle, and I chat about holistic and clutter-free spaces. So if that's something you're into, be sure to subscribe and turn on those notifications. I release new videos every Tuesday. So let's go ahead and dive in. I think that the natural place to start is gonna be with clothes. So the first thing is clothes that no longer fit or that are now worn out. As is to be expected with any big lifestyle change, many of us have had weight fluctuations or lifestyle fluctuations that have greatly altered our wardrobe usage. It's not all quarantine pounds, although I know that many people have experienced that, but a lot of people went the opposite direction and used quarantine as an opportunity to eat healthier foods as opposed to grabbing fast food on their 30-minute work break. And aside from the weight fluctuations, the increased use of loungewear has led to spikes in loungewear and sneaker purchases, according to consumer reports. So this means that you might be wearing out those types of clothes at a much faster pace than you used to. Now is a good time to go ahead and declutter those items that you haven't fit into for the past six months to a year or that are completely worn out and now are stretched and have holes in them or have already been replaced. Number two on that same path is business attire and accessories. So many businesses have concluded that allowing for remote working is not only doable, but it's more cost-effective. And all of the business reports say that this transition is not going away as more and more businesses are exploring work-from-home employment models. So if this is you, then it might be a good time to consider letting go of some of the heels and the blazers and the briefcases that might not be getting much love. This transition will likely result in some major wardrobe changes for many people, according to shopping trends it already has. So you might only need maybe one or two outfits of professional attire in your wardrobe, whereas maybe it used to take up the majority of your closet. Number three is extra furniture pieces. Now I say this because I know that when everything hit the fan and people started having to move their entire lives back home from schooling the kids to working at home, a lot of things had to be makeshift put together to make these stations because nobody was really prepared. So maybe you have like an extra desk set up in the living room that wasn't there before or that you don't necessarily need anymore. Or maybe like me, you had a tent up in the garage so that you could have your own personalized business work area. That's been taken down now. But any extra furniture pieces that you got out of a time of panic and experimentation that you're not actually using anymore, now is a good time to go ahead and declutter those pieces and just streamline the space and the purposes that you're using those spaces for. We've all had time to experiment with different layouts to find out what's gonna work out best for you. So now we can go back in and declutter those things that aren't working out or that are no longer needed. Let's shift modes here for a second because the pandemic is not the only thing that's happened over the past year and a half. We've also had a major spike in travel, especially over this past summer of 2021 when things opened back up. So if that was you, then now's a good time to go back and evaluate all of the travel bottles and travel supplies and paraphernalia that you may have made your way home with. Number five, I feel like you cannot talk about 2020 or 2021 without bringing up masks. So I am not saying at all that it's time to get rid of your masks. But again, we've had enough time to settle in and find what feels comfortable and what's effective and what works well for us. So if you're like me, then for a while, you were probably finding random masks that you've tried over time shoved in different places like the car doors or your underwear drawer. And now's a good time to go through and discard all of those masks that are too loose or are ineffective or that you just don't like and that you've replaced with better ones. Number six is expired antibiotics or prescription medications. Now, I hope that nobody here got COVID or got really sick over the past year and a half. But even if you got a cold or the flu during that time, now's a good time to go through and to get rid of those antibiotics and prescription medications that probably have expired. And honestly, if you get sick again, it's worth going to the doctor to get a new prescription. That's not really something that you wanna mess around with. Not all bacterial infections or illnesses require the same kinds of antibiotics. So it's always best to err on the side of caution. Any doctor will tell you this, please do not reuse your antibiotics and just get prescriptions as you need them. Now, I have talked about decluttering medications in the past and people have pointed out that you can oftentimes take your medications to pharmacies or to drop-off centers where they can recycle or safely dispose of medications. I did look up the FDA website and it does recommend that you do that with prescription medications or definitely with narcotics, but it also says that it is totally safe and acceptable to flush medications, just saying what they said, or to trash them as long as you're doing it safely and of course, removing your prescription information. Number seven is plants that haven't survived the harsh weather. Again, COVID is not the only thing that's happened over the past year and a half, although it did lead to a lot of people, myself included, just start growing and bringing in more plants than usual. And we've had really harsh weather all over the country for the past year, even here in the Pacific Northwest, where it's usually nice and cool. We've had above 100 degree weather. In fact, yesterday, I think it was 106. So any plants that you have that have not survived this harsh weather or that aren't holding up well, there's nothing sadder than having dead plants in your space to really bring down the vibes. So be sure that you're decluttering those from your space as needed. So let's talk about pens and office supplies. Again, kids doing school from home, you trying to run business from home and just doing all the things, I know it can seem really appealing to just kind of have pens spread across the house and seemingly conveniently grab whatever you need one, but it's actually a lot easier if you have a set of really nice pens that you enjoy using. So you're not grabbing the crappy ones or grabbing the ones that are out of ink that's in one location where you always know where it is. So you're not having to scavenge and frantically dig through drawers trying to find a pen. and you know that they're good quality and that you're getting what you need. For me personally, my desk is in my room. So I keep my pens in my own bedside table and I always keep one in my purse so that I have one when I need one, when I'm out and about, because that always comes up. The same goes for office supplies. We've had, again, enough time to experiment with working from home to find what we actually need and what's gonna be useful inside of that landscape. So it may not be the exact same supplies that you needed when you were going into an office if that was the case. You might find that you got really excited about working from home and went crazy and bought a bunch of office supplies and now you're realizing that you don't really use the stapler or the roll of tape or whatever the case may be. So now's a good time to go back and evaluate what you've experimented with over the past year and a half and declutter those things that you're not actually using or getting value out of. While we're talking about office spaces, it's a good time to bring up documents and papers. Because again, with a lot of people, kids being from home, you probably collected a lot of school papers, schoolwork, maybe notices, notebooks, and also just general business-related documents or legal documents for whatever's happened over the past year and a half. So all of those things can start to accumulate and spread across your office table, which is really not conducive to any kind of workflow or creativity. So as we start to come into soon transitioning into this fall planning season, kids going back to school, hopefully to stay, we'll see what happens, and getting adjusted to working from home as much as you are or are not going to be, you should again have experimented enough to know what documents you need, what papers you need, and to find some kind of a system that's gonna work for you. And I always recommend digitizing as much as possible. It is possible to digitize like 99% of your papers. I know because I do it every single day. And so I encourage you to find some kind of a system that works for you so that you can declutter a lot of those documents and papers. Number 11 is boxes. It's no surprise that there's been a lot of online shopping. And again, that is likely not gonna be going away. It's probably only gonna increase. But if you're like most people, then you've probably been hitting up Amazon quite a bit over the past year and a half. The numbers show that there definitely has been a great drastic increase in those types of purchases, which also means a lot more boxes, a lot more packaging, not to mention any boxes that you may have brought home from the office with work supplies. So now's a great time to go through and recycle those boxes and maybe even pick one or two to use for your decluttering process. Number 12 is takeout and delivery menus. Obviously for anybody who enjoys eating at restaurants or eating fast food, there was a period of time where your primary option for doing that was to order delivery or takeout. However, most restaurants have a menu that's available online. So they're digitized, you can pull up their menu on something like Uber Eats. And in any case, if they don't, you can always just take a screenshot or a picture with your phone of their menu so that you're not having to keep a collection of all of these restaurant menus inside of your drawer. Let's roll into some of the more leisure activities that we've dug into over the past year and a half. So number 13 is any books that you've read through, especially if you're honest with yourself and you know that you're not gonna go back and reference those books or read through them again. Number 14 is any puzzles that you've finished or games that you aren't gonna be playing anymore. And by games, I'm mostly talking about board games, physical media games like card games, games that maybe you've tried out with the family or to keep yourself entertained. And it turns out that that particular game just really isn't your cup of tea and you're not gonna be reaching for it anymore. Now's a good time to declutter those things. And number 15 is hobbies that didn't make the cut or that have already run their course. So maybe you really got into knitting for a while or crocheting or painting or, you know, something to really express your creative side, which I think is wonderful. I have a whole other video on how to be a creative without clutter that you can reference right here. But if you tried out a hobby that just didn't really work or you weren't really that into it or that's already run its course and you're just not really feeling it, you're not gonna be doing that anymore, now's a great time to go back, re-evaluate those things and free up some of that space. So those are the first 15 items in this list of 30. This should be enough to really get you started and get those wheels spinning. And be sure to check back next week for the next video on the remaining 15 items to declutter before 2022. Before I close out, there are a lot of really exciting things going on over here right now. We still have a week left of the Living With Less giveaway. So you can enter and you still have time to get tons of entries and to win this entire Living With Less giveaway package. Also coming up really soon in a couple of weeks, the first week of September, last week of August, we're gonna have our first live event. I only do this one to two times per year and it's always a lot of fun. So I would absolutely love to have you join. We're actually opening up registration for that today. So the big live event is gonna be on September 3rd, but that whole week we're gonna be doing different trainings and it's just gonna be a lot of engagement and a lot of fun. So hopefully you can make it and I'll be sure to leave the link to the registration page down in the description. I'll catch you back next week for the final 15 things to declutter before 2022.