20 Home Items That Are A TOTAL WASTE Of Your Money! (decluttering, minimalism)

We all have things in our home that we do not need. In fact, these are actually a total waste of money and only serve to contribute to anxiety and mess. Today I'm sharing 20 very common home items. Some of these are maybe even seen as must-have items, but I think they're a waste of money and you can do without. As always, this is just my opinion and I'm going to go through this in two parts. So part one is going to be things that you bought once and they're taking up space, it's clutter, it's wasting your money. Part two is going to be things that you keep on rebuying, but they're also draining your wallet. The first item that you don't need, and this is actually the only item on the list that's not a physical thing. I shared years ago that we got rid of our cable. We had been paying, I want to say close to $200 a month for cable. And everyone tells you this, get rid of your cable, whatever. What I'm going to tell you, though, that I think you don't need isn't your cable. I mean, it is your cable, but it's also the streaming services. And I know you're going to tell me, oh my gosh, I need my Netflix, I need whatever. I cut the cord. We cut the cord. We don't miss it at all. I can get by, we all get by watching YouTube. If we want to watch a movie, we just rent it through our TV. And I'll just tell you what happened. I ended up getting Netflix after a long time of not having it. I got it in August because the kids wanted to watch K-pop, Demon Hunters, you know, the mass global hysteria over that movie. So I got it. They watched the movie. They watched the movie again. Well, the month later, when it came to renew, I checked to see what had been watched and see how much they were watching Netflix. And guess what? All they had watched was that movie twice. So I canceled it. Here we are, November. Nobody's asked me where Netflix has gone. Nobody's tried to watch it. The next one that you really don't need, and don't get mad about this, but I do not think you need tons of extra sheets. You really only need, in my opinion, two sets of sheets per bed. So think of it as one set to be on the bed, one set to be in the wash. I am a fan of having extra towels and blankets. You never know when there could be a flood, you have a power outage, and you need extra blankets. But for some reason, instead of extra towels and blankets, people seem to stockpile sheets. And think about it in your own home. Do you have a closet that is full of neatly folded sheets that you haven't used in, say, ten years? I have to share this next one because it's also a must-have and it's all the rage. But it's lots of overly complex coffee mugs, travel coffee mugs, and water bottles. I really only think, and maybe this is a hot take, but I think you only need one drink receptacle per person. So if you've got kids, they need a water bottle for school. Maybe you as an adult, maybe you want a water bottle and a travel coffee mug, for example. Because what I've noticed, and over the years we've had definitely way too many water bottles and things like that, when you have them, and you have lots of them, and they have too many parts, you end up losing them. And you lose one part of the water bottle, but you keep the other part, maybe hoping that the other one will show up. And what I would say too, an easy way, if you want to decide what to declutter, if you've got a lot of these bottles going on, a quick win is to get rid of the plastic bottles. Those are definitely leaching chemicals into the water that you're drinking. Probably also microplastics as well. You don't want to drink that water. The next item is you do not need extra cutting boards. I can't tell you how many people have tons and tons of cutting boards. I was at my mother-in-law's house this summer. She probably had ten cutting boards, and guess what? She only uses one of them. I think you could have two. You know, maybe you've got one for meat, and then one for everything else. But the rest, they just take up space. And I notice, when I've had a lot of cutting boards, they just sit in the back of the cabinet. I don't use them. Get yourself some wood boards. I rave about wood boards. Whatever you do, you don't want the plastic cutting boards. Those are getting the plastic into your food every time you use them. If you're worried about cleaning the wood cutting boards, I mean, I don't think you need to be. I think some hot water and soap does the trick. But if you're worried, they also have stainless steel cutting boards. A lot of people seem to really like those. Okay, something that is totally not a waste of money is a healthy mattress from Birch Living. And I just want to say thank you to them for sponsoring today's video. They're actually a longtime sponsor of mine. When I was trying to detoxify my home and get rid of a lot of toxins, Birch actually reached out to me about sponsoring a video. And I was so happy, this was probably about a year ago, because my mattress was one of the big changes that I had been wanting to make. The mattress I had before was 16 years old. It was giving me back pain. It was actually giving my husband neck pain. And honestly, we had just ordered it online, so I'm not even sure what it was made of. And when you think about it, we spend a third of our lives in our bed. And I actually think I spend more than a third of my life in my bed because I like to read on my bed or just hang out and watch my iPad sometimes. So I really don't want to spend all that time lying on a bed and breathing in a mattress that potentially is full of flame retardants and chemicals and volatile organic compounds. So, we got our Birch. Their mattresses are made with natural and organic materials. So they use natural wool. They also use organic cotton. They use organic latex. These are fantastic things to make a bed out of. They're also 100% fiberglass free and they do not use any of those polyurethane foams that you see a lot of beds being made from. So there's definitely no off-gassing while you're sleeping. The other thing I really appreciate is that it's Green Guard Gold certified. So, I've shared before, I'm in the certification industry so certification is really important to me. I actually look for certification marks on a lot of products. It's just a shortcut for me to know that it's a quality product. So when I see Green Guard, I know that that product is a low emitting product. I know a mattress is a bigger investment but I'm just going to tell you, I all the time see people upgrading their cars. I see them getting just a little bit of a fancier car. I see them taking upgraded fancy vacations and no judgment on that but these are things that in my opinion don't truly improve the quality of your life. At least not in the long run and I think that sleeping on a healthy mattress that is a real quality of life upgrade and it costs a lot less than those purchases I just mentioned. I truly think that everyone could benefit from Birch because it's for all kinds of sleepers whether you're on your side, your back your stomach. It has very good cooling properties because it's made of those natural materials. So thank you so much to Birch Living. They are having their Black Friday sale and if you use my link below, that's actually going to get you 27% off. That's an exclusive offer that they gave me for you guys so if you do try it I know you're going to love it. Okay this next one, I see this a lot in the stores and I see it online and people buy them and these are those fancy paper towel holders. I think these are so unnecessary because I'm going to tell you what I did with my paper towel roll and the holder. I stuck it under my sink and you know why I did that? I was tired of using so much paper filling up our garbage with paper towels. When I put them under the sink and hid them from view, guess what? People stopped using them and nobody cared. And honestly what else you don't need and this should be in the second part of my video but I'm just going to put it in here because it goes in with the flow. You don't need paper towels. I do buy paper towels. I use them for very messy jobs maybe like a pet clean up so I have them hidden away. I go through maybe one roll of paper towels a year. Otherwise I'm using things like Swedish dishcloths. I think the amount of money that people spend on paper towels, well number one it's crazy. I think it's a lot and really a lot of people use them just to one time use. They throw them away. Very wasteful. Trust me when I say you do not need them and if you don't believe me, just stick your paper towel roll somewhere else. Hide it. See how it goes. If you enjoy content that helps you simplify your home and your life, I'm so glad you're here. Click the subscribe button below. Another thing that's very common and I see these. I see these in Facebook posts from my friends and people I know and I think it's a waste of money. I don't think you need it but it's fake plants. Now if you live somewhere where you don't have natural light, I understand but the problem is these plants are often made of plastic. They're pretty crappy and they're really expensive. I also think that these plants only serve to collect dust. The way I think of it is real plants will clean your air whereas the fake ones will just make you have to clean more. The next one is area rugs in high traffic places. Don't get me wrong. I do like area rugs. We have one in our kitchen. We have one in our dining room but I think when you put an area rug in a place that is super high traffic, it's always going to look really worn out quickly and I really do think it's a tripping hazard. I do have an area rug at our front door and I kind of think of that as the walk up mat into our home so that if you've got anything on your shoes and you walk in, it's all going to stay on that carpet and then you can take your shoes off and I can clean that little rug. But if you have these area rugs and runners all over your home, I don't think you need them. I think they're a tripping hazard. I think they get worn out. I think they're expensive. I don't think they're necessary. The next item is themed or seasonal blankets and decor like pillows and things like that. Now, I do think that there's a place for pillow covers. So if you have couch cushions and you want some Christmas cushions, get some covers. You don't have to buy the whole pillow, right? But I do see a lot of these holiday throw pillows and I agree, they're very cute, but most of us don't have the space to store them. I personally don't. I don't have anywhere to put these. This next one I tried to have because I thought you needed to have it and it just didn't work out for me and it is matching towel sets and they sell these and the problem I have with these, I have a few problems, they usually come with different types of towels. You know, you get the hand towels and the bath towels and the face towels, but what happens is you don't use them all equally so they kind of wear out at different times and I just find them impractical because sometimes I need more bath towels than I do face towels. I guess my point with this one is these matching towel sets are quite expensive and if you don't need all of the pieces that come in the set, it just ends up being clutter and so it's expensive clutter. So I say just buy the towels you need, mix and match. I think that looks very modern and save your money and your space. I'm adding this one because my daughter picked it up at the thrift store. She needed it and I told her we don't need it, don't buy it and now it's been a year and nobody's used it. It's a mandolin and I don't know if you use these. I know my dad uses this for potatoes and I think it's good, but the problem is you have to pull out this whole set and usually I can't even find it and then you have to clean it when you're done and it's not easy to clean. I have instead just taught myself how to use a knife very well so maybe my potatoes aren't sliced as thin, but they're not terrible and I will say about mandolins, they're incredibly dangerous so you have to be very, very careful. Yeah, they're dangerous. Okay, now onto part two. These are things that you keep rebuying but they're draining your wallet. I think if you are buying those K-cup coffee pods or any brand really, it's not worth it. Not only are these very expensive, they're not healthy for you because you're putting that hot water and coffee through that plastic container, that little plastic pod with the aluminum top so you're basically drinking chemicals with every cup of coffee. And not to mention, the reason why these are expensive, you're paying for that packaging. You're not paying for the coffee grounds. If you actually open them up and see how much coffee is in there, you're going to be annoyed. If you do love using pods and you have one of those machines, I am going to put this up. I've shared it before. They do sell these refillable stainless steel coffee pods. I think this could be a great solution because you just put whatever coffee you like into it and then you can still use your machine. I also see people rebuying and reusing those disposable bathroom cups. You know the small, I think Dixie makes some. They're little cups that you can use after you brush your teeth or whatnot. I just think it's a waste. I don't think you need them. If you want to have something for after you brush your teeth, just bring a mug in the bathroom. Just bring a glass in the bathroom. Something that you can reuse. This next one is weird. I have to share it. I don't have a cat, but if you have a cat, I stumbled on this one on Reddit. I actually really love this idea, but this person said rebuying kitty litter is a huge waste of money. Before you tune out, this is what he said. I'm going to put this up. He buys bricks of wood shavings meant for chickens or livestock. He gets these from agricultural stores. Guess what? He says it smells great. Once a week, he just dumps it into the trash and then he cleans the litter box. In a 12-18 month supply, $5.50. If I had a cat, I'd be doing that. Another thing that's a waste of money to me is buying those small trash can bin liners. Those plastic ones. You see them in the bathroom trashes. Just those small ones. I don't think you need them. I mean really, what are you putting in there that you actually need to have a liner? What we do is we've got a liner in our kitchen garbage can and then my husband will take the trash cans from all of the bathrooms and just dump them in there and dump the whole thing out when it's time to take the trash out. This next one I think is maybe going to be controversial, but I'm just going to say it because I've kind of just realized this is what we do. We don't buy tissues. The facial tissues that they sell. I will say, if someone is sick, sometimes I will get tissues for the winter time and just kind of have them if somebody gets a cold. Otherwise, we just don't use them. And kind of on this paper theme, I also stopped buying paper napkins. If I'm going to have like a holiday party or some sort of event, then maybe I would get the cocktail napkins. But otherwise, we don't buy napkins anymore. We have about 12 just cotton cloth napkins and you can use these, throw them into the washing machine. These are the best thing ever. I would encourage you to look into using them if you're still using napkins and you want to get away from that single-use paper. The next one that's a total waste of your money that you keep rebuying is those cute notebooks. I used to love buying those pretty notebooks. I would be out at the store and I would see one and I would say, oh, this is going to be my grocery list notebook and this is going to be my meal planning notebook and this one is my work notebook. Well, guess what? I would buy those notebooks, I would use them for maybe a week and then they would just sit there. And before I knew it, I had a whole bunch of pretty notebooks that were never used. What'd I do instead? Now, I have one notebook and I use it for everything. You may think this is weird and that I'm going to be disorganized if I do this, but somehow it works. I've got my notebook and I use it for doing my YouTube videos, I use it for work purposes, I write grocery lists in there, I have it all in the same place. I end up finishing the notebook and somehow I stay organized and I don't have as much clutter. The next item you don't need to rebuy are the Swiffer replacement heads. So I think that those are made of plastic anyway, so I'm kind of against buying them. I will link below. On Etsy, they actually sell replacement heads made of cotton. So people will actually sew these and sell them and you can use them and instead of throwing them away, you stick them in your washing machine or wash them by hand. It's genius. So much better than wasting your money on all of those refills and less wasteful. Long ago, I stopped buying those pre-made spice packets and actually I've noticed, I've looked at them a couple times in the store, I've noticed the price of them keeps increasing. I think that they're just totally not necessary and what's interesting about it is if you look on the ingredients list, you don't want to eat that stuff. Usually the first ingredient is some anti-caking agent or some sort of preservative. They also have a ton of sodium. You can make your own spice mixes. Whether you need mixes to make tacos, enchiladas, steak, anything you can think of, even ranch, you can make it yourself and it tastes a hundred times better and it's a lot cheaper. And I actually know it tastes better because it is approved by my kids. I have been making my own taco seasoning and my husband had bought a packet. And so I was like okay, well let me just use this up and get rid of it. So I made tacos, I used the packet and the kids were eating it and they said, why does this taste different? This isn't as good as usual. And I was very happy to hear that because a lot of times my kids do like the processed food. So I was happy to hear that in this case they didn't. Okay guys, thank you so much. That was my 20 home items that I think are a total waste of money. Now again, if you have these items and you use them and you love them, you do you. These are just to give you some good ideas. And if you want to keep the decluttering going and get some additional ideas as always, I'm going to link a playlist at the top here. And of course don't forget to subscribe and I'll see you next time. Bye bye.