Learn how to declutter fast in two key spaces in your home by leveraging a simple (but often-overlooked) tool.
In honor of Kitchen and Bath Month, I’m focusing on these two key spaces in our homes during October. We kicked things off by exploring some of the bathroom organizing products that are near and dear to my heart.
Next week, we’ll move into the kitchen to explore kitchen organizing products I can’t live without. This week, I’m moving away from products and focusing on the kitchen and bathroom decluttering process.
Let’s talk about how to declutter FAST!
Decluttering a space typically goes hand-in-hand with making lots of decisions about what stays and what goes. Decision-making can be hard for many people. In fact, there’s a saying in the professional organizing industry that clutter is simply the result of many postponed/delayed decisions.
What if there was a tool that you could use to turbo charge your decision-making during a bathroom or kitchen declutter session?
Well, actually there is. It’s called a product expiration date, and it’s your best friend during the purging process.
How to Declutter Your Bathroom Fast
Whether you store medications in the kitchen, bathroom, or elsewhere, your pill bottles will tell you when it’s time to bid them adieu. No decision-making required! {read these tips for how to properly dispose of your prescription and OTC medications}.
Medications lose their potency over time. No use taking cold meds that aren’t likely to relieve your symptoms…or even worse, relying on an expired albuterol inhaler to relieve an asthma attack. Yikes.
Be sure to dispose of your expired medications properly. Check out this online resource to help you find medication drop off sites near you or check with your local pharmacy or police station.
You can use expiration dates as a way to reduce decision fatigue when as you declutter your toiletries, cosmetics, and skin care products too.
Many skin care products will display an expiration date somewhere on the packaging. If you can’t find one, you can head over to Checkfresh and enter the barcode/brand to determine if your product is past its prime.
There are certain cosmetics that you should be especially cautious about keeping too long, as they can begin to serve as a petri dish for bacteria. Mascara is one such culprit. When in doubt, you can refer to cosmetic expiration guidelines summarized here.
And while you’re at it, it’s likely time to replace your tooth brush (we’re supposed to do that every 3 months, right?)
How to Declutter Your Kitchen Fast
In the past, when I’ve worked with clients on a kitchen decluttering project, we always made a game of it to locate the food item with the earliest expiration date. Once, a client and I came up with a canned soup that had expired in 1998. Can you beat that?
Let me know in the comments what YOU discover in your pantry 🙂
Thanks for all the helpful info, especially the guidance around items without expiry dates.