50 Things to Declutter on January 2 (or ASAP)

Shifrah Combiths
Shifrah Combiths
With five children, Shifrah is learning a thing or two about how to keep a fairly organized and pretty clean house with a grateful heart in a way that leaves plenty of time for the people who matter most. Shifrah grew up in San Francisco, but has come to appreciate smaller town life in Tallahassee, Florida, which she now calls home. She's been writing professionally for twenty years and she loves lifestyle photography, memory keeping, gardening, reading, and going to the beach with her husband and children.
updated Dec 30, 2019
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Fresh starts are just as much about saying goodbye to things from the past as they are about new beginnings. As we turn the page on a new year and find ourselves wanting to start over at home, decluttering is a natural instinct. And lists help get the momentum going. 

We gave you yesterday (the first day of the new year) as a day off, but now it’s time to get to work. Here are 50 things in your kitchen that you can consider putting on the “out with the old” cart to make room for what’s new, including the more efficient, cleaned-out space you crave.

  1. Take-out menus
  2. Storage containers without matching lids
  3. Storage container lids without matching containers
  4. Chipped mugs
  5. Mugs you don’t like
  6. Tea you don’t like
  7. Plates or other dinnerware with hairline cracks
  8. Platters you didn’t use over the holidays … again 
  9. Those last few decorative cupcake liners
  10. Disposable chopsticks
  11. Already burned birthday candles you were saving to use again 
  12. Dirty or extra reusable grocery bags 
  13. Expired nuts (they’re probably rancid)
  14. Free magnets that are really just ads 
  15. Duplicate spatulas 
  16. Those metal kebab skewers you’ve never once used
  17. Hot sauce packets from your last takeout order 
  18. The mulling spices that have sat unopened in your pantry for five winters 
  19. That “useful” pot that you haven’t pulled out in forever
  20. Extra water bottles 
  21. Glass and plastic food containers you’ve been saving just in case you need them
  22. The fondue set you got as a wedding present that’s still in its unopened box 
  23. Specialty bakeware you never use (like that madeleine cookie mold)
  24. Accessories from appliances you no longer own (blades to a long-gone food processor, for instance) 
  25. Duplicate serving pieces
  26. Serving pieces that never get used
  27. Dessert goblets that always feel too formal (and that you dread washing by hand) 
  28. The extra vegetable peeler that you keep in case someone wants to peel potatoes with you one day
  29. Ketchup packs from fast-food restaurants
  30. Expired vitamins and supplements
  31. Hopelessly caked-together garlic powder 
  32. Decorative olive oil bottles 
  33. Cracked or split wooden spoons
  34. Hole-y dish towels
  35. Stained rags
  36. Never-used cloth napkins
  37. Cookbooks that languish, untouched.
  38. Extra pitchers
  39. Extra salad tongs
  40. Spices that have lost their flavor
  41. Promotional plastic cups and/or kid’s meal plastic cups
  42. Cleaning products you no longer use
  43. Napkins you snagged from restaurants 
  44. Salt, pepper, sugar, red pepper, Parmesan, wasabi, chili oil, or soy sauce packets 
  45. Extra colanders
  46. Extra cutting boards or ones that are cracked or pitted
  47. Organizational products you no longer need (shelf tiers, lazy Susans, bottle drying rack, etc.)
  48. The cookbook holder that just takes up space in your pots-and-pans drawer
  49. The mandoline you’re afraid to use
  50. Oven mitts that don’t actually protect your hands anymore

What are some things you’re getting rid of in the new year?