What to Toss Out From Your Home this January

 

 

I can’t believe it’s mid-January! Time flies! While this is definitely the month of acquiring new things, new resolutions, hobbies, etc, it is certainly the month for also throwing out last year’s excess baggage away and start anew! Sounds easy right? But it actually is!

The past week, has been a challenge for me and hubby healthwise. One tuesday morning, I found myself sick as a dog with the stomach flu, a bug I never had before! And man, it was the worst! The vomiting, non-stop trips to the bathroom, it made me soo weak. After exactly 24 hours, my husband started experiencing the same symptoms and I felt so bad for being the culprit who started it all. Luckily as I write this, we are both fully recovered.

 

So back to the topic, I was frantically fishing for some meds at the height of my illness only to realize that a lot of them were expired! So I thought it would be cool to do a new year purge of stuff that needs to be tossed out first thing this month. Think of it as spring cleaning in January! 🙂

 

1.) Expired Medications. The last thing you need is get a severe reaction from taking an expired drug. Or it just won’t work when you need it the most. Yes, it happened to me. I guess it just goes with being a nurse and we are just too OC with the expiration dates. So every January it’s good practice to check your emergency meds stash because you don’t use it as often, therefore they may be older and may be expired sooner than you think.

2.) Expired Spices and pantry staples. Same goes for spices and stuff in your pantry. Your Poultry seasoning from Thanksgiving may be last years. Or is it? Go check and get rid of old spices, canned goods and basically everything unopened that has an expiry date. You don’t want to serve any bad food items to your family anytime soon. This also includes..

3.) Expired/old fridge staples. You know it. Those old pickle jars, ketchup and other bottled sauces and what have yous. Some people keep their fridge staples for YEARS and never toss them! I can’t freakin’ believe it! If it’s something you don’t use daily/weekly or even monthly, be sure to note when it’s good til, and pls girl, LET IT GO!

4.) Cleaning supplies. In particular, those that come contact with bodily fluids, bacteria, blood and/or other filthy things. Things that come to mind: toilet cleaning supplies like plungers, brushes, bathroom scrubers, floor mop (unless you have a swiffer), floor rags, etc. And please change your dish sponge every couple of weeks. Buy new ones every year at least for these soiled items

5.) Unused old clothes. You don’t have to wait for spring to clean your closet. Do it this month! The rule of thumb is if you haven’t used it for a year, it’s gotta go. Or if an item doesn’t fill you up with joy, just like what some minimalists claim, you have to toss it. Think about it, it’s a great way to make space in your closet and actually account which clothes you need to use more. I donated a lot of my unused new clothes to my local church. I was stunned how much of them I haven’t even remembered I had, but baby, the purge felt soo good!! 😉

6.) Junk in your storage/garage. Sound too familiar? Yeah I know. Most homes have unwanted junk in storage like old toys, books, cardboard, old Christmas/Halloween and other seasonal decorations. Basically, just stuff you don’t use anymore. And you probably don’t even remember still having them. Now is really the time to clean out those storage units and donate or sell them. It is not only costing you space, but is a fire hazard. Get rid of those unwanted stuff asap!

7.) Stuff you didn’t get to use last year. Just like what I mentioned on #6 you probably have a ton of these! You know when you buy something and it sits on your closet for years, some still have tags on them. First of all, stop hoarding! Tomorrow will come I promise! And secondly, if you weren’t able to use a specific item last year, will you do so this year? Ask yourself this and do yourself a favor, just don’t keep stuff you know you’re not going to use. Toss them out!!!!! 😉

 

I hope you guys leave behind some baggage (or a lot of baggage) from last year to get you to a fresh start this year. Let me know on the comments what are some of the items you are tossing out of your house this year. As for me, I did my deed, restocked my emergency meds, threw/donated a lot of stuff I didn’t need. I never felt so much better. 🙂

 

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