25 Items to Declutter in 2025 for a Simplified Home

As I am writing this we are in the first week of June. I cannot believe how quickly the time has flown by this year. We will soon be entering the second half of the year and just like that 2025 will be over too. One of my goals this year is to simplify my home, and I am doing so by decluttering a bunch of things that I no longer use or love.

I have been decluttering for quite a few years, so it comes naturally to me now as I mostly do not have an attachment to things anymore. However, I remember when I started out, I had trouble deciding where to begin with the decluttering process.

This blog will serve as a guideline to anyone new to decluttering. If you want to simplify your life this year, begin with your physical space. We still have 6 months to go until the end of the year, so a good enough time to make a dent.

Here are 25 things from different categories that you can focus your decluttering on.

Kitchen

1. Unused Kitchen Appliances

I bet you have a few kitchen gadgets that are gathering dust somewhere. You may have bought them with good intentions, but they are no longer of any use. You may have outgrown them or maybe you no longer use them, like the coffee machine. Let them go and create some space in the kitchen. You can donate or sell them.

2. Old or Broken Crockery and Utensils

Find any crockery or utensils that are not getting used, is chipped or too old to be used going forward. These are collectibles which keep piling up year over year and we do not really get a chance to declutter them. Go over one cabinet at a time and see what is not serving you and get rid of them.

3. Cleaning Tools or Products

If you are somebody who likes cleaning around the house, then novelty cleaning products and tools are no stranger to you, I am sure. But these get easily piled up. And truth be told, no matter how many products you own, you end up using your most favorite and effective one. So let them go. Donate them if they are good or trash them if expired.

4. Expired Food Items

If you are on the decluttering spree, the easiest place to declutter is the pantry cabinet or the refrigerator. The litmus test is very simple. If the food is way past its prime, declutter. If they are good, but you don’t see you or your family using it up anytime soon before it goes bad, donate.

5. Extra jars or storage containers

If you have a well running kitchen, then you definitely have a few jars lying around. Those pickle jars that you thought you’ll put to use but never did. Get rid of those. You can easily find them again if you do require. Also, storage containers and organizers around the house not being used are best decluttered. If you have them lying around, you will feel obliged to get something to put in them. It’s always best to downsize rather than organize.

Personal Items

6. Old clothes

For clothes, I tend to use the 1-year method. If there is any piece of clothing that I have not worn in a year’s time I declutter them. If it was not used in all the past seasons, I probably would not be using it anyway. But set a standard based on your circumstances, and get rid of any clothes that do not serve you anymore.

I also love the Marie Kond method while trying to declutter clothes. If it does not bring me joy, I let it go. If I am not feeling the best wearing a piece of clothing, I will not be comfortable anyway.

7. Fashion Jewlery

Those tarnish pieces of cheap jewelry are not serving you in anyway. They look cheap, harms your skin and do not look good at all. Invest in keeping only quality statement pieces and donate or trash the rest.

If you do love a good jewelry collection, keep them well organized and tarnish free. But get rid of the broken ones.

8. Shoes and Bags

One can never have enough shoes and bags, right? I know a lot of people collect these accessories and that is fine. Keep them well organized and use them from time to time. But if there are any bag or shoe that is worn out or you are not able to use them in anyway, get rid of it and make some space in your home.

9. Expired Skincare and Makeup

This is a no brainer. You should not be using any expired skincare and makeup. It will only harm your skin. The best is to buy only what you need and use them up within time. If you have a lot of products, then it is very likely to be expired before getting used up. So, filter those out and get rid of them.

10. Old Medicines

Again, another obvious category. Get rid of any medicine that is expired. Another way to keep track of any medicine is to keep a small journal in the medicine cabinet. Whenever you buy any medicine, write down the date of expiry in that journal so that it is easy to keep a tab on them. The expiry usually gets torn off or wiped out which makes it very difficult to keep track.

Office

11. Old gadgets or accessories

We live in the age of technology and gadgets, and very often these tend to become the garbage that we cannot handle. If there are any gadget around the house that you do not use, try selling them in the secondhand market and make some money off of it.

If there are non-functioning gadgets, wires, adapters etc. then collect them and dispose them off responsibly. You cannot just throw them out like trash. Every city has certain e-waste recycling centres. Take them there and deposit them.

12. Stationary Items

My love for stationary is never ending, but I definitely hoard them more than I use them. I am sure I am not alone. These things are great to be donated to orphanages or NGO’s. They are always looking for such items to give to the needy. Keep only the ones that you actually use and let go of the others. You do not need all the stationary you have. And if you actually need something once you’ve donated, you can always go and buy that item alone. There is no point giving up expensive real estate to hoard things you may or may not use.

13. Mails and Paperwork

This is actually a very easy category but an overwhelming one. It is very easy to decipher what document needs to be kept and what needs to be trashed. Any paper mail that comes through the door can easily be acted upon and trashed immediately. Next go through old medical files and trash them if you have overcome that issue. Only keep those medical file which are investigations for long term illnesses. You do not need the prescription for cold that you got 2 years ago. The next area are personal documents which can take the most time. Go through this pile from time to time and decide what you need to keep and trash the rest.

Also while dealing with this category, take the time to digitise whatever you can. Maybe opt for paper bills so that you incoming mails are lesser. Also take the time to digitise all you medical documents so that you don’t have to keep all the physical files. Ofcourse we cannot get rid of every documents, but having less will enable us to keep the ones we have organised well.

14. Junk Drawer Items

This is one area that you will need to come back from time to time. I believe every home needs a junk drawer to become a catch-all for all the floating items. But it is also very essential to go through this space from time to time and decide what needs to be kept and what needs to go. If anything needs to be kept then give it a permanent home.

Living Space

15. Decor

Another easy category are decor items. There is only one purpose of a decor item – to bring us joy by looking at it. If any space feels overwhelmed due to too much stuff, or any decor item that is no longer serving its purpose then let them go.

The beauty of any area lies in it negative space. While decor items are an important element to beautify any space, we need to be mindful of what we keep. I love live plants as decor, they are every changing and bring in the nature into our living space.

16. Furniture

This can be a little tricky, because furnitures are expensive and we usually buy it with a lot of money. But if there is any piece which is taking up essential floor space and not even getting well used, it is important we let them go. Free space in a home is very important.

You may consider selling your furniture in the second hand market if you want to make some money off of it.

17. Cushions and Throws

Furnishing are one other category that we end up hoarding. One feels that they can never have enough. It is true though, we want to change up the look of our home from season to season and cushions, throws etch play a vital part. But we need to be mindful of how much of them we store.

My trick is to dedicate a space for storing such items, maybe a bin or a drawer and only keep what fits in it. Anything overflowing needs to be let go.

18. Old Toys

If you have kids you will relate to this. Every phase of a kids life has new toys associated. And more and more toys pile up to gather dust. There is also an emotional aspect to decluttering a kids toys. But in order to help the kid develop creativity, it is essential to have less things to play with. This has been spoken by a lot of child psychologist as well. So be mindful of what you bring into the home as toys and declutter regularly, you are only helping your child by doing so.

19. Old Books

Any book that you have read or plan not to read in the future can be let go. A lot of people keep books to grow their collection and have a mini library of sorts. I do too, but I’ve set some boundaries again. You can decide on how many books you can keep and then start rotating. Declutter some and get new ones. That way you will not end up having an overwhelming book shelf.

20. Old Linens and Towels

This is one easy category. Anything worn out can be donated to animal shelters. There is no point holding on to a crunchy towel that you no longer use. My tip is to have less items in this category, use them all to its full potential and then donate them to shelters where they can get a second life. This way its your money well spent.

21. Expired Bath Products

Again another easy category to hoard items in. First tip here is to buy only what is needed. Such products are expensive and there is no brownie point for let them expire in you bathroom cabinets. Also they are always available at some or the other discount when you go out to purchase, so you are technically not saving any money when you buy in bulk and store.

Go through the cabinets and declutter any that are past its prime.

Outdoor

22. Dead plants

If you love gardening, you have a plant or two dead I am sure. Do weed them out from time to time. This keeps the garden looking aesthetic and also cleans up the space.

23. Gardening equipment

This is one area where one can tend to hoard many tools. Depending on the size of your garden keep the ones which are absolutely necessary and let go of the rest.

24. Patio Furniture

Furnitures in the garden look aesthetic, but if you do not use them they are of no use. They will get worn out or gather dust, and will have to spend your time cleaning them more than using them. Try letting them go if they do not serve you.

25. Old or broken dustbins

This is one category that probably gets overlooked. Who wants to keep up with the bin that holds trash, right? But if you have too many bins that what you use or they are broken and disgusting, then let them go. Keep less of them but the well functioning ones.