Some organizers ask nicely. @wonderlandallys asks pretty please, and then she gives you a deadline: today. When she says today, she means right now. She is a professional organizer, and in this installment of her series on things to throw away, she names three categories hiding in most homes: old towels, old beauty products and swimwear you never wear.
She keeps the tone light, telling her audience that it should not be hard and that she believes in them. But underneath the humor is a practical message about what makes a home function. Here is her list, along with some context to help you decide what to keep.
@wonderlandallys
Number one: the dish towels and bath towels you never touch
Her first target is the old dish towels and bath towels that nobody uses. She knows what some people will say next, and she gets ahead of it. Before you tell her how many ways you can cut up a bath towel and reuse it in the garage, she says, a household only needs a certain number of towels. If you have an overstuffed drawer or an overflowing linen closet, you probably have too many, and the old ones should go.
It is a fair point. A towel stash can grow slowly: a set from a wedding, a few from a college dorm, some beach towels from trips that are long past. Meanwhile the family keeps using the same favorites. A quick count of how many towels each person needs for a week, plus a few extras for guests, usually reveals a lot of surplus.
Number two: old beauty products at the back of the cabinet
Her second category is the old, mostly used, probably expired beauty products that have not been touched in years and are sitting in the back of bathroom cabinets and closets. She wants your bathroom to be as sanitary as it can be, and she points out that a cabinet stuffed with old items is harder to clean and harder to maintain. If you have not used something in a while, she says, you are probably not going to use it in the future, so do yourself a favor and let it go.
There is a safety angle here, too. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration notes on its page about eye cosmetic safety that manufacturers generally recommend discarding mascara two to four months after purchase, and that eye makeup should not be used from old containers because microbes can grow and cause eye infections. The agency also advises against adding water or saliva to dried-out mascara and against storing makeup in places hotter than 85 degrees, such as a car, because heat can break down the preservatives. Eye products are the most time-sensitive, but the same common sense applies to everything in the drawer: if it has changed color, smell or texture, toss it.
Number three: swimwear that does not fit or you never wear
Her third item is old swimwear. She notes that it is summertime and many of us have already dug out our swim collection, so this is the ideal moment to go through it. Find the suits that do not fit or that you simply never put on, and get rid of them.
She adds a gentle caveat for anyone who insists on holding on to clothes that do not currently fit. She is not there to argue, but she asks you to store them away from the clothes that do fit. A closet is not functional, she says, if it is full of clothes you cannot wear. Even if you plan to keep a few pieces, separating them takes the daily frustration out of getting dressed.
Throw away does not always mean throw away
She closes with a disclaimer that is worth remembering. She uses the phrase “throw away” as a blanket statement, and she says to donate and recycle where it is appropriate. But she also says some things are simply garbage and belong in the garbage can. If you worry about things ending up in a landfill, her advice is to stop buying items you will not use and bringing them home.
That gives you a helpful sorting guide for these three categories:
- Towels in good shape: Many animal shelters and rescues welcome clean, old towels and blankets. Call ahead to confirm what they need.
- Worn, stained or frayed towels: Cut them into rags for cleaning, or place them in a textile recycling bin if your area has one.
- Beauty products: Unopened, unexpired items can go to a shelter that accepts toiletries. Open or expired products belong in the trash. Empty bottles may be recyclable, depending on your local program.
- Swimwear: Suits in good condition can be donated or sold secondhand. Stretched-out, faded or damaged ones can be thrown away.
Make it a ten minute job
You can finish all three categories in a single short session. Start with the linen closet and pull anything you have not used this year. Move to the bathroom and empty the back of one cabinet into a bag, tossing items as you check them. Then open the swimsuit drawer and try on the ones you are unsure about, or simply set aside what you have not worn in a couple of seasons.
The payoff is a closet and a cabinet where you can actually find things, and a bathroom that takes less time to clean. As the organizer says, you do not need a perfect plan. You need to pick up a trash bag and begin, today, right now.