56 Things You Can Toss Out Now

by Christine Kane (with comments added by Heidi as I identified with practically every line in this article)
We hold onto our stuff for two reasons: Love or fear. We either love things. Or we fear letting them go.

We cherish them and know they have value to us.

OR...

We fear that we'll need them someday. We fear that we wasted our money on them. We fear what others will think if we let them go. We even fear making the decision to release our mistakes, so we don't make any decision at all. Instead we passively hold onto stuff out of guilt.

Well, guess what?

When you begin to make choices from a place of LOVE and EXPANSION, then your world will change. Love is the clearest reason to do anything.

If you don't love it, toss it. Give it away. Your abundance and energy will increase when you begin to live by love, and not by fear.

Here are 56 things you can toss out (or give away) right now...

1. All the hotel key cards you forgot to turn it when you checked out. I had a boss who had a phobia that our credit card information would be retained on said cards so she insisted that we NOT return them. I have a stack that I was planning on making into a mini album. If it doesn’t happen before I leave, then I promise to ditch them.

2. The doilies your Aunt Missy crocheted 45 years ago that got handed down to you. What about the ones I bought when on vacation six years ago. The ones that are still in the bag…from the town that I’ll be living 15 minutes away from when I move…

3. CD's you haven't listened to in three years or more. Will you believe me if I say I listen to them all? Yeah, me neither :P I’ve added some to the garage sale pile.

4. The boxes of cassettes you've been meaning to transfer to CD's. – Not transfer. I don’t know how to do that. I do have a few that I still listen to though…

5. The bread maker you haven't used since 2003. – doesn’t apply but I’m having separation anxiety over leaving my Panini maker…

6. Your wedding dress. – What about my prom dress that I don’t fit? Or the two bridesmaid dresses (prom dress actually doubled as a candle lighter dress too) that are hanging in my closet?

7. Credit card bills from 1995. – I didn’t get a cc until 2002ish and yes, I just ditched a bunch of those. What’s holding me up is all my “business” receipts from when I was a CMC. Do I really have to keep them for seven years? That’s 2012!

8. The Allen wrenches from every piece of IKEA furniture you ever assembled. - guilty

9. The jacket you spent way too much money on and never wore. NOTE: Keeping it around just to punish yourself for your bad choices is like going to parochial school all over again. - this is hard. I’ve purged a lot of my clothes though.

10. Every scratching post or toy your cat doesn't like. NOTE: Your cat didn't go to parochial school so there's no sense punishing him.

11. House plants you no longer love. – thankfully they’ve all died :D

12. The stacks of O Magazine you swear you'll re-read. – Not O but I have a complete collection of Country Weekly. Think anyone would want them?

13. Every little zippy bag that came with a Clinique purchase. – got it. In to the trash they go…except for the one I use for camera cords

14. Every unopened perfume that came with a Clinique purchase. – oooh, one thing I DON’T have!

15. Leftover scrunchies in case you grow your hair long again. (Or in case the 90's return!) – again, got it. I promise I’ll throw these out today :P

16. The "Cherries Jubilee" flavored lip balm that makes you nauseous. - okay, lip balm is my weakness. I have tons of them. I like them all though. If I don't I definitely chuck them.

17. Every single regretful lipstick color you bought on a whim. ("Cherries Jubilee" is probably there, too.)

18. Your last four cell phones and all their chargers and blue teeth. - I only have one "ex" cell phone and I will NOT bring it to Ontario with me...I just need to go through and make sure I have all the numbers out of it...

19. Single socks. - they're hanging on my mirror waiting for their mates...

20. The Spode Christmas plates and mugs you don't like. (Along with the Christmas bath towels and welcome mat.) - Christmas plates are in the garage sale pile. Good reminder on the towels though. I'll add them today.

21. The framed posters you had in your college dorm room. - yes, there are posters on my wall that I will not be saving

22. Old stereo wires. NOTE: If your husband refuses to let go of any of these mysterious wires, try this: Put them (not him!) in a bin and label it "Random Cables and Wires." After two years, bring it out of storage and kindly note that no one has thought about it in two years. Ask if it would be okay to let go of half of them. Repeat process until all mysterious cables and wires are gone. - I have a cupboard full of these. I'm leaving them for Robert to inherit :D

23. The nails, screws, anchors, and cup hooks rusting in the bottom of your tool chest. - all random screws are in my tool box. No rust...yet...

24. Remote controls that don't remotely control anything you own. - safe!

25. Lamps, toasters, blenders, coffeemakers that no longer work. - thankfully in four years I have accumulated anything like this.

26. The notion that you will ever be one of those moms that makes beautiful scrapbooks. - at this point, it's more like the notion that I'll ever be a mom. Because I do make beautiful scrapbooks :P

NOTE: Put your photos in boxes. No one will judge you. - no, but it's not as fun!

27. Old blankets and linens you keep in case you suddenly have 27 sleepover guests. - I only have one old blanket and I tend to leave it on the couch in the winter when I'm watching tv. I do have two pillows that could probably be thrown out

28. College text books. - noted. Don't keep these.

29. Any boring decorative item that does little more than fill space. - hence the garage sale!

30. Vases you don't love or use. - ditto

31. Candle holders you don't love or use. - ditto

32. Picture frames you don't love or use. - ditto, it's amazing how many of these things I accumulated!

33. Class notes from college. - just entering college and I burnt most of my highshcool ones (we had a bonfire to celebrate graduation). I'm pretty sure all I have left are projects.

34. The idea that you have to save every last piece of your children's artwork and school work because it might mean you don't love them if you don't. (Save your favorites that have meaning to you!) - how about my OWN artwork and school work?

35. The "good silver" you don't use that was passed down to you. - I don't actually have any!

36. Old VHS movies. - I have a handful and I'm gifting them to Robert. He and Seth have HUGE collections of these things.

37. Unlabeled VHS tapes. (And don't waste your time watching them just in case.) - I have the VHS tapes from my grad...I watched them...

38. The stationary bike that got even more stationary after you got it. - LOL I had roller blades, I gave them away years ago.

39. The fabric pieces you've been collecting in case you ever become a quilter. - I'm not a quilter, I've never been a quilter, yet I have TONS of fabric pieces!!! I'm giving them to Mom as I find them. She can deal with them...is that evil?

40. Flashlights that dimly light up only after you bang them over and over on your thigh. - LOL I've had those. Don't anymore though.

41. Old keys that open some door somewhere in the past. - this is my desk drawer. TONS of keys and no idea about half of them.

42. Suitcases you don't use. 43. Old computers. 44. Old stereos. - safe

45. Promotional duffel bags with ugly logos and bad acronyms stitched all over them. - I have a few that need to be chucked. I tried to include them in the garage sale but the fact is, no one wants them...

46. Anything that makes you say, "But I got such a good price on it!"
47. Anything that makes you say, "But I paid so much for it!"
Ouch. Too true!

48. Half-full cans of paint. - again at work. Clear at home.

49. Extra baby items/Old baby items.

50. Record albums.

NOTE: Don't spend your extra hours in a day trying to figure out if someone will buy them. Really. They won't. They can buy the BeeGees on iTunes. - so true.

51. Gifts you never liked. - and don't feel guilty!!!

52. All the cross-stitch, knitting, or sewing projects you never finished. - this is hard. Cross stitching is cyclical. I will work on a project for awhile and then not again for a few years. It does seem dumb to store them though...

53. Any glassware or dinnerware that is a "memorabilia" item from proms or sororities or sports events. - all I have is one from high school that I use as a coin jar...

54. Old information packets you no longer need or that you can easily find on line. - YES. GARBAGE! Along with all the info from the universities I'm not attending.

55. All the hotel soaps that you took with you. (And stop taking them. You've got plenty of soap!) - actually I use them. I'm down to my last sliver of soap from Forks. I'm using all the body wash I had on hand too. I won't have hardly anything left by the time I move!

56. The belief that you only have to go through the de-cluttering process once and won't ever have to do it again. - so true. I only plan on being in my new place for eight months but I'm sure I'll accumulate a lot by then...
________________________________________

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE?

Please do! Just be sure to include this complete blurb with it:
Christine Kane is the Mentor to Women Who are Changing the World. She helps women uplevel their lives, their businesses and their success. Her weekly LiveCreative eZine goes out to over 12,000 subscribers. If you are ready to take your life and your world to the next level, you can sign up for a F.R.E.E. subscription at http://christinekane.com.
WANT TO SEE HUNDREDS MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?
See Christine's blog at ChristineKane.com/blog.