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5 Common Space Bandits

by Maria Gracia Join our newsletter to be notified when the newest Organizing Article is available. Seeking less stress and more space? Here are 5 common space bandits that can take your space captive. Rally today, and get that space back! 1. Clothes: If you're like most people, the clothes you wear on a day-to-day basis come from a mere 20 percent of the clothes in your closet. In other words, 80 percent of those clothes are just taking up space and never worn. Go through your closet and remove jeans, sweaters, blouses, skirts, dresses, shoes and coats that you never wear. Donate them today. Your closet will be ready to store any outfits you feel wonderful wearing, and you'll be helping out someone who could be making use of those unused garments. 2. Appliances: Bread machines, juicers, griddles, mixers and other similar appliances are wonderful--if you use them. However, if you have some, or all, of these appliances, and you haven't used them in, conservatively speaking, a year, chances are, they'll never be used in your lifetime. Say goodbye to them today, and you'll be freeing up cabinet and counter space. 3. Magazines: Do you keep every single magazine that enters your home? If you do, you most likely have a few piles growing throughout your home or office. Go through your magazines and cut out and file only the articles or recipes, etc. that most interest you. No sense in keeping the entire magazine, once you've read through it and have chosen those pages that you'd like to keep for future reference. 4. Mementos: While it's fine to keep some very meaningful things stashed away in a mementos box, if you've accumulated more than one or two boxes of these treasures, you may be going a bit overboard. Being sentimental is wonderful, but not when it's at the expense of your living space or storage space. Go through these boxes of stuff from time to time, and weed out the things that no longer have significant meaning to you. Commit to 1-2 boxes at the most, and you'll have lots of memories to look back on in the future, and lots of new space. 5. Furniture: Is your home or apartment filled to the max with furniture you never use? Perhaps it was passed down from a loved one? Or maybe you recently made a move to a smaller place, but brought all of your big furniture with you. If it's not functional or you truly don't have the space for it, consider letting go. Imagine all the free space you'll have when it's gone. Back to Organizing Articles Index