Permission to purge

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Published Date 6/24/2025

When DIY home decor expert Kari Wood opened a bin stored in her attic with faded newspaper clippings, folded-up high school pep rally ribbons, light-up shoes with dinosaurs, and her child’s glow-in-the-dark T-Rex shirt, she had a revelation. While there were tons of things she wanted to keep, she also realized there were even more things she “never ever ever ever” needed.

“I was literally staring at them and wondering why in the world I put them in a bin in the first place,” she says. And that got her thinking. Ever since they moved into their house she has been decluttering. “It’s good for the mind and the attic and the house and the soul. There’s just something about having less STUFF that makes you feel lighter and happier and airier and joyful.”

The hitch, she says, is giving yourself permission to do it. “Sometimes we feel guilty about getting rid of things we feel like we should be hanging on to until someone else comes along and says it’s okay,” says Wood, who advises to let that person be you.

So for the sake of posterity, Wood launched into a rather prolific list of giveaways and throwaways that might make us sit up and take note. In the spirit of being kind about it, she says the first is single socks — one of the biggest mysteries on earth. Truth? None of these socks will ever get married. “They are never going to find their happily ever after. March over to that basket of single socks and set them free.”

Another is expired and superfluous beauty products. This one, Wood says, was hard for her. “How do you give up on something that promised to turn you into a supermodel? I had drawers and drawers and drawers full of unfulfilled promises.” Some she realized she kept because they were not inexpensive despite the sheer volume of half-full containers. “I had to let them all go. I tossed out expired makeup, creams, and lotions and it was so cathartic.” And don’t forget all those tiny department store cosmetic samples and “gifts with purchase.” Unopened with no plans to wake up one day and use them? Offer them to a friend.

How about old magazines? “There were magazines that I had been keeping from 2005,” she admits. “Face it. Home decor magazines from 20 years ago do not a stylish home make. I had such good intentions of catching up on design ideas, but truth? It’s time to recycle those old magazines. It’s time to free up some shelf space for something new.”

We may all be guilty of the next one because we never bother to go through them: keeping appliances and gadget instruction manuals for stuff long gone. Even for current ones, you can usually ditch them in favor of a Google search.

Once in a while, you grab for a dish — that one dish that’s chipped or no longer matches anything — right? Now? It’s time to say goodbye to chipped dishes and mugs (how about all those excess coffee mugs you got as commercial promotions and one-off gifts in holiday baskets) and mismatched plates. Put together your favorites that coordinate with each other and create an entirely new matching set.

Then there is that “whatever” drawer — the one filled with a tangled mess of cables, chargers, old batteries, and obsolete gadgets. All those USBs that were abandoned for USCs? Trickle chargers no longer needed, and cords to devices you no longer use? Consider donating or recycling them. Just make sure you dispose of electronics and old batteries appropriately.

Of course, it’s hard to get rid of anything old but utilitarian made of fabric. When Wood went through all the sparsely-used towels and sheets in her linen closet she found many that had frayed and weren’t even soft anymore. So she packaged them up and took them to a local shelter.

Oh — and here’s a common one: Scraps of wrapping paper. You know — the ones left over from wrapping a gift that left just enough to wrap a small jewelry box someday. “This was one I feel so guilty about. I just couldn’t let go of the half scraps of paper. Then every single time I’d go to wrap something, the gift was always too big and I couldn’t use the scraps.” She advises to keep a small stash of scraps for emergencies and let go of the rest.

Old spice. No. Not the throwback men’s cologne. Old spices in your kitchen cabinets. Wood says she honestly never thought of them expiring. Then when she went to use her oregano and found it clumpy, she realized it was no good any more. Use the smell test: if they don’t really smell fresh then it’s probably time to toss them.

Then there is that drawer or series of velvet boxes that contain tangled necklaces and broken earrings. Keep the pieces you love. Donate or repurpose the rest. “One man’s trash is another’s treasure,” says Wood.

Wood’s list is a long one, so for the purposes of brevity, we’ll simply list them:

Old greeting cards. If you value the sentiments, snap a smart phone photo and keep them on a computer desktop folder.
A no-brainer: Dried-up pens and markers.
Say goodbye to those expired cans of soup from 2020– the ones you bought when you were sheltering in place and thought for sure we were in the middle of an apocalypse.
Clothes that no longer fit except in your dreams. Even if you lose the weight, those skinny jeans gave up the ghost for wide-legs awhile back.
It’s hard to chuck shoes, but sometimes it’s time for a shoe to go. Clear out your shoe racks and make room for pairs that are stylish, comfortable, and ready for new adventures.

And don’t forget excessive paperwork, a spillover supply of plastic containers (so what if Tupperware has a lifetime guarantee?), and multiples of the same item. You usually only need one at a time anyway.

Just go for it. “You got this friend,” says Wood. “Truly. Life is too short to have clutter weighing you down.”

ThistlewoodFarms,TBWS

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