3 Tips for Decluttering "Just In Case" or "Someday" Items

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I think I have spent more money on replacing things that have been lost in clutter than replacing things I have donated. 🤗

My husband has such a good perspective on making mistakes that cost money. He says that it’s just tuition for life school. It’s normal to spend thousands on college or trade school to help us learn. Mistakes are some of the best ways to learn and paying tuition for it isn’t a big deal.

Just-in-Case Day should be a National holiday where everyone frees themselves of all the Just-in-Case items.

Borrowing is really a lost art. I went to exactly one wedding in the last decade, so I borrowed a dress from a friend who went to multiple weddings every year. She actually loaned her whole collection and I chose which one to wear. Another of her dresses had a broken zipper, so I took it off and put in a new one by hand. She LOVED it, because I fixed something she didn't know how to.

So good! The ice cream scoop example was so helpful. 7 years ago we had a house warming party, and a neighbor brought wine. I pulled out my juice cups and mason jars, but she was like, “You can’t have wine without a wine glass!!” So she ran back home and brought back a bunch of wine glasses and told me to keep them. I haven’t used them since. I think the feeling of someone else being disappointed that I don’t have something, keeps me holding onto them. This was just the video I needed to feel permission to donate them. Plus, if I ever need wine glasses for another party, I can always purchase them at a thrift store, then re-donate them afterwards. I have yet to see a thrift store that didn’t have about 50 wine glasses available at any given time.

Silly Dawn...the ice cream container IS a bowl! 😂

So interesting thing. I was giving away my baby stuff left and right to anyone I knew needed something. I thought we were done. Turns out we aren’t and I had urges of anxiety because I had given so much away… All I had to do was tell people I am pregnant and people are gathering things for me and keeping an eye out for whatever I need. It’s so incredible and humbling to see God work through people that I had helped by giving them my baby stuff. I don’t need to buy maternity clothes now and these friends are going to be saving us so much money. That being said-will I be giving my baby stuff away when we are officially done? Heck yes.

Dawn, your ice cream example in the intro was super cute! I have to tell you about the time in high school we had a foreign exchange student from Denmark stay with us; one night I got ice cream out and while I was distracted digging around in the clutter filled drawers for the ice cream scoop and the special bowls, I turned around to find my Danish friend had “unpeeled” the box around the ice cream (it wasn’t the kind in a tub) and she had gotten a knife out and some small plates and SLICED two rectangular slices of ice cream off, put them on the plates and recovered the paper box around the ice cream. I was shocked and amazed at how clever that was! They looked like pieces of bread sitting there and she explained it’s so that the slice of cake can sit right on top of the ice cream slice and you get both cake and ice cream easily in each bite no need for bowls or a scoop! It was one of the many little culture shock moments where I learned lots of good a life lessons that I still remember to this day - especially as a mom trying to keep from falling into the “what if” trap and instead just keep it simple so I can be more present and enjoy the activity with my kids instead of preparing for it and/or dreading all the clean up required afterwards ✌🏼 thanks for all you do! You’ve changed my perspective on so many things!

I'm at a later stage in life (51), I live alone now with my 2 furbabies and my 3 kids visit often but my home is at a stage where its so easy to manage and to pull back to reset stage, love love love it, my housework I do as a routine but it honestly takes about 30 min a day to do it, never have to do any deep cleaning or seasonal cleaning. I definitely look at what I want to manage in my home and its more cosy now than it was before, home is always at a state that if a surprise visitor came it would look like I clean loads every day. It's even rubbing off on my kids in there homes. So wish I'd found this way of living many years ago but better late than never, I've been living this way since pandemic first hit and I'm never ever going back to old way, Justin Case don't live here anymore, he got evicted along with stuff I no longer needed or wanted to manage x

This just happened to me this weekend! For years I have wanted to buy a cake dome for my cake platter, but I just don't seem to take cakes places. But on Sunday I had to take a cake to my n-laws, and guess what worked....the plastic bowl from my salad spinner! Upside down without the strainer basket it was a perfect travel cover on the cake platter ☺️

This happened JUST today! At Easter dinner, we were ready for dessert. My husband asked me to grab the pie spatula. I grabbed a regular one instead. He said, "No, grab the pie one." I explained I had decluttered it, but the one I handed him would work just find. And it did!

That is so true about glamourizing the past. I’ve regretted donating a few things but inevitably I eventually realized that if I hadn’t decluttered them then, I would have by now. There is a reason we made the decisions we did in the past! Respect your past self.

I also suggest calculating how much one sometimes spends on buying duplicate items because you cannot locate what you need in the clutter. Speaking for a friend:)

The comfort crisis! Perfect! I keep hearing about how terribly hard it is with inflation etc nowadays and then watch the people who are complaining get out their newest model iPhone and get into their 1 year old car and go into their house that has 3 bathrooms and 4 tvs for the two people who live there! I remember growing up and learning how to make do/fix things! I love your videos for sharing these things!💜

I have gotten rid of thousands of items over the course of my life and especially the last few years, and there are certainly items I ended up repurchasing after decluttering. In fact, I’m pretty sure just about everyone does rebuy at lest one thing, it’s very normal — you can’t always predict what’s going to come up in life. I think many people assume they’ll have to rebuy many many things if they declutter, but in reality it ends up being very very few. For myself, I got rid of a sewing machine as I was decluttering my fantasy self who sews her own wardrobe (if only!), but then less than a month later I had all sorts of random things coming up that needed mending but hand sewing was just not cutting it. So, I repurchased the sewing machine knowing (instead of guessing or assuming, big difference!) that for our household a sewing machine is a need. So happy to have it back! Other than the sewing machine, there were a couple of books I repurchased (I re-read books a lot). But that’s it. Can count repurchases on one hand. Once again, that’s out of thousands of decluttered items! So, unless it’s something truly irreplaceable, my personal experience has shown that for myself it’s better to just let the item go, because the odds I’ll actually need it are very very small.

I’m frequently reminding myself and anyone else who is listening, “Feelings are NOT facts.” I legit jumped up when I heard you say it! 😂 RIGHT ON TIME! Thank you again for the opportunity to remember we are resilient enough to handle perceived risks vs. actual threats! ❤❤❤

When my husband and I decided to get out of debt and came up with the six-year plan, we knew there was discomfort built into in because we were taking a lot of our income to pay down our debt. We never went hungry or anything, but a lot of the little extras weren't bought or were saved for. Plus as we go on we're living more simply and what is purchased (for the most part) is replacements/food/something that's needed. I'm finding the less you have, the less you find you actually need. It's been quite a journey coming from the 'buy, spend, buy' background I grew up in.

Thank you! I didn’t realize I needed to hear someone say, “Yes, it’s a risk, but it has rewards and it’s okay if you make mistakes.” I struggle most with getting into the decluttering zone and giving away or throwing away something that cannot be replaced. Either something that isn’t made anymore or something sentimental. But I still think this philosophy applies. Because I will be okay. Even if I regret decluttering something, I will be okay. Better than okay, because the reward of living in a clutter free space is immense. Keeping it simple—chocolate ice cream is my favorite, and yes, I do love when it gets little melty!

We recently cleaned my late MIL's house out to sell (in-laws moved in there in 1956 when FIL built the house). We got rid of a TON of stuff. But somehow we still have a garage and storage unit full of things we need to go through. Your channel is very helpful. But I am embarrassed to admit I now have 3 ice cream scoops. I had 2, but the one from her house was better than either I had. Guess I can now get rid of the two I had before. I will definitely be keeping one. But not 3. There, I said it out loud so I would actually do it. So many things to get rid of/donate/throw away. Hubby has some emotional attachment to this stuff, so that makes it even harder.