10 Things To Purge Right Now If You Live In A Tiny Space

In this post we will rip the Band-aid off and purge those items you should get rid of NOW!

Welcome to the post 10 Things To purge Right Now If You Live A Tiny Space!

It’s easy to collect things we don’t need, but it’s not easy to live with them if we are living in a really tiny space. This post was made from experience as I have had to do major purging many times in my life!

I’ve lived in several small spaces throughout my life, including;

• A double wide trailer
• A fifth wheel camper
• A tiny house on wheels
• A small renovated 1.5 storey farm house
• And soon, a 2 bedroom basement apartment

I like to pretend that I’m a minimalist. Pretend is the keyword here. Although some aspects of my life have been (and are) minimal, I do have a lot of stuff! *sigh*

But I will gladly blame this on other things. I have four young kids who are homeschooled full time. I run two businesses and keep all supplies and inventory at home. And I’m a sucker for a killer deal no matter what it is (ok that on is on me).

My list could go on and on. But I do still purge on a regular basis and try to only keep things we need or will need in the future.

But enough about me and my minimalist hoarding problems.

Let’s look at 10 things YOU should purge right now if you’re living in a tiny space!

1. The pots and pans that you never use. You know you have them. Shoved in the back of the cupboard, piled up with a layer of dust. If you are going to be living in a tiny space, I highly doubt you’ll be hosting the big Christmas dinner with all of the relatives, so get rid of the massive pots and frying pans that haven’t had food touch them for two years. Pick a few of your favourites and donate the others. (Or put them into storage if your living situation is temporary)
2. The Christmas decorations that have no sentimental meaning to you. Christmas decorations can easily turn into a hoarding bin full of meaningless stuff. It may look cute and you may have got it at a great price at the second hand store (guilty), but if it’s not a treasured item and you only have it to fill a space during the holiday season GET RID OF IT.
3. All the extra bath towels. You know the ones. They never see the light of day. The kids don’t even want to use them. Just get rid of them. (Or cut them up into rags for super gross messes)
4. Movies and TV series on disk. There are so many ways to watch movies and shows these days. There’s really no need to own everything on disk anymore. exceptions would be having no internet or if you have dvd players in your car. Try to get rid of the ones you can!
5. Toys that don’t encourage the imagination. If a toy does everything for the child and they just watch it or hold it, it will very quickly become boring and get tossed to the side. This might not be a big deal if you have a large toy room or bedrooms for every child, but if your in a small space you want every toy you do keep to be played with a lot!
6. Cleaning supplies. Bottles and scrubbies and those micro fibre clothes that get covered in crap cause everything sticks to them, the almost empty soap bottles that need to sit upside down, the extra vacuum that doesn’t suck as well as your new one. Just throw it out. Do it now.
7. I have to include the clothes. I have to include this even though everyone already knows they should go through their closets. But you don’t have to do a full closet overhaul if that’s too overwhelming! Stick a box in your room and whenever you see something that you’ve been meaning to donate, or an item that might need to be tossed, just stick it in the bin. You can go through it again once its full and you have a spare second. This is a good way to ease yourself into the habit of giving away your clothes, without the full commitment of a huge overhaul!
8. Food. Throw out all of the opened stale food that will never get eaten, eat the things you will eat, and donate the rest to your local food bank! It’s quite easy to purge your pantry and food cupboards, and it creates so much room for food that will actually be eaten on a regular basis.
9. The coat closet. I live in a four season climate (although I would we have five, because mud season is REAL. Welcome to Ontario!) so purging this can be so difficult. But try your best. It helps if you sell some items, that way you can feel good knowing you got some money back!
10. Toiletry stuff. This one can be a hard because we really do think we need every single one of those bottles and miscellaneous items. Trust me, you don’t! And if I’m wrong and in two years you find that you do need that bottle of hand cream that smells a bit weird, then go spend five dollars and buy a nice new bottle. Now we all win!

Bonus Item!

I thought of another item after I had finished the post, and I had to include it! But “11 Items To Purge” sounds kinda weird. So this is a bonus!

11. Craft and DIY stuff. This one is a bit more specific and may not apply to you if your not a DIY’er. But if you are, you know exactly what stuff I’m talking about. Almost empty paint cans from long ago projects, bins of scrap material, old glue, extra wood cut offs, magazine clippings, the list could go on forever. Sort it out and purge purge purge!

A few more tips:

I hope this gives you a headstart in your purge journey. Before I go, below are some things to keep in mind while your going through your items. They really helped me as I was doing my huge purge when we moved into our tiny house, and they help me now whenever I’m faced with doubt about getting rid of something:

• Does this item bring me joy? If not, toss it.
• Remember that you can carry the memories of special items with you. But if you think you will forget, take a picture of the item and put it in a photo album.
• When sorting through something like your wardrobe, start with picking out your FAVOURITE things and set them aside. It really helps you see all of the excess stuff remaining, making it way easier to get rid of more items.
• It’s refreshing to be reminded that ultimately the things we own don’t really matter as much as we think they do. It’s all temporary. A verse I like to rehearse is: Matthew 6:19-20 “Do not store up treasures on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy and thieves cannot break in and steal. For where your treasure is there your heart will also be.”
• Lastly, remind yourself constantly about the goal. Every time I have something in my hands I think maybe I do need, I think about how good I feel when clutter isn’t consuming me and it helps me let the item go.

I hope this post helped you in some way! Good luck purging friends!

10 things to purge right now if you live in a tiny space! – a lovely place called home