26 things in your house that a professional organiser would throw out

An expert organiser shares her list of the top 26 things she’d throw out without a second thought.

The wine opener that never works well enough is just one of the tosses you can make from your utensil drawer. Professional organisers would also ditch the slotted spoons and pancake turners that bend under the weight of food. And add the garlic press that is too delicate to mince a clove of garlic to the toss pile.

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If it doesn’t write, then why keep it? Professional organisers always throw out pens that don’t work. They also pitch empty mechanical pencils, eraser-less #2 pencils, and dried out markers and highlighters without caps.

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You’ll rarely find a space-hogging phone book in a professional organiser’s home. They also let go of encyclopaedia sets and textbooks; consider donating those. And unless you need the thesaurus and dictionary for playing Scrabble, pass those on, too.

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Outdated maps will only get you lost, so professional organisers advise recycling them. Out-of-date travel guides and old brochures are filled with obsolete information, so don’t bother keeping those for a potential future trip either.

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While frozen, fresh and canned foods come to mind, these are not the only things in your home that expire. Once they reach their best by date, it’s recommended to throw out medications, vitamins and supplements.

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Professional organisers love storage solutions but not every container works well. If the bin, basket or box didn’t solve your problem, then throw it out; otherwise, it just adds to your clutter. Consider passing along storage containers to a teacher who might need them.

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Once you’re finished with a hobby, professional organisers advise donating the equipment to someone who will use it. Whether you have woodworking tools, scuba fins, camping gear or a set of watercolours, if you are no longer using it then toss it out of your house.

The VCR and boom box have been replaced with more up-to-date technology, so get rid of the old stuff. Recycle floppy disks and ancient laptops, obsolete phones, VHS tapes and more through an e-waste program.

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All those broken items you have waiting to be fixed; professional organisers either fix it or ditch it and so should you. If you’ve already replaced it, you don’t miss it, or it is too costly to make the repair, there is no sense keeping said item around.