11 Things You Can Toss Right Now to Make Space Fast

If the house feels cramped, it’s usually not because you need more storage—it’s because you’re storing stuff that doesn’t deserve the space anymore. You don’t have to do a huge purge to feel relief. Getting rid of a handful of obvious things in each room can open things up fast and make everything easier to clean.

Here are easy “no-regret” categories you can walk through today, one small bag at a time.

1. Expired products in the bathroom

Start with the easiest wins. Pull open your bathroom drawers and cabinets and check dates on medicines, skincare, sunscreen, and makeup.

Anything expired, separated, or that you haven’t reached for in a year can go. Old products don’t work as well, and some can irritate your skin or eyes.

Clearing them out frees space for the things you actually use daily—your favorite moisturizer, everyday makeup, and the kids’ basics. Suddenly your bathroom feels less like a cluttered sample closet and more like a place you can get ready without digging.

2. Extra towels you secretly avoid using

Most homes have a stack of towels that get used constantly and another stack that never leaves the shelf. If a towel is scratchy, stained, or too small, you’re never going to reach for it by choice.

Pull everything out and be honest. Keep the ones you’d happily put out for guests or use yourself. The rest can be downgraded to rags, used for messy projects, or donated to animal shelters if they’re still in decent shape.

You don’t need twenty bath towels for a family of four. A smaller, better set folds easier, fits the shelf, and makes the whole linen closet feel calmer.

3. Mismatched food storage containers with missing lids

Nothing makes a kitchen drawer more frustrating than a pile of container bottoms and lids that don’t belong to each other. You dig and dig, still can’t find a match, and end up using plastic wrap anyway.

Dump the whole stack, then only keep containers that have a working lid right now. No “maybe it’s in the dishwasher” guessing.

Recycle or donate the rest if possible. Once you’re left with a smaller set of matched pieces, they fit in the cabinet better and you stop wasting time hunting every time you have leftovers.

4. Old mugs, water bottles, and cups you don’t actually like

If the cabinet is packed but you reach for the same two mugs every morning, that tells you something. Same for kids’ cups and water bottles—some are favorites, and the rest just take up room.

Pull everything out and line it up. Keep what you honestly use and like: the mugs that feel good in your hand, the bottles that don’t leak, the kids’ cups that actually get requested.

Donate the rest. Opening that cabinet and seeing a manageable, usable lineup instead of a jumble is weirdly satisfying.

5. Clothes that are damaged, uncomfortable, or “not you” anymore

You don’t have to do a full closet clean-out. Just focus on the easy “no” pile—things that are torn, stained, itchy, or the wrong size by a lot.

Pull anything you’d be annoyed to wear on a normal day. Those are the pieces that keep you feeling like you “have nothing to wear” even when the closet is full.

Bag them up for donation or textile recycling. You’ll be left with fewer clothes, but more outfits you actually reach for. That alone makes your bedroom and laundry feel lighter.

6. Duplicate kitchen gadgets and tools

Most kitchens have at least two or three of the same tool—three spatulas, four peelers, five wooden spoons. You probably have a favorite for each and the rest just float around taking up drawer space.

Pick your best version of each tool: the peeler that actually works, the spatula you always grab, the tongs you trust. Keep a reasonable backup if you truly use it, and let the rest go.

Drawers close easier, you can see what you have, and cooking stops feeling like a treasure hunt.

7. Old chargers and cables for devices you don’t own

Mystery cords multiply quietly until you have a full nest of them shoved in a drawer. Take ten minutes and sort them.

Anything that clearly belongs to a device you no longer own can go. If you can’t identify what it charges and no one in the house claims it, it’s safe to let it leave.

Keep a small, labeled stash of cords that match your current devices, and fill a box with the rest for electronics recycling. Suddenly your “tech drawer” stops being the place where cords go to die.

8. Single-purpose kitchen items you never reach for

Avocado slicers, one-job choppers, mini gadgets—if you cook regularly and still don’t reach for them, they’re probably not worth the space.

Look at each one and ask: do I use this at least a few times a year? Could I do the same job with a knife or a basic tool I already have?

Keep the few that genuinely make life easier (maybe your garlic press or microplane) and let the others go. Drawers free up, and prepping dinner actually feels simpler.

9. Stacks of old papers you’ll never reference

Paper is sneaky. It hides in baskets, drawers, and piles on counters. You don’t have to sort every sheet today—just grab the obvious junk.

Recycle:

• Old school flyers and catalogs
• Expired coupons
• Directions and manuals for things you no longer own

You’ll still have important paperwork to tackle later, but even thinning out the obvious trash lightens the load and makes it less overwhelming when you’re ready to file the rest.

10. Toys and kid items that are broken or outgrown

You don’t have to declutter your kids’ entire toy stash tonight, but you can handle the easy stuff: broken toys, puzzles with missing half the pieces, dried-out markers, and babyish items older kids never touch.

Do a quick sweep of common areas and toss what’s clearly trash. Then choose a small number of outgrown items to donate—think toys they’ve ignored for months.

This alone frees up bins and shelves so you can actually see what’s left and your kids can find what they want without dumping everything on the floor.

11. Decor pieces you keep moving but never really like

We all have that one vase, sign, or knickknack that gets shuffled from room to room because it was a gift or “too nice” to let go—but it never really fits anywhere.

If you’ve moved the same piece three times and still don’t love seeing it, it’s costing you more than the space. It’s visual clutter.

Letting go of a few of those “obligation decor” items makes your shelves and surfaces feel calmer. It creates room to actually enjoy the pieces you do love or to leave a little breathing space, which always makes a house feel cleaner.