Inside: Wondering what to declutter in May? If you’re slow decluttering or doing maintenance decluttering, this “Declutter in a Year’ series is for you! This short n’ sweet spring decluttering list won’t take long (except for maybe #5?), giving you more time to enjoy spring.
We got through April, y’all. This was a packed month for our family!
We had appointments galore, our co-op play The Wizard of Oz (my 14-year-old was the Lion!) and our first braces in the family finally went on.
Then came the sicknesses: the stomach bug AND a nasty cold. In a family of seven, waiting for sickness to go through everyone one by one is a minimum two week process – per sickness. We were more sick in April than we were this entire winter it seemed – what the actual heck?!
Needless to say, life happened, things backed up and my entryway is a mess (see photo below). I’ve got piles of decluttered items waiting to leave the house, to be given to friends and cat shelters and my very last resort: thrift stores.
My home decorating hyperfocus that’s lasted a full year seems to finally be waning, so I have paint and a wallpaper stencil sitting in a corner waiting for me to muster up the dregs of ADHD hyperfocus energy and get my budget hallway makeover done.
But that project is probably not going to happen this month because it finally feels like spring! And who wants to be inside painting and stenciling when it’s gorgeous outside?!
Related: 101 Easy Things to Declutter Today (No Brainer Items)
5 Things to Declutter in May
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With beautiful weather finally here, you probably don’t want to spend a ton of time inside decluttering.
Besides enjoying the beautiful weather, I’m sure you’ve got spring sports games and graduation parties to attend, and vacations and amusement park visits to plan.
I tried to keep it focused and not super complicated this month, so you can spend time outside (not 1000 hours, but time) and enjoy spring.
Let’s jump into May’s decluttering categories!
You Might Also Like: 7 Tips for Decluttering on a Low Income (Because It’s Different)
1. Taxes Paperwork
Unless you filed an extension, your taxes are finished for the year. Phew! Time to get rid of old taxes paperwork and file away this year’s documents.
While we do have digital copies of everything starting four years ago when we hired an accountant for the first time, I just can’t seem to ditch the physical papers.
But I am going to cut back on the years I’m keeping. I used to keep seven years of files. Now I’m going to cut that back to three, since we do have four year’s worth of digital back-ups.
If you have digital back-ups, you likely don’t need to keep the formerly recommended seven years of physical files (in case of audits). Keep at least three years – no more than seven – and let go of what you can.
2. Dish Towels & Rags
We have a single drawer in the kitchen dedicated to dish towels and rags, and using the container method, when it’s full, it’s time to get rid of some.
Get rid of dish towels with holes and ones that don’t work (they push water around instead of absorbing it).
Speaking of which, I have yet to find the perfect dish towels. You know, the perfectly absorbent ones that last forever? If you’ve found them, help the rest of us out, and leave a comment below!
Sort through your rags and dish cloths. Have you recently found a brand you prefer more? Get rid of the ones you no longer use or move them to your “emergency/outdoor work stash”.
We keep one basket downstairs of old towels and rags for emergencies, like water leaks and minor floods, or outdoor work. When that’s full, anything else has to go.
Last thing in this category: if you have more than one dish drying rack (we use dish towels), you probably only need one. Declutter the rest.
3. Oven Mitts & Potholders
Again, we have one drawer that contains these items. Once it’s full, it’s time to get rid of the excess.
I cannot imagine a world where you need more than one pair of oven mitts (we have mismatched ones). Probably 3-4 potholders would suffice, and if you have trivets for hot dishes, two are likely enough.
Keep your favorites, and declutter the rest.
Side Note: We also keep silicone covers for microwaving food (similar HERE) in the same drawer as oven mitts and potholders. They are the best! And we no longer have to use paper towels for this purpose.
4. Supplements, Vitamins & Medications
This category can really build up over time! Expired medications, cold medications, supplements/medications you no longer take.
Start by throwing away expired vitamins, supplements and over the counter medications like cold and pain meds.
Next, set aside expired medications or medications you no longer take and need to get rid of. Ask your pharmacist about proper disposal.
If you have opened, but not expired supplements you are no longer taking, you can offer them in Buy Nothing groups or to friends and family.
Organize what remains. We have two separate “homes” for medications. One home for cold and pain medications plus supplies like thermometers and cough drops, and another for vitamins, supplements and regular medications.
Because the ADHD needs visual reminders, we keep the latter on an open shelf behind a glass cabinet door so we remember to take them. The cough/cold/pain meds stay in a basket on a shelf close by.
5. Digital Clutter
Confession time: I am a minimalist who is the absolute worst with digital clutter. My email inbox is absolutely atrocious, and I am *this* close to needing to pay Google for more storage in my multiple Gmails.
My Dropbox storage is overflowing, and in complete disarray. Our digital photo storage needs a serious clean-up.
The only reason I’m considering decluttering and organizing it is because I might be hiring one of my kids to do work for me, and I realized that there is no way for them to find the files they need.
I saved decluttering photos (another digital clutter nightmare) for November’s decluttering tasks.
So for this category, I am going to direct you to THIS article on Be More with Less. Courtney Carver knows her stuff!
If I happen to get my act together in the next year, I will write my own article on the topic, but in the meantime, trust Courtney, an OG minimalist blogger.
Last thing: take it slow with this one. Maybe every year, pick a different thing in this category to declutter over a few weeks (e.g. email, admin folder, etc.)? It can be a lot!
Give Your May Decluttering A Clear Focus
Hopefully, these categories (barring that last one – oof) don’t take you long to complete! Get outside and soak up the sun, make vitamin D, plant something, take a nature walk. All the spring outdoorsy things.
May is the month we visit our favorite family-friendly amusement park: Knoebels. If you are in Pennsylvania, we highly recommend this park! We’ve gone every year for almost ten years now.
The best part about Knoebels? You don’t have to pay to enter. So if parents aren’t riding, they can just sit and watch their kids have a blast without paying an entry fee.
One indoors spring activity I AM a huge fan of is rearranging. It costs nothing and makes you appreciate what you have even more. We’ve been doing a lot of it this spring!
Anyways, enjoy the weather, your kids (or grandkids) and all that May has to offer.
Need to Catch Up With Our Declutter In a Year Series? Here ya go!
