Inside: Give your decluttering a clear focus in March! A guide to what to declutter in March, with a balance of easy to challenging categories for slow or maintenance decluttering.
Last year, I was browsing our local thrift store and got stuck in the DVD section. Browsing the colorful cases and familiar titles, all of it called to me.
I’m a sucker for movies from the 2000’s. As my oldest likes to say, “Movies were better back then.” I also love a good rewatch! Familiar stories, familiar characters, familiar endings. I’m here for it.
And seeing so many familiar titles of movies I enjoyed watching at least once, well, nostalgia got me good. I needed those DVDs. I started a stack, and before I knew it, I was paying for ten or so DVDs at fifty cents a piece.
I intended to watch them, I did. But when I put the first DVD into our very old DVD player, I realized the DVD player was on its last legs. It didn’t skip on the screen, but it made the most annoying recurring background noise.
It was so annoying that we ended up renting the movie on Apple TV, instead. I threw the DVD player away two weeks later, originally intending to buy another one eventually.
But honestly, would we actually use a new DVD player? That’s the question you have to ask when you’re decluttering.
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No matter what our intentions are, what’s our reality?
When we want to watch a movie, we are far more likely to just watch one on streaming, digital movies we already owned, or pay $4 to rent one. We could borrow DVDs from the library, but they might be damaged and skip (annoying!).
It took five dollars at a thrift store to be honest with myself that I was probably never going to watch DVDs again. They’re going back to the very same thrift store.
All of the categories in March push you to ask that same question: do I really use this? Not my fantasy self, not my distant future self, my present day self.
If the answer is no, it’s time to move it to the “maybe” bin with a date on it, or give it away.
Let’s dive into this month’s categories to declutter!
1. Bakeware (Including Measuring Cups/Spoons)
We do A LOT of baking in our house. So much baking that we have two sets of measuring cups and spoons and use them all the time.
You know what we don’t use? Round cake pans (because my kids went through a cake decorating phase). I actually despise making cakes in round cake pans. Give me a square pan or a 9×13 pan any day.
Our excess bakeware lives in the cabinet above the refrigerator. It doesn’t bother anyone there…except I can still sense the stuff we never use sitting there. It’s clutter in my brain.
So this month, I’m moving the round cake pans, a rotating cake stand and a couple other bakeware items to the “maybe” bin that lives in the garage.
2. Cookware
While you’re in the kitchen, why not also go through your cookware?
You’ll want to sort through…
- Pots and Pans
- Cooking Utensils
- Cutting Boards
- Butcher Knives
- Colanders
- Cheese Graters
We have a nonstick Green Pan that my husband damaged in an ADHD moment and costs around $12 to replace at Marshall’s. I need to do that.
Our colanders also need replacing (got any recommendations?). The blue colored ones were so pretty when we bought them at Costco! But 4-5 years later, the paint is peeling off, and I don’t even want to think about what’s going into our food.
Also, our kids have outgrown our clip-on sauce holders. Time for them to find a new home.
3. Craft Supplies
It’s been a long winter, typically the season for crafting. But did you actually craft?
Was this just a busy season of life? Or are you done with crafting for a good long while? Maybe your kids have grown out of it. Maybe you’re not the crafter you thought you were, or you abandoned one type of craft for a different type and can’t see yourself ever going back to the old one.
This is where Marie Kondo does know what she’s talking about. Gather all the craft supplies in one place so you can see exactly how much you have and what you have. Answer the questions above honestly and act accordingly.
Besides the crafting supplies that live in my two crafty kiddos rooms, we have two small bins of general use crafting supplies….and possibly a third, now that I think of it. I’m pretty sure we can get it down to one bin.
4. Movies
If you still have DVDs, do you actually watch them? Or, like me, do you default to streaming services and digital renting?
You could attempt to build a new habit of using your DVDs…but do you want to? Is the effort worth it to you?
Only you can answer that. But if you still have DVDs, and you aren’t using them, it might be time to let them go.
“But June, they’re not doing any harm sitting there on the shelf. What if I use them one day?” Whether or not you actively think about those unused DVDs, if you have a female brain, your brain stores the data of what lives in your home – trust me.
Even if the physical clutter doesn’t bother you, the brain clutter does. If you’re not using them, it’s time to get rid of them.
5. Puzzles & Board Games
Again, winter is coming to a close. Are you using any puzzles and board games you’ve accumulated in your home that you won’t use in the future?
Here are more questions to ask…
- Are there board games that were overplayed to the point of hating them?
- Are there games you’ve had for years and only played once and didn’t love?
- Are there puzzles that were annoying to complete, so you’ll never do them again?
- Are there puzzles with missing pieces?
- Are there games and puzzles from childhood that your kids have outgrown?
One caveat: just because you didn’t use them for one season doesn’t always mean you automatically should declutter them.
This winter, I didn’t get around to puzzling other than our new Christmas puzzles. That being said, I’m teaching a puzzle class at our homeschool co-op next year, and I genuinely love puzzles. I know I will do them in the future.
So for us, puzzles we didn’t use this past winter aren’t clutter. We also took the time last year to go through them and get rid of puzzles we didn’t like or were missing pieces.
As long as they don’t exceed their “container”, the puzzles we have can stay. The board games on the other hand? I’m off to sort through them.
Give Your March Decluttering a Clear Focus
This week I visited a cardiologist because of family history (everything’s fine). I mentioned running regularly, and he said, “That’s great. With five kids, I don’t know how you find the time.”
Keeping our home decluttered and minimalist is the #1 reason I can find the time to run, homeschool, work, and manage our home.
Help fully usher in spring by decluttering these five categories! Bonus: decluttering now will make spring cleaning even easier.
If you’re new to this “declutter your house in a year” series, catch up by reading What to Declutter in January and What to Declutter in February.
