Episode 2 - Box of random stuff
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[00:00:00] Welcome to Less Messin Minutes. I'm Jenny, your gentle guide to Tiny Doable Decluttering. Each episode we tackle one small thing together, a drawer, a shelf, a bag, and I walk you through what I'm doing in real time. No pressure, no perfection. Just a few minutes that help your home feel lighter. So grab something to tidy or just listen along and let's make a little progress together.
Okay?
I don't know about you, but in my house I have some random boxes of stuff. so today I am going to declutter just one of those. This is, this box is about the size of a shoe box. I got it from ikea. It was like 89 cents. And I just use boxes like this to store things. Probably not super important things, but we're gonna see what we have.
So I'm gonna start by just taking everything out of the box, [00:01:00] and as I do that, I'm going to sort things into loose categories. Now, I'm not going to dump everything out like I did with my purse because number one, there's much more stuff in here than was in my purse, and it would go absolutely everywhere.
And number two. I'm honestly not sure what all is in here, so I don't know if there is anything fragile or things that could get broken. So I'm just gonna be a little bit more cautious and I'm just gonna pull things out and like I said, as I'm pulling them out, I am just doing a loose sort. So putting like items with like,
and let me tell you the, the variety of items in here Is comical. there's a toy, um, like Cobra Snake. We've got some lanyards, some IDs or, um, yeah, like old school IDs. some post-it notepads. a, a little like desktop clock that's never been opened. an old [00:02:00] iPhone box, a sock.
Okay, nice. Some face masks. a pillowcase. A few random papers, actually a lot less papers than I thought. Anytime there's a random box, I just assume that there's gonna be a ton of papers. some sort of digital watch. We have quite a few pencils and pens actually. Maybe they're all pencils. Maybe just mechanicals.
oh, here's an Allen wrench. I probably could have used that the other day. submits that have never been opened. Breath savers. I wonder if those go bad. I wonder if there's a date on those. I don't know. A couple bandaids, man. I just have a thing about bandaids.
Okay. Somebody's maybe bracelet looks like they got from Florida or something. It's just kind of has that look about it.
Some sort of charging cable charger block and charging cable. Um, it says Sony on it. I'm really curious what [00:03:00] that could, could be to, could go to. I have a couple face masks. Oh, you know what? Here's a lens to my old Sony camera. I wonder if this, um, charger, I bet it goes to the camera since it's Sony as well.
Hmm. I wonder why. I'm not sure why either of those would be in this box, but again, this is just a box of random things. Don't get intimidated as you're going through the, you know, the initial process when things get, get worse. When you're, when you're doing this, that's a hundred percent what's gonna happen because you're, you're taking things from this confined space in my, uh, you know, example here, this box, and now I'm taking everything out.
So it's a lot more, you know, things are just everywhere.
Okay.
Have a couple things of glasses like eyeglasses, which Have a um oh. I'm trying, I'm trying to think what I would, what to call this. I mean, it's, [00:04:00] it's, it's well known. Oh, it's like a, it's like a bracket for a curtain rod. Curtain rod bracket, and then a random, a random, um, it says go pro on it.
It must be my kids. Um, but I don't know. It's just like a. I don't even know, maybe it's a base or something. I dunno if we still need that or not. Um, and a little package of candy. So there is a lot of stuff that I removed from this box. Um,
and now that everything is out, I can see that most of this stuff. I don't really need, and I don't think that I want to put things back in and just have a random box, right? The goal is to have less, so I'm gonna do my best to either, you know, put things in a donation pile. Figure out what's [00:05:00] trash, figure out, like, I mean, some of these pens or pencils might not even have lead.
I'm gonna see what their, what their situation is, and hopefully by the end of this, have a completely empty box.
Now I am opening up the, the phone case box just to be sure that like there's no, um, I wanna make sure that there's no charging cables or anything like that in there. And there's not, and it looks like this is not something that we need to hold on to. So. I'm going to get rid of that. We have a couple washable, a couple, actually it's three, uh, washable face masks.
these are something that, we bought interestingly before COVID. They just had some funny, like, designs on 'em and my son wanted them, and so we have those, but. Truthfully, I don't think we need [00:06:00] them, so I'm going to get rid of those.
The watch we don't need, let's see. We have a lanyard. So there are a couple things that I'm gonna put to the side that. Uh, clearly I belong to my kids and before I just automatically get rid of them, I am gonna run it by them and just say, Hey, do you still want this? So there's a, looks like a cobra kai, um, lanyard, the bracelet that somebody might have gotten on vacation.
A like fighter jet toy or model, I guess it's not really a toy, but a model. And then a couple of, medals from different soccer things, a Pokemon card.
let's see. So that's what I'm gonna put in the pile for my kids to look at.
This lone sock, we're gonna get rid of
the glasses. Um, [00:07:00] have a place that they can live in the office. They don't need to be in this box. The old ID. We can get rid of. We don't need that anymore. I'm gonna go ahead and also get rid of this, um, this toy snake. We don't, I'm not even gonna ask anybody about that one. That one's just leaving.
Okay. Two more IDs, like more like temporary IDs when somebody forgot their ID for school. So I'm gonna put those and then get rid of pile an old lip gloss that. Looks like it's gross. It's all kinda separated and, it's not one that I don't think I ever really wore. So I'm gonna toss that. Let's see.
I'll hold onto the bandaids and put them in the medicine cabinet with the other first aid products.
I am not sure if we really need this bracket for the curtain rod, it's obviously the curtain rod's up, but I am just gonna double check that because maybe it's not on properly. So I will check that The camera has a home. I [00:08:00] and it, I don't have the camera. The camera wasn't in this box, just a lens for it.
So I'm gonna take the lens and this charger and put it with the other camera items that live in the basement.
I love to play golf and I'm really terrible about keeping track of how many strokes it takes me because I'm not a great golfer. So I got these stroke counters and I have a ton of them. It like it came in a package of 10. Just don't need that many. Um, so I'm gonna get rid of the, the lone stroke counter that was in there.
And then I have, let's see, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8 pencils. oh, Okay. So I'm gonna pick out the best ones and I'm gonna release the others and I'm not gonna feel guilty about it. They are just leaving
because we have enough pencils in the house.
Okay,
so I [00:09:00] kept three pencils. I'm gonna get rid of this little pad. It's more, I don't know, it's like a little novelty pad. Um, kind of like a thumbs up. I guess you could write notes on it, but very, very small. We're not, we're not gonna keep that, And then I have a, I think from Six Flags. It's like a rubber band thing, but it says six flags on it.
It almost looks like a, like a bracelet. But I think what it probably was, it probably held together like a t-shirt and a hat that we bought. So we don't need that. We'll get rid of that, some sort of bracelet. It says Aim high, it's from the Air Force. Maybe we got that when we went to the air show. We don't need to keep that.
And then I have three pieces of paper, one that just has a note on it that I don't need anymore. So that can go. One is a, looks like a golf scorecard. Which is probably from one of the earliest times that, that I went golfing. [00:10:00] I may hold onto that just for right now. Um, and then another piece of paper that has a map on it that we don't need.
So I will get rid of that. Okay. Then I have, um, two. Buttons that my, that were from a camp that my kids went to. One just has his first name and last initial on it and one says future counselor and it has the year on it and it has a design. I'm gonna keep the one that says future counselor and his name, and I'll put that with like his save stuff.
Doesn't mean we're gonna save it forever, we're just gonna save it for now. And I'm gonna put the one that just has his name and. Last initial off to, you know, I'm gonna get rid of that. We don't need that. Here's, um, I have a little pouch that probably held like, rocks. I'm wondering if, if somebody had bought, um, like some souvenir [00:11:00] rocks.
It's like a, a pouch like that. But either way, it's not anything that we need to hold onto. So I am going to release that. This decorative pillow case, I don't even, I don't think is mine. I need to check with my partner and see if that belongs to his family. Um, because I don't recognize it from our stuff.
I have a bag that, um, had like, you could, you know how like some winter coat. You can fold up really small and put in a, put in a bag. Well, I have the bag for that. I've never, ever wadded up or folded up my coat small enough to fit in a bag, and I, I probably never will. I don't even think I have this coat still, so I'm going to get rid of that.
I am going to keep the Allen wrench for sure. And then I have a mystery package of, it's like, what would it be from, from something that we had to put together. But it has, you know, it's like extra [00:12:00] pieces. Um, I have no idea what it's to. We clearly haven't needed it or used it. I am going to let go of it.
And not give it another thought at all. Okay. I have a pack of wet wipes that surprisingly are still, are still good, like they still have, like the liquid or whatever, you can still use them. So I will hold onto those for right now. Um, okay. And so now I'm just kind of taking a look. And, oh, I have a, like a squeeze thing from donating plasma, like where you can, they give you a thing that like you can pump it with your fingers or with your hands, almost like a, like a stress ball type thing.
which I'm gonna keep that, that's not a bad thing to have, especially if I donate plasma in the future. It's a good thing to use and then some sort of level. I wonder what this is too. I mean, it's like really tiny, but it is a level. It's got the, the, the level stuff [00:13:00] in the middle. I don't know what you call that, but, um, interesting.
It's plastic, so it must have come with something that we, that we bought. But here's the thing. We have actual levels at the house, like. Um, levels that we would use if, if we were putting something on the wall or, um, you know, doing some sort of project. So I don't think that that needs to be saved.
Oh, the other thing that I had put to the side, just so it was out of the way, is a stapler. I have a stapler. Um, it's kind of cool. It has a place in the back or a pencil sharpener. That's neat. Or like a built-in pencil sharpener. But I have two staplers at home. Here already. Um, I don't need a stapler for work, so I think that we're gonna go ahead and donate the stapler.
Okay, so this is really big progress. I've got some things that I'm keeping, I'm keeping the [00:14:00] wet wipes,
the glasses. There was chapstick, I think I forgot to mention that. Um, so the wet wipes, the glasses, the chapstick, all have homes elsewhere, not in this box. So I'm not sure why some, why these things ended up in this box. I'm really not. Um, the camera. Lens and then the cord for it, the charging cable. I'm gonna put that in the basement with the camera stuff.
I'm gonna double check to see if we need the bracket for the curtain. Uh, the curtain rod. I'm going to put the Allen wrench with our tools.
I'm gonna put the pencils. Probably in the junk drawer in the kitchen. See if we need any there. And if we don't, I may just get rid of those extra pencils.
the golf scorecard, I'm gonna put just with my save stuff. And the only reason I'm gonna keep it is a little bit for nostalgia because it was when I was [00:15:00] first playing golf. My score of course is terrible. It's still terrible. Um, but I did date it and so I'm just curious to go back and maybe compare.
Will I really compare? I don't know, but it's one piece of paper and I'm not gonna feel bad about holding onto it for right now, but I do have like a little save box for stuff for myself. So I'll put that in there. Um, the buttons or the button rather that I'm keeping, um, that says future counselor. I'll put in my son's save box.
I'm going to ask about the pillowcase, and then I have all of the stuff I have, the stuff I'm getting rid of, and then the stuff, the couple things that I'm going to ask my kids. So those are the, again, those are the, um, the fighter jet model, the bracelet, and then the Pokemon card and the medals from soccer.
And otherwise, oh, the desktop clock. I think I'm gonna donate. It's still in the package. We never [00:16:00] opened it. We haven't used it. We're not gonna use it. I'm gonna donate that. Is there anything else here? Oh, the bandages, like I mentioned before, I'll put in the bathroom with our first aid staff. and oh, I need to ask about this GoPro piece.
And then there's the mints and the candy that I'm sure are still fine. So I will just leave those.
Okay. I'm calling this a when. So the box is empty. I don't have anything going back in the box. I do have a couple things that I'm leaving out again, just to, um, ask a few people about. And then if there are things that we're keeping, then like if they wanna, if my son wants to keep the bracelet or the model, then that needs to, to live in his room.
If we're keeping the metals, I don't mind putting that in his, like box of things to save. But otherwise I'm calling this task done.
If you organized along with me [00:17:00] today, um, or if you're getting ready to start a project, I want you to keep in mind that you don't have to do the entire thing, so I could absolutely have made this project smaller. I could have just done the kids things. I could have just done, you know, I could have set a timer for five minutes and just sorted out things for that amount of time.
I could have just gone through and pulled out things that I knew I didn't wanna keep, or things that were gonna be trash like that I just, or things to donate. So you can always make. A task smaller, um, to fit in with the amount of time that you have or your energy level or, or whatever the case may be. I think the, the key is just getting started and deciding that you are going to, that you're going to move forward.
So no matter how small you're gonna move forward. So I hope [00:18:00] today's task was helpful and if you chose to. Declutter a box or a bag, a shelf, a drawer, whatever. I'm so glad that you were here with me. Um, I'd love to know what you decluttered. Shoot me an email, um, and just say, Hey, today while you decluttered that box of random stuff, I decluttered this.
I look forward to talking with you next time.
Thanks for joining me for today's small declutter. If you enjoyed our time together, I would love for you to follow the podcast so you never miss a little momentum boost. And if you'd like to learn more about me, you can check out my website, savvy spaces organizing.com. Until next time, my friend, take a breath, take a small step, and take good care of yourself.
