I Decluttered These 10 Things After 45 — And Don't Regret a Single One

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5 hours ago

A lot of things have become harder since I hit the 45th birthday milestone. I may have celebrated this occasion with a martini-fueled evening involving dozens of people I know and love, but the reality of it all is that I've started to feel a lot older, more tired, and less tolerant of all the stressful things in life that keep coming up. And, to be honest, the walls in my tiny studio apartment have started to feel as if they are closing in on me.
I tell my friends often that the key to feeling like you have a handle on things when life gets more complicated is something I like to call 'life administration.' This is multi-faceted, and it involves taking care of any paperwork, finances, and other personal affairs, as well as dealing with physical items that have accumulated throughout the years.
I've discovered that the more of these things I remove from my life and my space, the more in control I feel about every aspect of that post-45 life. Here's everything I decluttered after turning 45.
I've accrued an impressive (read: unnecessary, frustrating, and mildly ridiculous) amount of novelty shot glasses, mugs, and other glassware and cups. What may have felt, at the time, like a cute nostalgic souvenir from that tequila trip to Mexico has ended up never being used and taking up too much space. Since decluttering, I've downsized to a single set of wine glasses, martini glasses, and coffee mugs that I either use regularly for myself or for entertaining friends.
I've gone to so many concerts and festivals over the years, from my favorite musicians to food festivals and fairs. Everything has resulted in tickets, wristbands, and lanyards that then litter tables and drawers — at one point I had a whole collection of backstage or media passes lining the coat hooks on my walls. But what purpose do they really serve in the long run other than taking up a ton of space? If anything is super important to you — maybe the concert ticket from your first date with someone you love — then you could put it in a photo album or memento box. But most of this stuff you can toss and not miss (and you can always just take a photo of it to maintain the memory!). All of my mementos, with a tiny sentimental fraction exception, are now out of my home.
It's funny how I bemoan how little space and storage I have, and then waste that exact same space and storage keeping items that are long past their expiration dates. Vitamins, medicine, beauty and skin products, and, of course, pantry items such as spices and canned goods were all given the heave-ho after I turned 45 if they weren't still usable or effective. Why give anything space that is not serving you? That's a larger life message of adulthood if I've ever heard it.
Every time I go through my drawers and piles that live on my desk, I'm shocked to find old mail and papers that simply don't serve my current life needs. Itineraries from trips that have long passed, takeout menus from restaurants that I no longer go to (or maybe don't even exist anymore!), random brochures and sales catalogs, and billing statements from items long ago paid (when all that info exists online anyway!). If it has any personal data, shred it — and toss the rest.
Unexpected job hazard of being a food writer: You end up with a lot of pretty random kitchen tools. Some are super useful, while others … not so much. Many get used once, thrown in a junk drawer, and then forgotten about for years — until one day you open the drawer to clean it out and find a bunch of stuff you can't identify. Treat it as you treat your closet (more on that in a minute): If you aren't currently using it and can't identify it, then toss it or give it away. While I fully believe someone's trash is someone else's treasure, it's no use to you if you have no idea what it's even used for or why you have it in the first place.
Once upon a time, I was a 25-year-old moving into her first apartment, and I thought that meant decor like pink leopard print pillows and shower curtains and polka-dotted towels and throw pillows. Super cute when you were a teenager five minutes ago, but not as cute when you are officially (gulp) AARP-eligible. I got rid of all that household decor that no longer serves who I am today, and now I have a bathroom and bedroom that has a whole lot more black in it (with a splash of pink, where it makes sense, for good, but tasteful, measure). There's nothing wrong with cheetah print or dots if that is what reflects your current style, but if you have the decor from three-versions-of-you-ago, it doesn't belong in modern-you's home.
Over nearly two decades in my current apartment, I've amassed a whole lot of cords, cables, and chargers. Some of them are for phones and other tech I've long since sunsetted. So, if these cords and cables and adaptors don't actually work with or fit anything I'm currently using or own, why do I still have a giant tangled bag of them? No idea. But adult me decided it was time to get rid of everything that doesn't currently have a purpose.
Much like obsolete cords and cables have no place in my home at this stage of my life, the same is true for instruction manuals and receipts from items I no longer have. I'll keep the receipts with my tax files if they were work-related and something I deducted and need to hold onto. But if it's the owner's manual for an air fryer that went to kitchen appliance heaven last year? Why am I holding onto that? Same thing for old fans, chargers, and everything else I don't currently need to flip through. (And, note, most of these manuals have digital versions anyway — even if they do happen to be for current products in your home!)
I have one closet in this apartment, and that has to store everything. My clothes, coats, shoes — everything. I clearly don't have room for a whole lot of excess, and yet I discovered clothes in there that I stopped wearing years ago. Whether they're ripped, stained, damaged, or faded, or I simply outgrew them and they don't match my current style — if I'm not wearing them, why am I keeping them? Everything I haven't worn in the last year, I gave away.
I like holding onto books, cookbooks, and albums that I still love and enjoy decades later. But there are also those I haven't listened to or read in forever that aren't where I am at this point in my life. And that's fine — make room for the things that are, for the current era of you. I gave all this stuff away, and I don't miss it.
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