43. 10 Easy Things to Declutter Now (That You Won’t Miss at All)

Decluttering doesn’t have to mean tackling your photo albums or your kid’s old art projects. Start with the easy stuff—no guilt, no emotional rollercoaster.

In this episode, we’re sharing 10 quick wins you can declutter right now without a second thought. These are low-stress, high-impact categories that will give you instant momentum (and maybe a few cleared-out drawers you forgot existed).

Whether you're downsizing, prepping for a move, or just tired of the daily mess, this episode is the best place to start.

💡 You’ll Learn:

• The psychology behind starting with “easy clutter”
• 10 things you can declutter right now without regret
• How small wins lead to big motivation
• How to keep the momentum going without burning out

🎯 Clear space, build confidence, and feel lighter—starting today.

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 www.downsizingroadmap.com

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Let’s simplify, declutter, and create space for your next chapter—together!

Transcript

Jodi Rosko 0:01

Welcome back to another episode of the Downsizing Roadmap Podcast with your hosts Jody Roscoe and Heather Fisher. We're talking about all things downsizing, from our own experiences with clients to guest experts. Let's make downsizing easier, one conversation at a time.

Heather Fisher 0:17

Hi, welcome to Downsizing Roadmap Podcast. We are talking today about some really easy wins. Ten easy things to declutter that have no emotion around them. So not photos. Yeah, not heirlooms. Just a nice, easy walk in the park. Um, some things that you can really expired food. Yeah, that's an easy one. Expired anything takes the decisions away. Right. So I'm Heather Fisher.

Jodi Rosko 0:50

I'm Jody Roscoe.

Heather Fisher 0:51

And we're excited to dive in. If you've been listening to our podcast, you know sometimes things are harder, sometimes they're easier. Um, if you're just getting started and and you came across this episode, this is a great way to get some momentum built. Um, so then you can tackle those harder things down the road.

Jodi Rosko 1:12

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I think that's the thing. I think if you start getting it rolling, then it is so much easier to do the harder things.

Heather Fisher 1:20

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I mean, the momentum is what you need.

Jodi Rosko 1:24

Yeah, because you're looking around and you're like, oh, I can't do it.

Heather Fisher 1:28

It's like I need to downsize or I need to declutter is such an overwhelming mountain. Right. Um, but there's a lot of easy pieces in it that that can just um be easy to get started.

Jodi Rosko 1:41

Well, and that's why we talk about um which not totally talking about that today, but talk about parameters, right?

Heather Fisher 1:47

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 1:47

Because that just gives you like a a you know, grid to be able to decide so much easier if you if you have parameters in place. So we have a podcast around that, so go listen to that one. But today we're talking about easy things that you don't even need parameters around.

Heather Fisher 2:00

Yeah, I mean it's these are a category that for most of them you could grab them and be done in an hour or you know, done in a half a day. And so it's really not making a whole plan around them. The plan is get this done, check the box, and move on to the next thing, and you'll make so much progress, be through 10 things, and have some space to breathe and tackle some other stuff.

Jodi Rosko 2:27

Yeah, because the harder things really give you a lot more decision fatigue.

Heather Fisher 2:32

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 2:32

So we're talking about things that shouldn't give you a whole lot of decision, like shouldn't take a whole lot of brain power to decide to let go of them.

Heather Fisher 2:40

Yeah, decision fatigue is when you know your brain just no longer has the capacity in one day to make-cause not get rid of one more thing, even if it's a used gum wrapper. Yeah, you just need to stop making decisions. So these are some filler activities um when when you need that break. It's your permission as well to toss a lot of things without guilt. Right.

Jodi Rosko 3:06

Um I think your 100 would work really good here. Yeah.

Heather Fisher 3:09

Tell me about the 100 again. Um, so the quick 100 is just um, you know, starting with that's your plan, you're gonna get rid of a hundred things. And you know, the stat we always give is the average home has three hundred thousand things. So if it feels like, oh, a hundred's a lot, it's really not. It's surprising. Um it's a quick breeze through, and we're talking, you know, sheets of paper, pieces of junk mail. Um, you know, if you've got kids at home, it's definitely easy because they're just collectors of little Rocks. Yeah. Rocks and Happy Meal toys and birthday party treats. That's, you know, where this stemmed from was when I had little kids at home. Um, but I think, you know, I do the same thing. You know, I shouldn't blame it on the kids because as adults we collect trinkets and you know, a postcard that came in the mail with a coupon or um, you know, it just so much that's not useful.

Jodi Rosko 4:12

And comes in without even our permission, really, you know?

Heather Fisher 4:14

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 4:15

Yeah. It's just here in our house that we don't need it.

Heather Fisher 4:18

Sits in that, you know, visible spot until you're sick of not making the decision on it, so it gets tucked. Right. And it's all the tucked stuff that you're talking about. Trying so hard not to be a shover anymore. Oh my.

Jodi Rosko 4:31

Did you hear that, folks? Yes. I'm working on it. Yeah.

Heather Fisher 4:38

Yeah. Okay, so let's count down. Number 10. Expired toiletries and makeup. I said this on a previous episode, but I did this recently. And I mean, kitchen-sized trash bag full between the bathroom and the linen closet with shelves.

Jodi Rosko 4:58

Yep. And it doesn't even have to be um expired. It's sometimes like you buy something, a product that you just don't love, and then you don't throw it away because it's a full bottle of whatever. And so you keep it and then it sits there for, you know, however long. So if you've bought something, you know, just let go of that money that decision is made, already done, and just let it go. So but there was I did I also did it recently, and there was tons of stuff that was old, like had just been in there a long time and you know, probably dried up or you know, not good anymore.

Heather Fisher 5:30

I think what one thing I'm definitely guilty of is that, you know, in my head, I'm like, oh, sunscreen expires, and it's so important to have sunscreen. So I get new, but I don't do the one-in, one-out roll. So, you know, there's the all the old ones either tucked in a a pool bag or in the back of the closet, and I'm not checking them all. So there were so many, you know, sunscreens and things like that that, you know, we're at that line, but we had new, and we're never gonna use all of that before it actually is expired if it wasn't. So definitely condensing on those things.

Jodi Rosko 6:08

Nail polish too. Like I get the nail polish and it's all separated into like colors that that's not gonna go back to it.

Heather Fisher 6:13

Try to put it on your your nails, it's clumpy, just immediately don't be like 99% of us. You put the lid back on and stick it back on the shelf. Put it right to the track. Right to the chest.

Jodi Rosko 6:25

Yep.

Heather Fisher 6:26

Yeah, so I it's definitely just something to be conscious of once you've done it to not let it accumulate.

Jodi Rosko 6:33

And I think I said this when I after I did it, I bought little trays and I put all of like the hair care together and all the face care together, and all like and it just made has made such a crazy difference. Like it's so simple, but it really has made a difference for me to see what I'm using and what I'm not using, and you know, know right where to go to get it, and I'm not, you know, weeding around for it and all the things.

Heather Fisher 6:53

So yeah, absolutely.

Jodi Rosko 6:55

So number nine mismatch Tupperware lids and containers. Oh my gosh. I I I actually just threw everything out one day. It was so bad. And my mom had the you know, she would save the butter container, like in the you know, all of the whatever.

Heather Fisher 7:14

We're talking to you. My mom would save the cool whipples. Yes. And you know, all of that, they're still there, I'm sure.

Jodi Rosko 7:22

Yeah, so I um I actually let it all go and I bought some that are all stackable inside of each other each other, and the lids kind of sit up behind them. And um I was we had um we had all of we had our kitchen cabinets painted, and so all of the cabinets were open um when Mark's mom passed away. So I had 50 people at my house with every cabinet like available to see. I was like, whatever, you know, here this is what's happening right now. And they were like, oh my gosh, your Tupperware is so organized, like and and um it actually makes me so happy. Like it's it's one of those little things that's like but I don't ever search for the lid, they're right behind like it makes me so happy it was worth the money that I spent just on the you know, yeah, rubber made ones that I bought.

Heather Fisher 8:11

Yeah, I s I started a few years ago, you know, at as an adult, there's not always, you know, people, what do you want for Christmas? What do you want? So I started asking for just glass uh Tupperware with the lids and and all the same brand or whatever. And they s, you know, I've got what I need now, and I've let a lot of the the junkier ones that I've been holding on to go. It feels good. Yeah, they stack well and they have the lids.

Jodi Rosko 8:40

There's nothing like that frustration of like, okay, I'm gonna put it in this. I think that food will fit in this one. Wait, there's no lid for that one. Okay, maybe this well, that's too big, but I do have the lid for that.

Heather Fisher 8:49

Like, I mean you put the food in first and then realize there's not the lid, so you're washing more. Right. You just don't need that daily frustration. Nope.

Jodi Rosko 9:00

So yeah. Even if you're not buying new, you you know, just like socks. If you if they don't match at some point, we gotta let them go.

Heather Fisher 9:07

It's gone, it's gone. Yep. Yeah, get rid of it. Okay. Number eight, old receipts, manuals, and random paperwork.

Jodi Rosko 9:15

This you can get a hundred in so fast.

Heather Fisher 9:17

Yeah. Yeah. We talk about this a you know, we've talked about paperwork and full episodes and in in various ways, but that's one of those things you said it earlier, it comes in uninvited. Right. You're not going to the store and buying random paperwork and junk mail. So you're not choosing it. So it's not like a habit you have to, you know, reset yourself. Oh, I shouldn't go buy more, I have enough. It comes whether you want it or not. Correct. From, you know, from work, from school for your kids, from the mail, from, you know, things left at the door, from cards that you get. It just stacks up. You go somewhere, they give you the receipt. Um again, finding a system where you're doing the best you can to not have it come in the house unless it needs to. And if it does need to, filing it or putting it where it needs action on it or where it needs properly saved saves you so much time from sorting through the same stacks and regrouping it, and then it gets piled up into one stack again.

Jodi Rosko 10:29

And yeah, because if you just touch it once, so right now, my like I have created a habit to where if I go get the mail, um, then as I'm walking back up the driveway, I am sorting through it and everything goes in the recycle bin that I don't want, um, which is like 95% of the mail. Yeah. And um, because all of our bills are online pretty much now, like I mean, there's really like the mailbox is really mostly unfortunately junk mail. So it goes right in the recycle bin and it doesn't even come in the house. Um, and so if you haven't done that though, there's probably a lot already in the house. Um and you can, you know, kind of start that habit and get into that habit. But um and receipts, like, you know, if you got your receipt from Taco Bell, like do you need that or to keep that? I mean, sometimes there are receipts that I need to keep, especially for us. We, you know, we buy a lot of things for our business and I do need to keep some, you know, receipts. So a system for that is a super important. But a lot of the receipts you get, like, you just don't even need them at all.

Heather Fisher 11:27

Yeah. Uh I I mean, gosh, it's probably been 10 years or so. Um, I just made the decision to switch to a much smaller purse. And I but when I made that decision, I was like, I am hauling around so much, and a lot of it was paper from different stuff. And I'm like, I do not need this, but because the space was available, right? I had filled it and I didn't clean it out routinely, and I'm like, I'm taking this everywhere. Right. Why, why? And so that was a a choice to just reset my mind uh around you know, now I see when there's stuff in there that shouldn't be. Um, but that's one thing you can do, and and just coming up with, like Jody said, getting it straight to the trash before it comes over that threshold is your best bet for most of it.

Jodi Rosko 12:22

Okay, number seven, duplicate cords and random electronics. Oh my gosh. Like, does every man, sorry guys, have a box of um cords that we don't even know what they go to anymore?

Heather Fisher 12:34

Yes. We just uh we were we're in the middle of moving and we found uh Matt found um he pulled it out of a drawer and said it's an old satellite like radio, whatever.

Jodi Rosko 12:50

The first bag phone.

Heather Fisher 12:52

No, yeah, I don't even know. He was telling me like so that you could listen to like Sirius or something in your house instead of in your car. I don't know. Yeah, so first we had to get that charged up, but then it was like, oh, I need core um like headphones that actually plug in not the iPhone cord but a a regular one, and we were like, I don't know, do we have them? And he's like, let me check the drawer. And he came back with the our literal drawer of cords, did not have what we needed, but quite a few in there. So we do have it. It's it's not a huge drawer and they are organized, so maybe it's okay, but yeah, it's always like I mean, I do hand them to Mark, and I'm like, I don't know what this goes to.

Jodi Rosko 13:38

Then we're in that. Should we keep that? Should we not keep that? And you know, probably you don't need to keep it. I mean, if the cord has been separated for w from its thing and it you're not needing, you don't have something that's cordless, like that you don't know where the cord is, then you probably don't need it.

Heather Fisher 13:54

What I did think about yesterday when all of this happened, so funny that it just happened, but I think they sell, you know, like if you have those little tags that could go on your wine glass stem to label it. I think they sell like little um clips that go around that you could label it. I think that would be my biggest suggestion is have a supply of those and when new things come in with a cord, yeah, label the cord right then. So later down the road, you know what it's for and you know whether you have or use that item anymore.

Jodi Rosko 14:28

Because it's probably something that broke, you know, and and then you threw it away and somehow the cord didn't come.

Heather Fisher 14:34

Well, yeah, and I we keep the drawer full because I don't know what they're to, so I'm fearful it is to charge something.

Jodi Rosko 14:41

But let's go back in our brains and think how many times did we go to that box to look for a cord? Yeah. Like once? Yeah. You know, not many. Yeah. Not many times.

Heather Fisher 14:54

Yeah. Definitely. We could all get rid of several, I'm sure. Yeah. Um, number six, as we count down here, um, single socks. Yep, holy undergarments. Holy undergarments, all the the random things. If you you know, the closet itself is a is a process to go through, but if the sock is gone, it's gone. Or if you just I find your amount of socks can multiply quickly. I agree with you. When you buy, you know, a new pack of twelve, you know, like if it's athletic socks or something, they're coming in a multi-pack most times. And if you're not getting rid of the old ones, I mean, how many socks do you need? How many pairs do we need?

Jodi Rosko 15:44

Right. Lots of um places we just it's just happened, but um they do um socktober and they donate because socks are one of the things that um you know people homeless really, really need. Like it's one of the number one things. So you can absolutely donate your socks um that you don't use if you not well obviously match them and and no holes, but um, but people really, really need those. So um that's a great thing to go through your sock drawer and donate.

Heather Fisher 16:13

Yeah, or even if you're buying a giant pack and you don't need all of them, donate half brand new. Yeah. What a gift if you don't need all of them.

Jodi Rosko 16:23

So right. And if your underwear, you know, if they have holes in them, like just it's time to take care of yourself a little bit. Like, you know, don't be wearing that stuff. Just let it go and you know, take care of yourself a little bit. Buy something new.

Heather Fisher 16:38

And when you do that, make space for the new by letting go of the old.

Jodi Rosko 16:42

Yeah, yep, yep. Okay, number five, um, take out menus and condiment packs. Oh my gosh. So um I'm picking on my mom a little bit here, but um, I opened her fridge and she had like I don't know how many Chick-fil-A like sauces. And I'm like, mom, and she's like, but that one's my favorite. I use it for everything. And I'm like, okay. But um, yeah, there's like, you know, keeping all of those little condiment packs that you get, whether it's soy sauce, you know, or what you know, from Chinese food or whether, you know, whatever it is. Um no. No, we can let those go. And you know, every menu is online. So we don't need any takeout.

Heather Fisher 17:25

Yeah, we don't need the takeout menu. Um we don't need all the pizza coupons and the flyers that come in that junk mail. They go in the junk drawer and then expire. Yeah, I had that drawer for probably 20 years just loaded with the expired coupons. Um but yeah, just we don't need it. Just stop the madness. Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 17:53

Yeah. Yeah, that's that's an easy no-brainer to let go of that stuff. Yeah. Um broken pens, dried up markers, and office junk. Pens multiply in my house. I don't I don't know.

Heather Fisher 18:06

Pens multiply for me at the office. At the office. Right. I have there's somewhere so many pens. Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 18:13

Yeah. So um and when we had kids, you know, the markers definitely would dry up and all of that stuff. I mean, I probably still have some markers somewhere that are dry enough in my house that I need to let go of. But um, but yeah, so any of that stuff, you know, if it doesn't work, then obviously don't keep it. And and you know, uh same thing, like you how many do you need, right? Do you need a hundred pens? No, you do not. So even if they are working, like put that down to a manageable number of pens.

Heather Fisher 18:44

Right. I think too, um, you know, we talk a lot about the habit, like a 10-minute a day habit. And as we go through this list, number one, so many of these could easily fit into that short 10-minute verse. Yeah. But also a lot of these, because there's so little decision, you know, deep decisions on it, these are great multitasking things. So, you know, the pens, you could sit while you're watching something on TV and you're just like testing all the markers, testing the pens. And so don't forget to that sometimes you can just accomplish something without your full attention um and still get it in for the day.

Jodi Rosko 19:27

And if there are markers or you know, art supplies or whatnot that you, you know, have outgrown or whatever, um, teachers often want, you know, want those, schools can want those, or you servers want pens. Yeah, servers do want pens.

Heather Fisher 19:40

Yeah, so if you have any of your kids, grandkids or neighbors or anybody. Or even just when you're out to dinner, like if you take a rubber banded bunch and ask if they could use them because they need them for their tables. Yeah, their pens walk off all the time. Yeah, so that's a great way to avoid the trash can if they still have life in them.

Jodi Rosko 20:01

Yep. Okay, number three, freebie swag that you're never gonna use.

Heather Fisher 20:06

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 20:08

Yep. All that stuff that has somebody's name on it that you took and stuffed in the back of your kitchen cabinet. Yeah. Or whatever.

Heather Fisher 20:17

I think we see people going through, if you've ever been to like an expo fair or you know, a home expo or a health fair or anything, and all of the people um have information or at a festival with booths or whatever. Um it's just really learning that it's important for you to value your space and not bring all of that home and not to pick things up unless they truly have a purpose for you wanting that vendor's information.

Jodi Rosko 20:51

Yeah.

Heather Fisher 20:52

Um you know, you don't need to collect all of it to just not know what to do with it. You can just release that mental space by not picking it up unless their information is of value to you that you want to follow up on.

Jodi Rosko 21:08

Right. And and they will give away all kinds of things, water bottles and mugs and you know, all kinds of stuff. And if you have your favorite mug that you use all the time and you have a bunch of mugs that have, you know, people's names on them that are in the back of your kitchen cabinet, like that all can go.

Heather Fisher 21:23

Yeah. And if it's something you use, that's okay too, to get I got a little um tape measure that's like car size, the like small size, and I keep it right there so when we're out places and I need it, it's in my car and it's handy, but I don't need all of like a million water bottles.

Jodi Rosko 21:44

Well, you know I use all the Roscoe Group chip clips.

Heather Fisher 21:47

Yes. Yes. I do like my Roscoe group chip clips and my water bottle. So I do not need more, but let us know if you would like one of those to we'll pick you up. Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 21:58

Yeah. I think though We do end up with stuff that we a accidentally take or people, you know, hand to us and we don't make that decision then and be like, Oh no, thank you. I don't need that. You just take it because you're being, you know, polite and then you end up with that. And paperwork too, if you've gone to those fairs, I mean you you know, g sift through that at the end and you know, when you get home and is it's a service you're gonna use? Is that something that's you know, put that somewhere if you're really gonna use it, but the rest of it, you know, can probably go in the paperwork throwaway.

Heather Fisher 22:30

Back in the day when I was little, my when my grandpa was alive, it was you got free stuff when you subscribe to magazines.

Jodi Rosko 22:39

Uh-huh.

Heather Fisher 22:40

And so he went through this stage where he subscribed to a whole lot of magazines he didn't want. Just to get the free stuff. And then for Christmas, the gifts were the free stuff, and it was just kind of thought cycle of the yeah. Then he had all these magazines in the case. Then the magazines would come and and so you can, you know, the word free, you know, just evaluate whether that's bringing something in that you don't want.

Jodi Rosko 23:11

Um yeah, just because it doesn't cost anything doesn't mean that we need it to clutter our brains in our head.

Heather Fisher 23:16

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly.

Jodi Rosko 23:18

For sure.

Heather Fisher 23:19

Okay, number two.

Jodi Rosko 23:21

The random kitchen gadget that you forgot you owned.

Heather Fisher 23:24

Yes.

Jodi Rosko 23:25

That's the stuff that's in the back of the drawer. Really in the kitchen, anything, not even just gadgets, anything that's in the back of the cupboards or in the tops of the cupboards that you can't really reach unless you get a stool, most of that can go.

Heather Fisher 23:38

Yeah. I just I don't know what I was listening to, but I heard someone mention um the vegetable spiralizer, like for your zucchini or whatever. And you know, as you guys know, a lot of my stuff has been in storage for a few years, and I was like, I used to have one of those. I wonder if I kept that. What would I and it was so funny because I had this whole like conversation with you? Conversation, like I almost wanted it in that moment, and I was like, I haven't thought of it in five years. And how many times have you spiralized vegetables? No, I don't have one in my current kitchen, have not missed it, forgot I even owned it. So when I unpack, if I come across it, I will put it straight to the donation pile, I promise. But yeah, it was funny, like you do buy it's the gimmicky stuff that gets me in the moment, and then I use it for a short phase, and then it's there.

Jodi Rosko 24:32

And that's the other thing I think think about when you're in your kitchen, like what are single tasking things, you know, like an avocado slicer, and if you love it and you use it all the time, great. But you could also, you know, just use a knife and a spoon and like you know, cut it out. Like so is that something that you use or you bought and you thought you were gonna use and now it's been in the drawer for, you know, a year or more? Or or if it's something you use every day, that's great because different people have different habits of how they do stuff, but I'm sure that there are things in your kitchen that are single-tasking things that you could use some other things that you have in your kitchen to do the same thing and and let go of some of it.

Heather Fisher 25:14

Yes. I have the thing that's supposed to pull the leaves off of it. Oh, I have that. Mine does not it doesn't work at all. It either comes all the way through stem and leaves, no problem. Or I tug it through a small hole and the stem breaks.

Jodi Rosko 25:32

I did not, it was a fail from me. Yes, but it's still in my drawer.

Heather Fisher 25:36

Mine still let me do need to get rid of that.

Jodi Rosko 25:38

Yeah, both of those have to go when we get home.

Heather Fisher 25:40

Yes. A hundred will be easy for me too, but that's what comes to mind with I thought it would be so great.

Jodi Rosko 25:47

Yeah, no, same. And and I mean sometimes you just have to try things and you're like, okay, that didn't work. But then we just put it back in the drawer. Yeah. And we don't, you know, let it go.

Heather Fisher 25:56

Yeah. Okay, we are at the the top of our list. The number one easiest. We uh know this well. Expired pantry items and spices. Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 26:09

So I'm gonna say I would say there's probably a 95% chance that, you know, most of your spices are expired.

Heather Fisher 26:16

Yes. Um don't look too closely, you might you scare yourself.

Jodi Rosko 26:22

I mean, there's ones that you use all the time, and those probably aren't because you continually, you know, buy new ones. But man, I mean there's ones that are, you know, they used to be green and now they're gray, and they're not gonna hurt you, but they don't have any flavor. So if you try to, you know, cook with them, it's really you're not adding, it's turned to dust pretty much, you know.

Heather Fisher 26:40

Yeah. I think this is another one of those um phase in life situations too, that if you are an avid cook and you are still doing that, uh have all the spices you want. I will love to come over for dinner and eat all the delicious foods. But if you if that's not something that you are doing and you've reduced the amount that you're cooking either for yourself or for large gatherings, it is okay to have less too. Once you've seen once you've looked to see what's expired. If you're a basic cook, you don't need pro I I don't know, I'm maybe ten or less. I mean probably you know, I think we accumulate all the ones we have because one random recipe calls for it and you buy it and then you don't use that's how they're expired because we're not using them. Um but if you had, you know, 10 to 12, you could mix and match and and use different things.

Jodi Rosko 27:49

And I found sometimes like some of them I can't find a date on them. So I have started to just write the date that I bought them on the jar, um, so that then I can, you know, circle that out.

Heather Fisher 28:00

Yeah. And you can write it a lot bigger than the fine print that you can't read them.

Jodi Rosko 28:05

Um yeah. The the actually the newer ones do have the date, so if they don't have a date, they have to go before the 2000s.

Heather Fisher 28:15

Is that what we're assuming? If there's no date. Yeah. Yeah. I think when we went through ours recently, I can't remember the exact year, but it was definitely like a 2010 or 11 or something.

Jodi Rosko 28:28

Yeah, I had some old ones too.

Heather Fisher 28:30

Really old and Yeah, and then you're like, ew. I mean, it was kind of like ew, but I was also like, I don't remember ever using it. So I don't think we were eating it again.

Jodi Rosko 28:41

But even if you did again, it's just gonna it's just not gonna add any flavor. It's not gonna hurt you, but it's not gonna add any flavor. Yeah. Um and it's bad expired pantry items too. I mean, that happens more often than you think. Like you I mean, I've been through my pantry and I can still go and find things that, you know, have expired not not, you know, six months ago or whatever, because when I cleaned it out the last time, it still had a little bit of time left, so I left it and you know, if it's not there. So um if you have stuff too in your pantry that you are looking at, like I'm not gonna use that for you know, you you bought some for a recipe and there was extra, you know, not in open, not open packages, but you know, um food pantries are always if you think, hey, I'm not gonna use that, that's always a great way to do it.

Heather Fisher 29:24

Before the expiration date. Yeah, it causes a lot of work for them if it's beyond the expiration date. So be careful not to use that as your way of getting rid of it.

Jodi Rosko 29:35

Yeah. There are places that expired food can go to, but um but most food pantries have to look at the date, write the date on the top, and it has to be not expired.

Heather Fisher 29:46

So that they can stay open and serve the people that they're helping. Correct. Correct. Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 29:53

So that's it. Ten. Ten super quick ways that you can get lots and lots of things out of the house without any emotional baggage, without really any thought process to it. You know, it's not there's no there's no decision making if the food's expired or it's not expired.

Heather Fisher 30:11

No, none of these were anything that's gonna pull out your heart strings. Just get it out, get a donation trip going.

Jodi Rosko 30:18

If you had things you could donate, get it out with the trash, move it out of the house as quickly as possible once you've made those choices and bagged it up, and then you've got some nice fresh spaces and yeah, moving it out of the house is actually like the number one thing because um if you let's say you went through some mail and then you put that pile somewhere else, you know, the to go pile, but then somehow that got mixed up. Like you were going through it again and again, right? So you just want it to go. Go.

Heather Fisher 30:45

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay, well, we're hope that that inspired you to go and do a quick 100 or um, you know, tackle these categories in order, out of order. Just go, you know, hit the ground running and build some momentum. If you need any resources, you can always visit our website, downsizingroadmap.com, and we'll be back with more info next week. Talk to you next time. Thank you. Thanks for joining us on the Downsizing Roadmap Podcast. If you found this episode helpful, be sure to subscribe, leave us a review, and share it with someone who might need a little downsizing inspiration. Have questions or ideas for future episodes? Reach out to us on our website, www.downsizingroadmap.com. Until next time, let's keep simplifying and moving forward.