Ten things you may not need in your home

So many of us are downsizing and decluttering these days and I was having an interesting conversation with a friend about what we really need in our homes and what is superfluous.

Of course, it’s personal tastes so I’d love you to leave your comments below.

Over the years, I’ve given a lot of accumulated ‘stuff’ away. If I haven’t used something for months, then the chances are that I never will. In some cases, things have stopped working and I haven’t missed them so they haven’t been replaced.

Of course, much depends on your lifestyle, your family and your job and the chances are that you’ll disagree with my own list but I’d love to know what’s on your own.

Some of the items I no longer need in my house are things that I classed as essential years ago. Funny how times change 🙂

A microwave

A microwave is something I used to think was a must for any well-equipped kitchen. In our last home, the microwave was built-in and not freestanding so when we moved to this apartment, I decided that I’d buy one. Time  passed and I realised that I didn’t miss the microwave at all. There was no point in spending my money on one. That was several years ago now and I’ve never thought ‘I wish I had a microwave’.

 Household cleaning products

Of course, I need to use something to clean my house but I don’t need the cupboard-full that I used to have. I’d have cleaning products for special surfaces – one for stainless steel, one for glass, one for tile and so on and so on and so on. I realised how much money I was spending and how many chemicals I was introducing into the home. If I buy commercial brands now, one cleans everything or I use old-fashioned lemon, vinegar and baking soda.Works for me!

A drawer full of plastic bags

This is a habit I picked up from my mum. After every supermarket trip,those plastic shopping bags would be consigned to a drawer – a drawer that had nothing else inside it except … plastic shopping bags. That’s because ‘they’ll come in handy one day’. Well for me, they don’t. Not often, anyway. They make good (but ugly) liners for small trash cans but that’s just about all in my home. I use non-disposable bags and keep half  a dozen plastic supermarket bags ‘just in case’. I can’t remember the last time I used one though.

 Hairdryer

There was a time, when I didn’t have one, that I thought ‘Why don’t I have a hairdryer?’ So I bought one and rarely used it so it ended up being given away. Of course,it depends on your lifestyle (and your hair)  but I suspect that, if you have the time, letting your hair dry naturally is actually better for it and doesn’t use precious electricity.

 Dishwasher

No matter how often people try to persuade me that dishwashers use less water than doing the dishes by hand, I refuse to believe it. I also refuse to believe that a small bowl uses more hot water than a dishwasher does.  Like the microwave, this is something we had in our previous home but don’t now. I honestly don’t miss it. I recently ranted about the ‘evils’ of dishwashers – here.

A full linen closet

Well, not full of linen, anyway. This used to be one of my extravagances – lots of bedding and loads of towels. Unless you have a huge family, they’re just not necessary. I’ve found that ‘one set on the bed and one spare’ is just fine. It’s always a good idea to have one spare set in case of spills and so on but these days, I don’t see the point of having more.

A set of knives

Your kitchen habits are most likely different to my own but on the few occasions I’ve owned  posh set of knives,  I’ve only regularly used two of them. They are a small multi-purpose sharp knife that does just about every cutting job and a bread knife which, in addition to bread, happily slices pineapples, melons etc. So now I have just two food prep knives in my kitchen…that’s all.

 Cable TV

Not really an item, this one, but a service. And a service that we can do without. When I found out how much our cable services was costing, I was horrified. We had zillions of channels but only watched a handful and not very often. We had cable because, well, everyone does, don’t they? Watching films and documentaries from the computer gives a  much better entertainment mix.

One-purpose kitchen gadgets

Maybe you’ll tell me differently but I see no value in cluttering up the kitchen with small appliances  that are only really used for one purpose. I mean things like ice cream makers, panini presses, pasta makers … unless you make ice cream, panini and pasta every day. I remember my mum coveting and then getting a  Kenwood Chef. It had a dough hook and a sausage-making attachment – everything you could think of. It lived its life on the countertop in its blue gingham plastic cover and was never used apart from as a letter holder to shove bills behind.

A car

Ha, gotcha! No, we still have the car. But it’s a cheap, banged up, fully-paid-for car so there are no monthly payments. But I still wonder sometimes… When you consider the annual cost of gas, tyres, insurance, repairs, batteries, parking, parking tickets and all the other costs of personal transport it does make me think…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jackie Jackson, also known online as BritFlorida, is a highly experienced designer and writer. British born and now living in the USA, she specialises in lifestyle issues, design and quirky stories. You can see a wide range of articles here, or visit her website Tastes Magazine. See The Writer’s Door for more information.