“Have you ever noticed that their stuff is shit and your shit is stuff?” – George Carlin
Sometimes, when you let go of stuff, you create room for new blessings.
Learn to release material clutter, and letting go of emotional baggage becomes easier too.
You’ll then find out that you’re breathing better in a home with less junk.
The truth is, clutter is rarely planned. It creeps in slowly through excuses like “I might need this one day,” “this was expensive,” and the classic Kenyan favorite, “wacha ikae tu, itapata kazi one day.”
Before you know it, your house is full of things that are not useful anymore. They are just… existing.
Here are 30 things you should seriously consider removing from your home this year:
- Clothes you no longer wear
- Old baby clothes that no child is using anymore, zitupe ama upeane
- Utensils you never touch – weka Kwa dustbin mbio
- Ugly, old shoes hiding under your bed
- Random junk under your bed
- That lousy blanket and bedsheets from high school
- Cobwebs on the ceiling and under furniture
- Cockroaches and bedbugs – use borax for roaches; Cooper’s or Bamako works like magic with almost zero smell
- Empty alcohol and soda bottles – uza
- Empty plastic containers and takeaway forks – izi ukiweka ni poverty trauma inakusumbua
- Unnecessary Uhuru bags
- Obituaries and wedding invitation cards from 1998
- Printed photos of people you no longer even remember
- Expired perfumes and lotions (including their empty bottles)
- A four-year-old eye pencil
- Expired medication
- Old CDs, DVDs, and VHS tapes -unless you actually run a media store
- Newspapers and magazines from 12 years ago –again, unless you run a shop
- Old, torn kitchen towels
- Bath towels you’ve used for 10 years
- Old beds and torn bedding – that no one sleeps on
- That rusting steel wool in the kitchen sink
- Broken cables, chargers, and mystery wires
- A spoilt microwave that you keep “meaning to fix”
- Souvenir T-shirts from political rallies and brand campaigns
- Your abusive mpoa
- Abusive siblings –distance yourself, especially if the whole environment is toxic
- User friends who only appear when they need your help
- That job that makes you cry every morning and every night before bed
- Broken watches, clocks, and mirrors -throw them out and refresh the energy of your home
Decluttering your house isn’t just about cleaning. It’s about creating space for comfort, clarity, and sometimes, even peace of mind.
And some of the things we need to get rid of aren’t just objects… they’re habits, environments, and sometimes even people!