Day 8 – Decluttering Plastic Cups & More

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Originally published January 8, 1916 and updated January 2018 and January 2024.

We’re one week into the 31 Days of 10-minute Purging Tips Challenge. Congratulations for all you’ve accomplished this week. Let’s tackle that collection of plastic cups, travel mugs, water bottles and glasses that inexplicably grow in our cabinets today. Remember, we’re working towards our goal to eliminate things we don’t need from our lives and home so that we can better enjoy life and we do that by clearing clutter

Colorful plastic cups stacked in pyramid with text overlay reading 10-Minute Decluttering Plastic Cups

If you don’t have a collection of plastic cups, water bottles or travel mugs raise your hand. I don’t know how it happens, but it seems that every time I close the cabinet door those cups magically multiply. Really. I take 10 minutes and ruthlessly purge those cups; a month later our plastic cup numbers have doubled. Again. I can’t explain it, but I’m guessing that it happens to you, too

Clearing Clutter – Tips for purging plastic cups and glasses. 

Grab the 6 purging bags you created earlier, print out the free two page Purging Clutter Checklist and head to the kitchen. Be sure you have at least one counter cleared off to work on. 

The steps bellow apply to plastic cups, travel mugs, water bottles, glasses and similar. I recommend tacking one category at a time if you have all those items.

Take Everything Out- Pull all the plastic cups out of the cabinet. Don’t forget to pull any plastic lids out that go with the cups. 

colorful plastic cups stacked in pyramid

Group Like Items Together – Quickly group like items together. Now that you’re a one-week purging veteran, you can group like items together as your’re taking them out (combining step one and two). Place all the cups with lids together. Place the same sized cups together. Place the same sports team cups together. Place all the children’s cups together. 

Evaluate – Look at each group you’ve created. Throw away any cracked cups or lids that don’t belong to a cup. Are there any cups with faded logos you can get rid of? Look at how many cups are in each category. How many do you really need? Will you get more baseball cups at the game next week? Can you get rid of some of those cups knowing you’ll get more at the next game?

Purge – Remove items you don’t need to keep and place them in one of your 6 purging bags. You can keep one or two in the garage for chores like painting or gardening, but most of the ones that need to go need to really go. Broken cups and lids with no matching cup can go in the recycling bag (check for the recycling triangle). You can donate the other cups if they’re in decent condition. 

Put Everything Away – Put the items you’ve decided to keep back away. If you find that you still have too many cups to fit neatly into your cabinet, reevaluate and look for other cups you can purge. Don’t worry, the cups will magically reproduce and you’ll have too many plastic cups again soon. 

Organizing Products for Cups and Water Bottles

When it comes to choosing storage products, convenience and organization are key factors. The right storage solution not only keeps your kitchen tidy, but also allows for easy access to cups and bottles when needed.

They come in various shapes and sizes, allowing for customizable storage solutions that can fit any space.

Storage options also come in different materials and colors so you can match seamlessly to your kitchen decor.

Stackable Water Bottle Storage
$12.99

Storage Rack for Travel Mug, Shaker Bottle, Baby Bottle, Wine, Cans, Cups

2-Tier Kitchen Organizer

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Set of 2 Kitchen Cabinet Organizer and Storage Shelves
$29.99

 Stackable Expandable Storage Racks with Anti-slip Liners

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03/12/2024 11:18 pm GMT
Water Bottle Organizer
$23.99

Stackable Rack

Plastic Water Bottle Holder for Tumbler, Mug, Cup and Bottles

3 Pack 

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03/12/2024 11:22 pm GMT
4 Tier Water Bottle Organizer

Stackable Bamboo Water Bottle Holder

Also for, Tumblers, Travel Mugs and Cups

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Tips for Organizing Cups and Glasses

Kitchen Counter Organization Idea – A simple kitchen counter organization idea to keep track of family drinking glasses and keep your kitchen neat and organized.

image of blue crocheted number coasters with drinks and text overlay

How to Set Up Your Kitchen -15+ tips on how to set up your kitchen to work best for your needs from a mom that has moved into and organized over 20 homes and kitchens.

White kitchen with black counter and blue bottles on counter with text overlay

5 Organization Tips for the Kitchen – These tried and true organization tips for the kitchen will help you organize your kitchen and make it work for your unique situation and needs.

Image of tidy kitchen with white cabinets and text overlay.
collage of repurposed items used for organizing with title text overlay reading Repurposed Packaging Organizing

Organizing your kitchen doesn’t have to cost a penny. You can organize your kitchen for free with repurposed items. Another day of purging down! Take a minute to congratulate yourself and enjoy your nicely organized plastic cups. Good job. Tomorrow we’ll tackle purging our sock drawer.  Be sure to stop back by for Day Nine in the 31 Days of 10-Minute Purging Tips challenge. Let’s keep focused on our goal of simplifying our lives so we can enjoy them more fully.

Find all my decluttering tips, printables and challenges in the table below. You can scroll though the table and look for ideas or search for specific ideas with the magnifying glass in the upper right-hand corner (on desktop). Click on the topic and then click through the specific article.

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2 Comments

  1. I forgot you run this series at the start of the year and I’m way behind! Heading back to day one and just starting late. I love how quickly and easily these 10 minute tasks help me to get my house in order for the new year.

    1. I’m a busy mom, too, and know that being able to break chores down into quick chunks makes it more likely that I’ll get them done. Happy decluttering, Corinne.

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