Day 23 Purging Tips – Top Shelf in Pantry or Closet
This post may contain affiliate links provided for your convenience. We earn commissions if you shop through the links on this page. I am also an Amazon Associate and earn from qualifying purchases Read my full disclosure policy.
Welcome to Day 23 of 31 Days of 10-minute Purging Tips Challenge. Each day our goal is to eliminate things we don’t need from our lives and home so that we have room to better enjoy life. Today we’ll be tackling that top shelf that you never look at. Let’s start clearing clutter.
We all have a top shelf somewhere that we never get to when it’s cleaning or purging time. We shove store things up there and forget about them. But not today. Today we’ll be grabbing a stool and heading to that shelf, wherever it is in your house.
Clearing Clutter – Tips for Purging the Top Shelf in the Pantry or a Closet
Grab the 6 purging bags you created earlier along with a stool and head to your pantry or closet. On your way, swing by your printer and pick up your free printable Purging Clutter Checklist.
Take Everything Out- But only take out as much as you can go through in 10 minutes. You can come back to the other items another time you have 10 minutes. Lay the items you take out on a counter, table, bed or the floor.
Group Like Items Together – Quickly group like items together. If you have things shoved stored in a box, then open the box and lay those items out.
Evaluate – Look at each group you’ve created. Are there any categories you don’t need? Are there any items that are broken, torn, stained or out of style? Are there any items you need to return to their rightful owner?
Purge – Remove items you don’t need to keep and place them in one of your 6 purging bags. Be ruthless because you’ll have to put everything back away on that shelf, so make it as easy as possible on yourself.
Put Everything Away – Put the items you’ve decided to keep back away.
You may find some Tips for an Organized Pantry useful in putting items back in the pantry.
A DIY Clothes Storage Box is perfect for storing items on that top shelf to keep them dust free and looking pretty.
An Upcycled Cigar Box is perfect for storing smaller items on a top shelf.
Day 23 is done. Woo hoo! I hope you’ll join me tomorrow for Day 23 in the 31 Days of 10-Minute Purging Tips challenge. Let’s purge some more so you can enjoy life more.
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.
I’m a mom of 3, a veteran and military spouse. I’ve moved into 20+ homes all around the world. My passion is helping busy people make the space and time for what’s really important to them.
Ah yes, the top shelf. Sometimes it is very surprising to see what we’ve got stashed up there. You’ve motivated me to peek into my top pantry drawer today:)
I have found it easier to purge those items since I often don’t even know what’s up there. 🙂
I am so glad that I came over today. I was just thinking about all the crap I have in my house. Things that I thought I needed but no longer want but just can’t seem to part with. It’s time I really go through and purge everything. Today I’m focusing on my room then gradually make my way to the kids room. Sometimes less is more. 🙂
I’m glad you dropped by today, too, Amanda. I am so with you that often less is more. I tend to go in phases of collecting stuff and then purging stuff. I’m on a purging roll right now.
Absolutely LOVE this idea! I think everyone could benefit from doing a 10 minute purge. And, so often we forget what is even on the top shelf because we don’t use it enough.
Thanks, Crystal. I love breaking difficult tasks up into 10 minutes or 30 minute chunks so they’re not so overwhelming.
Everything I can’t find a place for ends up in my closets. I need to organize them, but have been putting it off. Thanks for the nudge!
I tend to “hide” things in my closets as well, Andrea. A good clean out is due at my house as well.
Reading your post made me get up and go check all my top shelves in my kitchen. Thankfully they are all organized!
Good to for you, Brenda. Now you’ve got 10 extra minutes to relax today. 🙂
This is a good reminder. I think it’s easy to just clean the things at our eye level, but we don’t always remember to clean the top shelf.