Making The Most Of Your Coffee Mugs – Day 13

There they sit, taking up mounds of room in your cupboard or on your walls. Stacked so high that when you put one away, you wonder will this be the day when the stack tips over? And maybe there is a small part of you that can’t wait for that stack to tip over because then hopefully some will break and you have an excuse to get rid of some.

I am talking about coffee mugs. Mugs are something that are often used everyday, multiple times a day if you are a coffee or tea drinker, but not to mention, there are those mugs that sit unused for years in the back of the cupboard. Mugs that may have a special meaning, but a meaning no one knows about because like I said, they sit in the back of the cupboard, unused.

Decluttering mugs may seem like such a small item to declutter, but it is one of those items that most of us probably have far too many of and could stand to live with fewer of. I stand as one of those people. We have the mugs that came with our dish set and then we have our “special meaning” mugs that also sit up on our shelf. I would like to think they all have a purpose, but they don’t. And now it’s time to live with less of them:

Find

Search for all the mugs you have and take them all out. Some may even be hiding in a box somewhere or hidden in a back corner. Grab them all.

Figure out

Are any broken, stained, or chipped?
When was the last time you used it?
Do you have enough room to store them all?
Do you have favorite mugs that you use everytime?
Do you collect mugs and if so, do you feel you own too many?

Decide

Set aside your favorite mugs. This may require setting a certain number, like choosing the top 3. Decide if it is worth keeping the ones that you have not used in over a year. Are they worth the space they take up? How much room do you want your mugs to take up in your cupboard? If you collect them, that is where it is going to be a tough decision whether to continue to collection or to just choose the top-however-many to make your collection even more meaningful.

Ditch and Donate

Thrown away or recycle the mugs that are not in “usable” condition. Donate any mugs that you no longer need.

Organize

Now that you have fewer mugs (hopefully), it is not time to neatly organize them in your cupboard. Put the ones that you use the most towards the front and stack (if needed) the rest towards the back.

Keeping sentimental things, such as mugs, is not a bad thing, it’s just when they take up more room than what you have space for – that’s when it becomes a problem. Coffee mugs are typically one of those items that we all own far too many of, but choose to regularly keep them all for some reason or another. Now that you are living with less of them, hopefully you can enjoy that cup of joe even more, knowing you can pull that mug out without wondering if they all are going to come out with it.

Do you have a favorite mug you use? What is it about that mug that you love?