I'm wondering whether you have duplicates of items that you could donate to help you reduce your clutter.  Having doubles can be trouble!

Granted, having duplicates of certain items in your home, such as plates in your kitchen cabinets or reams of paper in your home office are very helpful.  However, if there are items that we don't use often, it might be difficult for us to find a way to store them.  We just might not have the room.  

We don't want to waste space on things that will take up valuable space in our home.  We want to be sure that we don't let those "every day" items get out of control.  You just might want to donate the excess of which you have duplicates.  Here are some examples:

• Paper shopping bags.  How many do you have?  They do tend to accumulate and, although they can be useful, too many is too much.  Now that reuseable grocery bags are being recommended, you might find yourself with an influx of old paper shopping bags.  Consider giving them to charities that can use them.  (Some charities bag up meals, clothes, supplies and are looking for bag donations.  Just make sure they are not musty or carry an odor from pets or smoke.

• Hotel toiletries.  If you are a frequent traveler, chances are you return home from a trip with travel-size toiletry items you got for free at the hotel.  If you don't use them when you get home, they can take over your closet, drawer or cabinet shelf.  You can, instead, donate them to a local shelter, or, why not just leave them at the hotel to begin with! 

• Pens, pencils, markers.   I don't know about you, but these items seem to multiply in my drawer!  Do you come home with a pen you borrowed and forgot to return?  Do your kids come home from school with more writing utensils than you sent with them?  I bet that if you take a look around your home, you probably have more pens and markers than you will ever use.  Honestly, it's impossible to use them all, so donating them is a great option.  Be sure to remove the ones that don't work.  Give a bunch to a local school or community center or The Pencil Project.

• Sheets/Bed Linens.  The number of linens you need depends on how often you do laundry.  If you change your sheets every week (or every two weeks), you likely won't need more than two or three sets total (including the one currently on your bed).  I wouldn't be surprised if you have sheets of various sizes that used to fit beds you no longer have.  If they are still in good shape, donate them to a local charity.  Perhaps the sets you have are just worn out.  Consider giving them to your local animal shelter. 

• Coffee Mugs.  They tend to collect on our kitchen cabinet shelves without us even realizing it.  We get them as gifts, we travel somewhere and bring them home as a  souvenir, we get promotional mugs from marketers at events.  When was the last time you took at look at your mugs?  We might have a favorite mug along with the ones that came with our set of dishes.  Check to see which ones you never use and pass them onto someone moving into a new apartment or a college student who lives away from home.  Otherwise, donate them to a local charity. 

You may not realize that you have unused duplicates unless you are actively decluttering.  Check out your storage areas and start gathering like items togther so you can get a true sense of the amount you have.  Pinpoint those items that are good candidates for donation.  You will gain more space for your important items and help others in the process.   Avoid that "Double Trouble".

Let me know what you discover.  

In the meantime, have a great week!