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In 2020, when the world shut down, I became obsessed with purging.

Nothing was safe. I got rid of everything.

My closet went from completely packed to almost bare. I used to have a major shopping problem (which I’ll talk more about in an upcoming episode about our debt-payoff journey), but that year changed everything for me.

Today, I want to share 15 areas of your life and home that you can purge to feel lighter as we enter 2026.

The Philosophy Behind Purging

I dove deep into Marie Kondo’s work, reading her book and watching her Netflix show multiple times. I also read three books by The Minimalists and completely shifted my perspective on what we actually need to keep.

Here’s what stuck with me most:

“Most organizing is nothing more than well-planned hoarding.”

-The Minimalists

“Minimalism is the thing that gets us past the things so we can make room for life’s important things – which actually aren’t things at all.”

-Marie Kondo

And my personal favorite concept: addition by subtraction. The more you subtract from your life (meaning your material things), the more time, space, and freedom you add.

The Question That Changes Everything

What if we actually DO have the time to workout, go on a walk, and meal prep, but so much of our time is spent managing all our crap that it FEELS like we don’t have the time?

What if we had space to craft a life of intentional healthy habits because we simply had less stuff to manage?

This is what purging has given me. Not perfection (you’d laugh if you walked into my house right now), but more breathing room. More mental space. More freedom.

Two Methods That Actually Work

1. The “Spark Joy” Philosophy

Marie Kondo taught me this – instead of choosing what to get rid of, think about what you absolutely want to keep.

Physically take an item in your hand and ask: “Does this spark joy?”

I know it sounds woowoo. Trust me, my husband Erik wanted to scream at me in 2020 because I would hold up every single item in our house and ask myself this question.

But it worked for me, especially for clothing purges.

Obviously, there are functional categories like socks that aren’t going to spark joy the way a favorite sweatshirt might. But overall, this approach helps you cherish what you keep that much more.

2. Purge by Category, Not Location

Here’s the problem: We often store the same type of item in multiple places. Pens in the kitchen junk drawer, pens in the home office, pens in the nightstand. We never have a clear picture of the sheer amount of what we own.

Marie Kondo suggests bringing everything in that category together in one large pile, and from that pile deciding what sparks joy, then only keeping those items.

I did this once almost six years ago. Seeing everything in one massive pile was eye-opening and helped me get rid of a ton of stuff.

The Core Truth About Purging

Less stuff = more brain space.

Less stuff = less putting back day in and day out.

Less stuff = more freedom.

The more I’ve gotten to know myself over my 34 years of life, the more I’ve realized that having less stuff is something I constantly have to dial back in. There isn’t a time where I ever truly “arrive” when it comes to purging and organizing my spaces.

Kids change everything. But we can still work towards being more intentional about the things we have and being okay with getting rid of things.

15 Areas to Purge in 2026

1. Kids Artwork

I am not a very sentimental person when it comes to keepsakes, and it actually makes me sad to admit that. I can still have the memories of my son Rafe at 3 years old without the 75 pieces of Christmas artwork they sent home with him last week.

I’ve considered getting one of those easily interchangeable artwork picture frames where you can just drop the next piece in at the top. It’s a cute way to display it versus your entire fridge being overtaken.

I really love the art work / keepsake storage approach from @sarahsday. For some reason it’s not letting me link directly to this particular post, but HERE is her page. It’s the recent post with her in a red workout set with clear storage boxes in the background!

2. Camera Roll

I’m about to expose myself: At the time of writing this, I have 39,323 items in my camera roll.

I know. I KNOW.

In my defense, my phone is the main thing I use for my business. I film all the app demo videos and Instagram stories content on my phone. But still.

Back in 2020, I started at the VERY FIRST photo and video I had stored and started deleting everything except one or two photos from whatever event or memory it was. I created a master folder in my Google Drive called “photos” with sub-folders for each year (2015, 2016, and so on). I’d upload the photos to those folders then delete them off my phone.

Clearly, I need to tackle this again.

3. Email Inbox

I do this about every six months. I’ll get my inbox all the way to zero, then of course something will pop up as soon as I do that.

Don’t get obsessed with your inbox always needing to be zero. The key here is really just the visual clutter it creates in your brain. There might not even be anything you need to take action on, but seeing a full inbox makes you feel otherwise.

Delete away. If someone really needed to hear from you, let them ping you again.

4. Kids Toys

I tackled this just recently. Five trash bags and one large box later, everything has a home.

I’m talking every single toy has matching pieces or all its parts. If parts were missing, it got tossed or donated. If we had duplicates, it got donated. If it was broken, it got tossed.

We had toys downstairs, in the living room, and in the boys’ room. Now all the toys are in the boys’ room, then we pull them out to play throughout the day.

My Go-Back Basket Strategy: I have an aesthetic basket in my kitchen/dining room where I throw toys and items that need to be returned to the boys’ room throughout the day, then empty it at night. This prevents me from taking 45 trips per day back to their room and helps our house feel tidier.

5. Clothes

This is another area I purged recently. I used to be SO into fashion. You might not know this, but I planned on pursuing a career working at a fashion label in NYC and even interned there for an entire semester.

While I still love fashion, I don’t keep up with it to any degree. I may have one or two things that are fashionable each season, but everything else is guaranteed to be a few years old.

I used to take up an entire master closet to myself in our old home. Now Erik and I each have our own very tiny closet in our bedroom, and then I use a dresser as well.

I PROMISE that if you purge the large majority of your closet, you won’t miss it.

This is where I still use the “spark joy” method. If I pick up the item and genuinely want to keep it or am convinced I’ll miss it, I keep it. Everything else gets donated.

6. Tupperware / Kitchen Utensils and Supplies

This is another area where I create a go-back box. Often Erik’s mom or my mom will send us home with leftovers in containers. I’ll keep that container in our pantry, but as soon as I know we’ll be seeing them again, I create a go-back box.

This applies to any items you have in your home that need to be returned to others. Just create a massive go-back basket.

7. Old Documents

This is a category where Erik and I ruthlessly purge.

We have a big box of important documents: passports, birth certificates, social security cards. Then we toss the rest.

The Minimalists make a really great point: most things are actually not that important. You can probably throw it away. And even if you throw something away that you actually do need, essentially everything is replaceable.

Side note: Erik has a folder in our important documents box that says “If Erik dies” and it lists out everything important that I need to know, like our investments and his life insurance policy. Slightly morbid but incredibly practical.

Marie Kondo suggests three categories for papers:

• Currently in use
• Needed for a limited period of time
• Keep indefinitely

If papers don’t fall into any of these categories, toss them.

8. Google Drive

If you’re a business owner, I highly suggest using different Google Drive accounts for business versus personal.

If you have a folder and you don’t even remember why, you probably don’t need it anymore and can delete it.

9. Apps You Don’t Use

Even if you only use it every once in a blue moon, delete it and reinstall later. It’s creating more clutter for you visually and it’s taking up storage on your phone.

10. Who We Follow on Instagram

This one hits home with 100% of you.

We all go through cycles of following and unfollowing people. It’s normal. But there are some accounts that I just simply cannot follow any longer.

Some are out of touch with reality (those are the easy ones to unfollow). Maybe other accounts were just a niche we once cared about but don’t anymore. Maybe for you it’s a girl from high school who is just annoying.

But then there’s the glaring elephant in the room: accounts that make us feel so discontented with our own lives.

Hear me out. This is a ME problem. These people have done nothing inherently wrong. But where they are and where I am is not the same, and it stirs something up in my heart that doesn’t feel good. I find myself wondering why they were blessed more than I was financially, or why their business has experienced faster growth than mine.

Another category for me is people in my industry. I have almost every single nutrition or fitness coach’s account muted.

Please don’t hear this the wrong way. There are so many amazing connections I’ve made in the fitness and nutrition coaching space. Friendships I genuinely want to keep, so I by no means want to unfollow them.

But seeing their content on a regular basis does the following:

• Causes me to be less creative because I’m seeing their content and thinking I need to replicate
• Causes me to second-guess myself because of the way they talk about things
• Causes discontentment in some cases because I feel like my content or offer is better than theirs, yet they have more followers

Once again, this is a ME problem. This is not a personal issue I have with them. This is an issue in my own heart, and I’m trying to put up guardrails so that it doesn’t turn into anger, envy, or discontentment.

So I simply mute their account. But because I really do care about them and want them to be successful, I’ll occasionally pop onto their account and like or comment on their posts.

It’s great to create a little separation so that your own creativity and confidence in what you’re doing can soar.

11. Office Supplies – Old Pens, Half-Used Notebooks

I am calling myself out on this one because this can get out of control quickly.

Use the category approach Marie Kondo suggests: Go to every single destination where you know you’ll find pens and notebooks, then bring everything into one room. Dump it on the floor. Test your pens and toss what doesn’t work. Pare down what you need and toss the rest.

12. Home Decor Stored Away in Closets or the Attic

I am speaking to myself here.

We’ve only updated mine and Erik’s bedroom since moving into this house (even though we’re coming up on two years of living here). We had to pause renovations so we could save up and buy Erik a truck (spoiler: we just bought him a truck last week).

I’ve been keeping all this old decor from two houses ago. I don’t even know if I like that style anymore.

The fact that I’m wondering if I want to keep it probably means Marie Kondo would tell me it doesn’t “spark joy.”

13. Expired or Just Old Food – Purge Pantry and Fridge

I did this just this week and let me tell you, why did I not do this sooner?

Even things that aren’t expired but neither us nor our family liked or has a desire to eat? It’s okay to toss it without it being expired.

I used to have a regular routine of deep-cleaning my fridge about every six weeks, but I hate to admit it had been a few months. Now my fridge is clean and my pantry is way more bare, which is just the way I like it.

14. Notes App

I have no regular rhythm for this. One day I’ll just open my notes and be like “EVERYTHING MUST GO” and start deleting.

I do love the folders feature within the notes app. When you open the app it defaults to just “notes” or “All iCloud.” If you tap back, you can access the folders section. This allows you to file things away by category just like in Google Drive.

15. Email Lists

There’s this business that I follow that sends an incredible email Monday through Friday. When I read it, I LOVE IT. The problem is, when I sit down to my desk, I rarely take the time to read it.

I’ve been subscribed to this weekday email list for over two years now. I finally unsubscribed this week.

If I find that I miss it, it’s SO EASY for me to re-subscribe. But the amount of times I filed it into a “to be read” folder was ridiculous. Plus it was just mental clutter every time I opened my inbox.

So Let’s Get Rid of Some Crap

Remember: less stuff = more brain space, less putting back day in and day out, and more freedom.

The goal by the end of this purge is for you to have slightly less to put back, to realize that you might actually have the time for the things that matter, but so much of your time has been spent managing all your stuff that it FEELS like you don’t have time.

So grab a trash bag (or five), crack open a fun fizzy drink, and start purging.

Download your free purging checklist here to get started.

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P.S. If you’re looking for home inspiration as you declutter, check out @hanashappyhome on Instagram. She bought a small starter home, taught herself how to use power tools, and creates magnificent spaces using affordable IKEA pieces. She’s inspired me so much as we’re about to slowly start updates and renovations again.