We've all been there. You spot a random piece of plastic on the floor.
It's obviously comes off something. It looks important. But you've got no idea what it does or where
it belongs. So you pop it on the mantelpiece, or in that saucer of bits of pieces that lives
on your dressing table, or in your kitchen hell drawer. And it stays there
forever, alongside a load of other random objects that never get used.
Or maybe you're decluttering that self-same hell drawer and you find a key.
It's got no label and you don't know what lock it fits. But you daren't chuck
it out. What if, somewhere down the line, you need to unlock something and you realise
that the key you need is the one you binned?
I'm Rachel Papworth, from Green and Tidy.
I help people all over the world declutter and create homes, and lives, they LOVE.
And I'm here to tell you how to handle this so you don't have to keep these annoying
little objects forever and you don't chuck them out only to realise you needed them
and now they're gone.
It's actually really easy.
You need to label them with the date you found them. Tie a label to the key or pop the bit
of plastic in a box or bag you can label, or put a piece of paper in with it. Write
today's date on the label, on the bag or on the bit of paper. Then you can put the
key or broken bit away. Put it somewhere you'll remember to look when you're SEARCHING for
a key for a locked box or a bit of plastic that's missing off a gadget. I have a single
place for these unidentified objects - in a drawer in my bureau.
As time goes by, if you DO then work out what a key is for, label it so you'll never forget
again. And, if you work out what a bit of plastic is, get it stuck back on asap so it
doesn't go walkabout again. But I reckon, if I haven't needed a key
or a bit of random plastic in two years,
it's pretty unlikely I'm going to need it in the future.
So, using the date I labelled it with, I know when I can safely chuck it out.
Watch me use this approach with my lovely client, Sue, as we declutter her home-office.
Sue: Yeah Rachel: Do you know what that's the key to?
Sue: No. Not off-hand.
Rachel: No. Do you think there's a possibility that it's not really the key to anything anymore?
Rachel: I'm not suggesting you throw it away, just in case. Sue: There's a possibility but I don't actually know.
Rachel: What I recommend with keys like this then is
get all that kind of key together:
keys to things that you don't know what they're for,
put them on a string and label it with today's date
and, when you come across it again in your decluttering
which could be in two years' time
if you've not needed a key on that thing in two years,
or whatever time you think's appropriate
you can start getting rid of the keys.
But you don't want to get rid of it and discover that you needed it so I wouldn't just chuck it yet.
Perfect! Yeah, pop it in there.
And then we need to put a date in there.
Sue: It might be something to do with a bike, or a...
Rachel: Yeah, or a case maybe or something?
Sue: Suitcase. Could be. Rachel: Yeah. It could be. Sue: Yeah.
Rachel: So, let's put a piece of paper in there with the date on it. Sue: Oh, OK.
Rachel: And it's the 16th today, is it?
Sue: And that just goes in there with it? Rachel: Yeah. Sue: Yep. OK.
Rachel: So now, if you end up needing to add more keys,
of course, that's got today's date. Sue: Yes.
Rachel: So we'll put any keys we find today in there Sue: Yep.
Rachel: and then, you might have to use a different - if you want to start adding more keys
- you might have to use a different container so that remains today's date
Sue: Yeah. Rachel: and then, when you look at it in two years' time
they're all two years old unless you've got them out in the meantime. Sue: Yes. Sure.
Rachel: While we're at it, here's another key.
Do you know what that one's for?
That looks like a filing cabinet or something similar.
Sue: Don't know. Rachel: No. In there. Very good.
Rachel: Any idea what that is?
Sue: No!
Rachel: So, I mean that could actually go in there too.
You could, similarly, put any unidentified bits of plastic
that you're too scared to throw away
in the same kind of container and then if, in two years' time, you've never needed that bit of plastic
you might decide that can go. Does that sound sensible?
Sue: Sure. Rachel: Pop that in with those keys.
Sue: I've no idea what that could be.
Rachel: We've all got random bits of plastic like that.
We knew what they were once.
There's another key. It looks very much like the other key.
Sue: It does, doesn't it? Rachel: Probably opens the same thing.
Sue: Yeah
Sue: It could be anything, couldn't it? I'll put that in.
So, from now on, when you find a random key or bit of plastic, don't just tuck it somewhere.
label it, put it in your unidentified objects place and, while you're there,
see if there's anything there that's been there so long, it's time it went in the bin.