Day 20 Declutter Water Bottles, Travel Mugs and Flasks

Today's task is to declutter water bottles and travel mugs.

The goal of this task is not to get discard all of these bottles, mugs and flasks.  After all, your family needs to stay hydrated, even outside the home.  And anything we can do to cut down the usage of one-time-use plastic bottles is paramount.

However, if you're like me, you might have more of these bottles and cups than you realize and could stand to get rid of some of them.

My family receives new travel mugs or water bottles from giveaways at work or school, plus i love to buy new travel mugs.. and it sometimes seems like we're collecting water bottles and travel faster than we are using them

We end up putting the new one into the cupboard without getting rid of any of the older ones, which causes us to quickly become overwhelmed and have items spilling out of the cupboard every time we open it, if you read my post on decluttering glassware – you will have seen the bottles in question.

1 - Allocate a Space to Store Water Bottles.

The first thing you need to do is decide where in your kitchen you want to store your collection of water bottles. Make sure you have enough space to store everything you need.

If you decide you wish to keep them in the Wall Cupboards, then you might have to change the height of your cupboard shelves so there is more room to store taller bottles vertically. Keep in mind that this will be the only place where you can store your water bottles; anything that doesn't fit must be discarded

2 - Get your water bottles together.

Next, set out all of your water bottles in a line in front of you. Put all of the items you want to keep to one side; start with the ones you use the most and the ones you don't want to part with. The ones that are to be discarded can be donated to a charity or given to friends or family.  Be sure that they want them first – the last thing that you want to do is to clear your clutter – only to pass the burden of clutter onto someone else 😊

Here is my collection. I don't think that I have too many.  We have a flask each (4) Travel mugs 2 each (8), drinks bottles one each (4) and the two small purple ones are for transporting milk or oil for cooking at school.  But they do all mount up.  

Which bottles should I start with?

The bottles, mugs and flasks you should start with are:

• Cheap crappy plastic bottles
• The ones you don’t tend to use (you haven’t used them in the last 6 months)
• The wrong-sized ones (they don’t fit in the cup holder in your car)
• Any with straws missing, lids that have broken or those without lids.
• The ones that are a pain to clean.

 

Which bottles should I Keep?

If you have a lot of these travel mugs and cups but not enough storage space I would recommend that you keep any stainless steel ones over the less expensive plastic ones.

You need to keep enough to fulfil your family’s needs – There is no point in discarding the bottle in a fortnight if you have to spend money on replacing them.  The last thing you want is to suffer from Declutter Regret when you’re starting on your decluttering journey

You are the only person who can determine what is a reasonable amount to keep for your family.  When you are thinking of how many to keep make sure you bear in mind:

• How often do you use the bottles, cups or flasks?
• The amount of storage space that you have?

You're constantly imagining situations in which you might require those extra ten water bottles. I'm sure there is no real-life situation when you will need them all at once, I know you’re probably hesitant to give away the extras, you have to stop and think, "Do I need to have so many water bottles?". The answer is usually NO.

3 - Pick the items that will be kept in the kitchen.

After getting rid of the ones, you don't want. Selecting the ones that should go in your kitchen cabinet should be made simpler for you as a result. The majority of us actually only have a few go-to products, so we frequently reuse the same 2 or 3 bottles. So, rather than stuffing your cabinet full of everything, ask each family member to pick their favourites, the ones that they use the most.

Before I store them, I decided to give them all a wash, as they had been stored with the lids on and some had a musty smell.  

Step 4: Store Water Bottles You Don't Use Frequently.

You and your family have picked the favourite water bottles and travel mugs that you enjoy packing for days out and camping trips. So, what should you do with the bottles that you don't use frequently? It's easy; just put them in a box and store them somewhere out of the way – you could store them in the attic or garage.

Once they are dry - i will keep my water bottles, travel mugs and flasks in a storage box on the top of my wall unit because we don’t use them all the time – but we do use them, so it would be crazy to discard them only to have to purchase new ones when we go on a day out.  The one I use daily – has a space in my base cupboard in the kitchen thanks to decluttering my cups.

 

5 – Be like Elsa – Let it go

You have done all of the hard work by sorting which ones are in use, and which ones you are happy to discard – I know letting go of things isn’t easy – but think about when you donate all the spare ones to charity - they can find a home where they will be put to good use and not just piled high being unused. Remember the words of the Ice Queen Elsa – Let it go.

 

Now you have got them decluttered, be sure to read the post for tons of water bottles and travel mug organisation Tips for the best ways to keep them under control in your kitchen 😊

 

I really appreciate you stopping by, and want to say thank you - because without you I wouldn't be here. Believe in Yourself, You got this, NOW Go Declutter!