In Week 4 of the Declutter to Empower Challenge, we’ll declutter our mugs!

Do you have a favorite mug? The one you’ll fish out of your dirty dishwasher and hand-wash just so you can have your morning cup of coffee in it? I’ve done that, while also knowing that there is an entire cupboard of perfectly good, already clean, mugs right above my coffee maker! Perfectly good, yes, but not the ONE.

Now the other day, when I was emptying my clean dishwasher, I noticed that I couldn’t even get my favorite mug into the mug cabinet. The cabinet is so full that the door peeks open a little. It whispered to me in a little voice that sounded just like Marie Kondo. She said, “I think it’s time to declutter your mugs, Lauren!” (p.s. don’t you just love Marie Kondo’s bangs?) Sign up for the Declutter to Empower Challenge!

Sign up for the declutter to Empower Challenge!

Now, if I’m being real, I have two favorite mugs and then a lot of others I just push right past each time I’m looking for those favorites. Do you do that too?

What’s funny is that the other day I caught my husband doing the exact same thing! Why do we do that? I bet that time of pushing past the mugs we don’t like to find the ones we do adds up to about a year of our life! That’s the problem with keeping stuff around we don’t like or use, it gets in the way of us using the things we love, and doing the things we most want to do. 

Personally, I’d much rather live that year drinking coffee from my favorite mug on an exotic beach somewhere. Because you’d bet your buns I’d wrap that thing in my beach towel and pack it in my suitcase. That’s how much I love my mug. And the ones I don’t? We’ll they are about to get the heave-ho!

Week 4 Challenge: Declutter Your Mugs!

Sort your mugs:

Take them all out of the cupboard and sort them by type:  travel mugs, tea cups, regular mugs. Now that you see how many freakin’ mugs you’ve got it will be easier to let them go! Right? That’s why I never skip this step. Sort, sort, sort.

Eliminate the cast-offs:

Don’t overthink this: eliminate any mugs with bad juju, mugs that make you angry (I actually have a few of those!), mugs with chips, travel mugs missing a lid, and mugs you think are ugly. Gone, gone, and gone!

If you’re having trouble with this, imagine that your kid wants a mug to for his sandbox “coffee bar.” Go! Which mugs would you give him to scoop around in the mud and sand? These are the ones to toss. Come to think of it, sandbox play could be a good use of your cast-offs…

Organize a coffee cupboard:

Create a boundary between the travel mugs, regular mugs, and tea cups. You can do that visually by lining each type up in a row. While you’re at it, why not pour your coffee into a cute jar and put it next to your coffee pot? And, if it’s not there already, move your coffee pot so it’s under your cabinet of mugs. Look! Now you have a little coffee bar!

And just in case you’re wondering which mug is my fave: here it is!

It’s it inspiring? The podcaster Ruth Soukup sent me this little beauty as a thank you for helping promote her book, Do It Scared. When it arrived, I felt like a total fan girl, and then I immediately made myself some cocoa so I could try it out!

It’s got just the right taper to it, and I love that the words “Do It Scared” face toward me when I hold the handle in my right hand. It’s like it’s my secret power mantra.

What’s your favorite mug? Post a little bit about it in the comments. I really believe everyone has a fave, and I want to hear about yours.

Cheers!

Lauren

p.s. this is my favorite tea mug. My brother and sister in law got it for me– thanks Jordan and Katie! I’m seeing a trend that I like mugs with inspirational messages on them ;).