The Duplicates You Should Never Declutter

I have 12 Sharpies, eight nail clippers, two tape measures, and plenty of other duplicates around my house. And I’m not decluttering a single one of them!

I’ve been teaching people to declutter for 14 years, and I’ll be the first to tell you that most duplicates need to go. When in doubt, let it go. But there are some duplicates that actually make your home easier to run, and getting rid of them can make your life harder instead of simpler.

This is definitely not permission to keep 14 spatulas because you might need them someday. My rule is pretty simple: If you can tell me what you have, where it lives, and why you need it there, it’s probably not clutter. It’s when you lose track of how many you own, don’t know where they are, or can’t find them when you need them that those duplicates become a problem.

Keep reading, or watch the video here to find out what duplicates I intentionally keep around my house and why they’re worth the extra space!

Cheap Things You Need for 30 Seconds

The first category might be the one that makes the biggest difference in everyday life. These are inexpensive things that you only need for about 30 seconds at a time, but when you need one, you want it right where you are.

If something costs a dollar or two, I’m not going to walk to another floor of my house every time I need it just so I can proudly say I only own one.

Sharpies

I bought an entire pack of fine and extra-fine Sharpies specifically so I could keep them in different places around the house. I use them constantly, especially paired with inexpensive freezer tape for quick labels.

These are my “temporary” labels, although some of them have a funny way of becoming permanent. I can tear off a piece of freezer tape, write on it with a Sharpie, and label almost anything in seconds. Having the supplies nearby means I’m much more likely to actually do it.

Tape

Most people probably own more than one roll of tape, but they often store all of it in one place. I intentionally spread mine out.

I keep a roll in our kitchen junk drawer, another in my office, and another in the laundry room where I wrap gifts and do other projects. Instead of constantly carrying tape around the house and hoping it makes its way back to the right spot, each roll has a home near where it’s actually used.

Scissors

How many times have you torn apart the house looking for scissors?

I finally decided scissors were inexpensive enough that I’d rather have plenty of them. I keep two or three pairs in the kitchen drawer, a couple in the laundry room, and more in my office.

I’ll admit this is one duplicate where I break my own rule a little. I can’t always tell you exactly where every pair is because they tend to migrate. But having plenty means we’re rarely completely without scissors.

I also have a tiny pair with a protective cover that permanently lives with my travel supplies. There always seems to be a tag or something else that needs to be cut when we’re traveling, so those scissors have a specific job and home.

Staple Removers and Letter Openers

For the longest time, I owned one staple remover. It lived downstairs, which meant every time I needed one upstairs, I had to walk downstairs, get it, carry it upstairs, remove one staple, and then remember to take it back downstairs.

Eventually it occurred to me that staple removers cost about a dollar.

Now I have one upstairs and one downstairs. I do the same thing with letter openers. These aren’t expensive items, they don’t take up much space, and duplicates eliminate a lot of unnecessary trips back and forth.

Mailing Supplies

I also keep envelopes, stamps, and return address labels both upstairs and downstairs. One set is conveniently located near where we’re getting ready to walk out the door.

If I suddenly remember that something needs to be mailed, everything I need is right there. I’m not wandering around the house looking for a stamp when I’m already trying to leave.

Tape Measures

We have a tape measure in the garage with the rest of the tools, which makes perfect sense. But we also have another one hanging inside the house.

Tape measures are one of those things you randomly need for 30 seconds. I don’t want to walk out to the garage every time I need to check whether a piece of furniture will fit somewhere or measure a shelf.

Nail Clippers

Maybe this is just me, but hangnails drive me crazy. When I get one, I want to take care of it immediately.

Nail clippers are incredibly cheap, so I keep them in my purse, car, bedside table, bathroom, and junk drawer. This is another one where I don’t keep perfect track of every single pair, but I intentionally own enough that they’re usually nearby when I need them.

Chargers Where You Actually Use Them

Chargers and adapters are another category where duplicates can save a surprising amount of hassle.

I keep a charger permanently stocked in my travel kit so I can throw it into my backpack for a day trip or put it into my suitcase for a longer trip. I don’t have to remember to unplug my everyday chargers and pack them, and I know I’ll be able to charge my phone, watch, and headphones.

One of my favorite charger duplicates was actually my husband’s idea. I like using my iPad while I’m on the spin bike, but it uses quite a bit of battery. I was constantly taking it upstairs to charge it and then bringing it back downstairs.

His solution was incredibly obvious: Why not just keep another charger by the spin bike?

Brilliant.

Now the iPad can charge right where I use it. That’s exactly the kind of duplicate I’m happy to keep because it removes an annoying little step from something I do regularly.

Duplicates That Make Getting Out the Door Easier

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There are few worse times to realize something you need is on another floor than when everyone is trying to get out the door.

When my kids’ bedrooms and main bathroom were upstairs, I kept an extra toothbrush and toothpaste for them in the little half bath downstairs. After breakfast, they could brush their teeth right there instead of running upstairs again.

Hair brushes are another great example. The last thing I want to do when everyone is trying to leave is hunt through the house for a hairbrush. Having brushes in bedrooms, bathrooms, the car, a purse, or near the door can make those last few minutes before leaving much smoother.

The point isn’t that everyone needs six hairbrushes. It’s that if you’re constantly running back through the house to retrieve the same inexpensive item, a strategically placed duplicate might solve the problem.

A Fully Stocked Toiletry Bag

This might be my favorite duplicate system of all because it saves me so much time.

I keep a toiletry bag completely stocked at all times with duplicates of my toiletries and makeup. When it’s time to travel, I don’t have to stand in my bathroom trying to remember everything I use every morning. I grab the bag and I’m ready.

When I’m traveling and notice something is getting low, I immediately put a reminder in my phone. Once I get home, I replenish it so the bag is ready for the next trip.

Yes, technically I own two of many of those products. But those duplicates eliminate an entire packing task every time I travel, which makes them more than worth it to me.

Umbrellas and Reusable Shopping Bags

Umbrellas and reusable shopping bags are only useful if they’re actually with you when you need them.

That’s why I keep them in each car.

There’s nothing particularly helpful about having a perfectly organized stack of reusable grocery bags sitting at home when you’re already standing in the Aldi parking lot. I’d rather own enough that each car stays stocked and I don’t have to remember to move them around.

Yes, I Own Multiple Pairs of Headphones

This one might sound excessive because a lot of people probably only need one pair of headphones. For me, multiple pairs make sense because I listen to things constantly while I’m working, walking, running, doing housework, and even going to sleep.

Different headphones also work better for different situations. I have discreet in-ear noise-canceling headphones for when I’m out and about. My open-ear headphones work better when I’m jogging. I also have a comfortable pair that goes over my ears for times when I’m listening to something in bed and don’t want to disturb my husband.

The important distinction is that I know what each pair is for, I use them regularly, and I know exactly where they are. I even have a pair I’ve owned for about 12 years and could tell you exactly where to find them.

That’s why I don’t consider them clutter.

Duplicates That Make Chores Easier

Another category where duplicates can make a huge difference is cleaning and household chores. If the tool you need is already right where the mess happens, you’re much more likely to take care of it immediately.

A Toilet Brush for Every Toilet

I think every toilet should have its own toilet brush and cleaner nearby.

If you notice that a toilet needs cleaning, you can put in the cleaner, give it a quick swish, and be done. You don’t need to make a plan, retrieve supplies from another room, or carry a toilet brush across the house.

We actually learned this one the gross way. At one point, we didn’t have a toilet brush by every toilet, so my son was carrying one across the house. He enthusiastically lifted the brush and its holder over his head, and some very nasty toilet water dripped onto him.

That was enough to convince me.

Toilet brushes aren’t expensive. Keeping one by every toilet makes cleaning easier and is a lot more sanitary than transporting one around the house.

A Step Stool on Each Floor

I also keep a step stool on each floor of our house.

Ours are fairly tall, so carrying one up and down the stairs is awkward. I’m also only 5’4″, and our house has a lot of high ceilings and things I can’t reach. I don’t want the step stool to be far away every time I need it.

There’s a safety benefit too. When the proper tool is inconvenient to access, it’s tempting to take a shortcut and stand on a chair or something else that isn’t designed for climbing. I’d much rather have an extra step stool nearby and use the safer option.

A Vacuum Cleaner on Each Floor

This is definitely the biggest duplicate I intentionally own: we have two vacuum cleaners.

One is older and not quite as nice, so it stays downstairs where we don’t vacuum as often. But having one on each floor means we never have to lug a vacuum cleaner up and down the stairs.

Both of ours are also cordless, which makes vacuuming much easier but means battery life is limited. One vacuum wouldn’t necessarily make it through both floors on a single charge anyway.

Do you need to run out and buy a second vacuum cleaner? Probably not. But if you’re replacing an older vacuum that’s still perfectly functional, it might be worth keeping it on another floor rather than automatically getting rid of it.

When Is a Duplicate Actually Clutter?

There are still plenty of things in my home where I only need one, and I definitely don’t want this to become an excuse to keep everything “just in case.”

The difference is intentionality.

If you have five rolls of tape but don’t know where any of them are, that’s not helping you. If you keep buying scissors because you can’t find the 17 pairs you already own, you probably have an organizing problem rather than a scissors shortage.

But if you intentionally keep one roll of tape in your office, one in your kitchen, and one where you wrap gifts because you regularly use tape in all three places, those duplicates are serving a purpose.

So before automatically getting rid of every duplicate, ask yourself:

• Do I actually use all of these?
• Can I explain why I need more than one?
• Does each duplicate have a logical home?
• Does having multiples save me meaningful time or effort?
• Can I easily find one when I need it?

If the answer is yes, keeping the duplicate may actually make your home easier to manage.

Decluttering isn’t about owning the smallest possible number of things. It’s about getting rid of the things that aren’t serving you so the things that do serve you are easier to use.

Sometimes that means getting rid of nine extras.

And sometimes it means happily keeping all eight nail clippers, LOL!