Get Ready for the New Year with After Christmas Decluttering
Christmas is over and the new year is almost here. It’s almost time to pack away all the holiday decorations and get ready for the new year to start. But if your house is anything like mine you have gained quite a bit of extra stuff to stuff into your home.
Why not take this time to sort through and remove some of that clutter?
Christmas Decorations
I know I have a few Christmas decorations that have seen better days. Do you have some of those too? You know the ornaments that are missing pieces or those holiday lights that only half of them light up. Instead of packing them away for next year why not purge them from your collection?
Toy Clutter
Christmas is a time for the kids to get some bright new toys, but getting them all to fit on the toy shelves or in the toy box can be a battle. Some of them might end up lying around and never really having a home.
When the new toys come in why not have your kids pick out some of their outgrown toys to donate or give them to friends. My kids always loved hand me downs from friends, who were just a little older than themselves. It not only cuts down on clutter but blesses someone else.
Closet Clutter
At Christmas, my kids usually get some new clothes from grandma and grandpa. If your kid’s dressers are overstuffed with items already, have your kids try on their older clothes to see which items still fit and which items don’t. Birthdays and Christmas are always good times to go through the kids clothes to purge outgrown items.
It’s also a good time to go through the linen closet and remove any old sheets, towels, and washcloths. I know I don’t think about purging those items and just keep using them over and over, even the ones with holes in them. But if you purge them now you’ll know what you need to replace when the white sales come around in January.
Kitchen Clutter
I like to look through my cupboards and get rid of any extra plastic containers I might have been saving to use for holiday cookies and candy. If I haven’t used them by now, I’m not going to and I don’t want them hanging around until next year. I do a purge of my plastic containers.
I also look through my linen drawers for things that are just too worn out to keep, things like dishcloths and dish towels can wear out and I just keep cycling them through. This time of year is a good time to purge those too worn to use items out of the kitchen.
I find if I do an after Christmas purge as I am packing up the holiday stuff and putting the Christmas gifts away it helps to keep our home less cluttered.
How do you keep your Christmas clutter under control? I would love to have you share your ideas in the comments below.
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These are helpful ideas, Shelly. I like to go through my kids’ clothes and toys on a fairly regular basis and donate items we no longer need or want. That’s helped with the clutter a lot this past year. 🙂
With so many kids I bet you have to go through the clothes often. 🙂
Such great tips! I decluttered all of my Christmas decorations last year while in the process of putting everything away for the year…it was amazing to see how much clutter we had. It made things a lot easier to put out this year.
I need to go through my kids’ toys and declutter again…it’s a never-ending chore 🙂
I declutter my Christmas decoration in the storage box so that it will be used again next year. Toys will be also kept in the storage box also since we don’t have much.
This year, as I brought out the Christmas decorations, I purged those things that held no sentimental value to me. I let go of things I won’t use, as well as things I had in excess. I do not need three packages of light clips (I don’t even use lights around my windows anymore), or three packages of ornament hooks. I kept one package of the latter, because I always need at least one or two each year, but I gave away the rest.
Now, as I’ve packed away my Christmas decorations, I know that what I have is truly what I want for my home. And I added three new ornaments to my tree which I received as gifts this year.
I live alone, so I pass this along as something I’ve heard others do. As Christmas approaches, some families have a donation box and ask that children donate at least x-number of toys (gently used, of course) before Christmas. This is a way to teach young ones to generously love others, and to prepare space for new blessings as well.
Mildred, great job at letting go of things you don’t need. And thanks for sharing about the donation box to bless others. That is a great idea. We also do a toy purge before Christmas and Birthdays to pass them along to friends and neighbors who have kids. I agree it’s a great way to teach kids to think of others.
I always have trouble deciding how to pack away cookie tins. This year I stored my breakable ornaments in the tins then packed the tins in my ornament box. That way when I put up my tree next year my tins will be available to use for cookie storage or to give as gifts.
Shari, that is such good idea. Thanks for sharing it!