The weeks after the holidays can be a stressful time. With holiday decorations still scattered about, gifts without a home, and an assortment of items that you were “planning on getting to”, you may be feeling a little overwhelmed on how to get everything organized.
The good news is that now is the best time to get the clutter under control before the year officially ramps up. We reached out to experts from Vancouver, BC, all the way to New York, NY, for their advice on how to eliminate post-holiday clutter. From editing down your closets to packing away the last pieces of holiday decor, these simple steps will set you up for success in the coming months.
Set your decluttering goals
1) Envision how you want each room to look and feel
Whether it’s wanting a room to feel energized, creative, or calming, keep that vision in mind as you declutter. Move systematically through each space making mindful decisions that align with your unique vision. Surround yourself with what you love and use; ask yourself these key questions with each item. –Embrace Your Space Organizational Solutions
2) Focus on one area at a time
New year, new you, new living space? Great! But don’t overdo it. You don’t want to start the year with organizing burnout or decision fatigue. Focus on one project and complete it. Then you’ll start the year feeling accomplished instead of overwhelmed. –Cypress Tree Organizing Services
3) Get your head in the decluttering game
Decluttering is a mental game and will be next to impossible if you don’t view your overabundance of belongings as clutter. Instead, you’ll waste hours of your time only to get rid of one or two pieces of clothing. First, get your head in the game and realize you have more than you need. Then, once you’ve got yourself convinced that it is okay to rid your closet of some clothes or your cabinets of some coffee mugs, you’ll have far more decluttering success. –Deliberately Here
4) Don’t let your clutter draw you down rabbit holes
To stay focused and limit those distractions, start with a realistic time limit and a silenced phone. Next, use simple sorting categories: donate, toss, recycle and move elsewhere (this last category is particularly helpful because it allows you to stay present in the space without outside objects drawing your attention elsewhere). –Details By Deb
How to eliminate kitchen clutter after the holidays
5) Break your kitchen items into 5 categories
Start with decluttering what’s visible on the countertops by breaking it into 5 different categories: Appliances, Food Items, Supplements/Medication, Decor Items, and things that don’t belong in the kitchen. Tuck the least used appliances away under the cabinets, toss or donate any leftover holiday food items, and make a home for your supplements and medication in a cabinet or drawer. Then, choose to keep and store only your favorite holiday decor items and consider donating the rest. Finally, remove everything else that doesn’t belong in the kitchen. These decluttering tasks can be done in less time than it takes to take down your tree. –Organized Life By Michelle
6) Take back your kitchen by clearing the clutter
Clear the countertops, purge your pantry, and put away specialty bakeware. You can reclaim even more space by adding a command center to your wall to wrangle paper clutter, backpacks, lunch boxes, and more. –Lil Mess Perfect
7) Create a system that works with your kitchen
So many people are trying to focus on using more sustainable items in the kitchen. Reusable silicone food storage bags are great to start with, but they can be a pain to store. Try using a magazine/file rack. Just roll up the bags and store them vertically in the rack. You can even attach the magazine rack to the inside of your cabinet door to keep them within easy reach or keep it on your counter. Either way, all those bags will be handy, organized, and ready to go. –Calm the Chaos
How to eliminate office clutter after the holidays
8) Create a productive space by clearing your inbox
Think of your email as a “room” within your “technology house.” Go through each email received and decide if you want to read this type of email moving forward. If it doesn’t bring you value, “unsubscribe” your email address and experience the results of a more intentional inbox “closet” that is uniquely curated to bring you the information that fits you the best. –Life Planned And Organized
How to eliminate bedroom or closet clutter after the holidays
9) Declutter and use that top shelf in your closet
Top shelves in closets often become a black hole of long-forgotten items. Use this space to your advantage by adding matching baskets or bins for a tidy and uniform look. Store less accessed items such as off-season clothes or shoes that are rotated out as the seasons change. Add labels, so you know at a glance what each bin contains. –Simply Easy Organizing
10) Maximize unused vertical spaces inside a closet door or behind a bedroom door
It is easy to add an over-the-door shoe organizer. The best part is that it can be used to store anything from (the obvious) shoes to toys, hair and makeup supplies, and cleaning supplies. –Space Coast Organizing
11) Evaluate what you have
Make room for what you will wear by removing your favorite clothes and shoes that you wear often. Then, with the remaining items, if you have not worn them, they don’t fit right, or you would not purchase them today if you saw them in a store, you know it’s okay to donate. –Organized By Juliana
12) Give your old items a new life by recycling them
If you have old or worn-out shoes, don’t throw them away. You can recycle them through Terracycle, and they will break the materials down to raw materials and sold to manufacturers. If they’re still in good condition, drop them off at a Soles4Souls drop-off location or ship your shoes directly to them for free. Nike also offers a Reuse-A-Shoe program for athletic shoes that can be recycled. With a little research and planning, you can easily divert your waste from landfills and give your items new life. –Simply Dare
Decluttering with kids
13) Consider packing children’s holiday books with your holiday decor
Not only will this save space on their bookshelf, but they will love unpacking them year after year. Take 2 minutes to flip through your holiday gift wrap and bags. Toss any that are creased, crinkled, or old. If you didn’t use them this holiday season, chances are they won’t get used next holiday season. –Charming Spaces
How to eliminate clutter when un-decorating your home
14) Assess your decor and break them into categories for easy decluttering
Start the new year off on the right foot (and not trip over the clutter.) Are you at odds with leftover holiday decorations that are still up, unwanted gifts you’re not sure what to do with, or a mountain of empty boxes? Here’s how you can get a jumpstart on holiday-chaos recovery: Always keep a cardboard box handy for donation items in the most clutter-prone areas of the home for regular donation runs. Then, sort items into four simple categories: Keep/Donate/Think-About/Trash or Recycle. The goal is to have the Donate and Trash/Recycle box be the fullest ones, while the Think-About box will become the next donation box if you haven’t utilized the contents in a month or two. Work on one area at a time – i.e., pick one side of the room (or tree in post-holiday season) and work your way around, sorting, discarding unwanted/unnecessary items, and organizing what’s left. –Foster Organizing
15) Use the box method
Place things you aren’t sure about in a box and keep it out of sight. Then, if you haven’t looked for something from that box over a certain period of time, it gets sold or donated. –Minimalism & Co.
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