How to Declutter After the Holidays

With the Holidays behind us and the New Year approaching, this is a wonderful time to clear clutter. Chances are your home has been filled with extra things–people, food, decorations, and gifts! Even with the best of intentions to simplify the holidays, it is inevitable that some clutter accumulates. Now is the time to clear away the excess and make space for a new beginning and all the good you desire in the new year.

With the Holidays behind us and the New Year approaching, this is a wonderful time to clear clutter. Chances are your home has been filled with extra things–people, food, decorations, and gifts! Even with the best of intentions to simplify the holidays, it is inevitable that some clutter accumulates. Now is the time to clear away the excess and make space for a new beginning and all the good you desire in the new year.

Here are 8 tips for decluttering after the holidays:

1. Holiday Decorations: As you take down ornaments and other holiday decorations only store the items that are truly loved and useful. For those items that are loved and useful, make sure they are clean and good repair. The decorations you choose to keep will be stored for a year so it is important they have a good “home.” A good home is clean and spacious- such as an ornament box with individual compartments so each ornament has a space of its own. Holiday decorations often take up a great deal of storage space, so we want to make sure they are worth it! If we cram items together we may invest a lot only to find they are damaged when we go to retrieve them a year from now. For those items that never made it out of the storage box and did not get used over the holiday, ask yourself if they are truly loved and useful. If not, donate these items.

If you are someone who in the past has procrastinated taking down your holiday décor and finds it sad to let go of the holidays—try as Marie Kondo suggests thanking the items for the joy they brought you this holiday season. It will be easier to put them away and let go of the holiday season from a place of gratitude. Also, keep in mind that holiday decorations begin to lose their “aliveness” the longer they stay up past the Holidays. We may think keeping up our holiday decorations extends the joy of the season, but usually, the opposite happens- they become lifeless and no longer inspire love.

2. Unwanted Gifts: Return or giveaway any gifts that are not loved or useful. You can be grateful for a gift and the person who gave you the gift, as well as thoroughly enjoy the act of receiving a gift without keeping the actual item. In this video, Alison’s talks about how to graciously receive a gift you don’t need or want as well as what to do with gifts that aren’t loved or used. How do you know it’s not loved or useful? One way to tell is if you find you’re hesitant to either throw away the gift’s packaging, hang up the item in your closet, use it, etc… If you’re hesitating, it may be because deep down you know it’s not useful or loved. For even more tips on how to let go on unwanted gifts gracefully, click here. 

3. Food and pantry items: Clear out your refrigerator and the food pantry. If you received gifts of food and hosted holiday meals you may find your refrigerator overstuffed and your pantry filled to the brim. Try to use up what you can, give it away or donate to a food pantry. Some ingredients you may only use once a year if you know they won’t last until next year’s holiday, better to give it away now.

4. Holiday Cards: After you have enjoyed opening these mini-gifts, read the messages, and admire the photos, decide if it still is loved and useful. For those that do and you’d like to keep, put them in a digital or physical album so you can actually revisit them! If they are tucked away in a box in a closet chances are you will not look at them and they will end up being clutter.

5. Kids toys: Post holiday is often a good time to revisit children’s toys, particularly if you did not declutter before the holidays–and sometimes even if you did! We always found that with the influx of new toys our kids were more than happy to make space and let go of any that were no longer loved or used. The same may be true for us–if we received new clothing, or other items, perhaps the new item replaces an older less loved item.

6. Gift wrap: You might be surprised to learn that we do encourage saving some wrapping items and cards–if you have the storage space–because it saves money and reduces waste. (It is estimated that 2.3 pounds of wrapping paper ends up in landfills each year). It probably doesn’t serve to save every last bit of wrapping paper, but the sheets and rolls that are still in good shape can be saved along with pretty ribbons. Attractive gift boxes are also often worth keeping. I tend to keep these items and found myself going years without purchasing new ribbon or paper. Alison is smart and uses cloth gift bags (much easier to save, zerowaste, and space saving.) I also save gift tags. Mostly I use the wooden reusable gift tags year after year, but I will also reuse paper gift tags that just have the receiver's name on it. Sometimes, if I really like the tag, I’ll even cut off the message and save the front of the card to make it into a gift tag!

7. Reflect on the Holiday. Each year I make some notes about the holiday to prepare for the next year. I include our holiday meals, gifts I have to various people, events we attended, and thoughts about what worked and what I would like to do differently the next year. Which traditions did I love and which, if any were stressful? Were there ways to simplify that would make it even more joyful?

8. Clear Your Inner Clutter. In the first weeks of January, I create a list of written intentions for the upcoming year. Before I set my intentions I find it helps to clear both the physical clutter and inner clutter.

“It is difficult to envision a future when we are weighed down by the past. We need to let go of the things that are not loved and useful in our homes and lives to make space for the things that will truly serve who we are in this moment in time.”

Clearing inner and outer clutter provides a fresh slate on which to begin envisioning your ideal life. You can clear you inner clutter with a simple exercise: Take a sheet of paper and write down everything that is on your mind. Everything. Include thoughts about errands you need to run to your most heartfelt dreams and everything in between.

Clearing inner clutter is a similar process to clearing physical clutter. When we clear physical clutter the essential first step is to entirely empty the space. We take everything out of the cabinet or drawer. Only when we have taken everything out can we truly address each item. We need to do the same with inner clutter. Take everything out of our minds and place it on paper. Only then can we begin looking at each thought/desire/goal and decide if it is truly useful, loved and in alignment with our highest vision for our life at this moment in time. For step by step guidance on how to clear inner clutter click here.