Do you ever feel overwhelmed when you think about all the new "stuff" that will be entering your home during the holidays? Those with kids are often especially overwhelmed. New toys, clothes, books, and games from generous grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. Not to mention your own gifts to your children, and of course those from the jolly red-dressed guy!
If you already feel like your home is cluttered, the thought of adding more to your home can be stifling. But it doesn't have to be that way!
Today I'm sharing a few tips to help simplify your holidays by decluttering. {It just wouldn't be a series on organizing if I didn't discuss decluttering right?!}
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1. Make Room for New Toys
If you have kids at home, you've got toys. Whether they are the larger toddler toys or collections for older children with lots of little pieces (Lego, Polly Pocket, etc.), you're probably overrun with toys. Well, maybe not... if you've been decluttering this year in the 365 Items in 365 Days challenge!
If you don't have kids living at home, consider your hobbies as "toys". Maybe you're overrun with scrapbook supplies or fishing gear.
Whatever kinds of toys you're dealing with, you're probably going to get more of them entering your home over the holidays. Rather than having so many all at once, purge some of them ahead of time. I did this last year, and I couldn't believe how much more I enjoyed Christmas! And the aftermath of putting the new things away.
My kids and I purged their toys ahead of time, which meant there was room to put away their new ones. You can do the same, and enjoy your Christmas more!
I gave lots of tips for decluttering toys in this post last December. If you want to declutter the toys in your home, check it out first!
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| Tips for Decluttering Toys |
And just for good measure, here are two other posts with tips for decluttering toys:
2. Make Room for New Clothes
If your family is anything like my family, there are lots of clothing gifts. I love gifts of new or new-to-us clothes because they are practical. They don't clutter up our home. Yay!
But finding places to add new clothing to our closets and dresser drawers can be overwhelming. I've worked hard to keep our clothing organized and limited to what we need and use, so we don't end up with stuffed drawers and crammed closets, making it hard to find what we want to wear or put our clean clothes back. I don't want to clutter them back up again with new clothing gifts. Last year was the first year I intentionally purged before Christmas and it was so much nicer after the holidays when it came time to put the new clothes away.
Take some time to purge clothing before the holidays. Outgrown items, things that haven't been worn in a long time, and pieces you have multiples of, are all great places to start.
For tips on decluttering clothing, here's a post from last year:
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| Tips for Decluttering Clothing |
And here are a few other posts about decluttering clothing:
3. Make Room for New Games / Entertainment
If you've got board games, video games, DVD's, or CD's that haven't been used in awhile, and you anticipate new ones coming in this Christmas, take some time to declutter your collection. You can give away or donate board games. And you can possibly sell some of the unused electronic entertainment. We usually take a trip to a used entertainment store before Christmas so there is space on our shelves for the inevitable new things that we'll receive as gifts. It doesn't take very long, but it really makes a difference in how you feel when you're putting away all those new gifts!
Here's a post from last year on decluttering entertainment items.
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| Tips for Decluttering Entertainment |
4. Make Room for New Christmas Decorations / Items
We always end up with new Christmas items every year. Some are gifts, some are things we buy to help make our home more festive and some are deals at post-Christmas sales. But, I do not want to have more bins than we already have for storing all our Christmas stuff. So, I need to purge to make room for the new!
If you like to decorate with a new theme every year, or if you do a lot of holiday craft projects, you probably add a lot of new Christmas items on an annual basis. Unless you have unlimited storage available, it's important to declutter the old to make room for the new!
A lot of people purge after Christmas, but purging before the holidays opens up a lot of opportunities to bless someone else with the things you're giving away.
Here are tips to help you declutter your decorations.
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| Tips for Decluttering Decorations |
5. Make Room for Guests
OK, this isn't really making room for anything actually new, but while you're on a decluttering kick, take a few minutes to purge your entry way, mudroom, or hall closet. That way when you have guests over, you'll have room to hang their coats and you won't be tripping over excess shoes.
If you're having overnight guests, your guest room may need some decluttering as well. Guest rooms often end up as dumping grounds. Take a bit of time to purge items you no longer need, use, or love, to make room for your guests!
Here are a few posts with tips to help you declutter for your guests:
6. Make Room for Holiday Cooking / Baking
If you are planning to entertain, you know it's easier when you can find all your baking, cooking, and serving pieces. And when you need to stock up on groceries for all that baking and cooking, it's so much easier when you've decluttered your pantry, fridge, and freezer. Take a few minutes to declutter in your kitchen to make it easier during the holidays!
Here are some posts with tips to help you declutter your kitchen:
Now, of course I don't want you to declutter all these areas in the next week and a half... that would be way too overwhelming! Just pick 1-2 areas that will make the most difference for you and tackle them. If you have time for more, then go ahead and do more. Anything you do before Christmas will make it easier on you during and after the holidays! That will help you enjoy your holidays more!
If you're looking for other holiday organizing ideas, check out previous posts I've written on the subject in the Organizing tab at the top of the page - choose the Christmas submenu. Or check out my Christmas Organizing board on Pinterest.
Do you declutter before the holidays? How does it help you in your home? What tips do you have to reduce that overwhelming feeling that can creep up with all the incoming stuff during the holidays?
Happy organizing!
Here are all the posts in the 12 Days of Being Organized for the Holidays series!
I link up at these great parties - Check them out!
