As much as Christmas is the most magical time of the year, it can also be the most stressful and hectic time too.
We all know that the Christmas period will bring lots more items into your home and starting to declutter early can help prevent the overwhelm happening during the festive period.
You’ve all heard of the saying “one in one out” When it comes to keeping your house organised and staying in control of the amount of stuff in your house, this is a great rule to live by.
This rule works brilliantly at Christmas.
We know that when 25th December arrives there are going to be A LOT of new things coming into your house. So now is the perfect time to make space for the new things you will be receiving, and declutter things you do not want or need any more. It’s not about emptying your home, just getting rid of the excess things you don’t need anymore that are just cluttering up your home.
This isn’t something you can just do in one day. It’s a slow process so don’t beat yourself up about the time it takes to accomplish. Celebrate the small wins along the way. Get the whole family involved to reduce the time it takes and create lasting habits.
Once you get into the habit of decluttering before Christmas, you will have stuff to let go of every year. One of the best places for this stuff to go would be charity. Bonus! You make space for your new things and help people less fortunate than you in the process. If you have children, it's a great lesson to teach them, as it helps them to realise that they can help others less fortunate than them over the Christmas period.
Get them to sort through their own toys and let go of anything they don’t play with anymore. Which makes space for the new toys they could get from Santa.
When Christmas decorations and all the other holiday decor goes up, there’s even more clutter around the house, which makes it even harder to keep your house clean and tidy.
So the last thing you need to contend with on top of all the Christmas decor is excess stuff around your house that actually, really doesn’t need to be there.
As soon as you declutter the house will feel better and you will feel more incontrol and able to keep on top of the festivities.
Bonus, when the decorations come down the house will be even tidier, going into the new year with a fresh, clutter free house.
Be ruthless and ask yourself these 4 questions
Does anybody use it
Is the item still working
Does it still fit
Does anybody want it
What to declutter
Old decorations
I think you will agree we’re all guilty of accumulating masses of Christmas decorations over the years. A changing colour scheme each year or a new trend to follow. Before you decorate your home for the Christmas period, declutter any decorations you no longer need. Any broken decorations or any that you no longer use.
Also extra home accessories that you have shoved up in the loft and have been meaning to get rid of for ages but you just can’t bring yourself to part with, even though you know you are never going to use them again
Once you have finished decorating, look through the things you haven’t put out, why haven't you put them out? Has it been a good few years since you have actually put them out? If so get rid of them!
Serving dishes & kitchen gadgets
Go through your cupboards, or anything containing kitchen stuff. Look at serving dishes and random gadgets you have in your cupboards. You will most likely have dishes that only get used once a year a Christmas. Have you got something that hasn’t been used for as long as you can remember, it’s probably time to let it go.
Check your tupperware drawer, how many odd tubs and lids do you have. Match the tubs to the lids and throw anything away that doesn’t have one of each.
Food
Check the fridge, freezer, pantry, and cupboards.
You’ll be buying lots of extra food this time of year, so make room before you buy it.
Remove anything that is out of date, use the weeks running up to Christmas to use up the food you already have and make room for the Christmas goodies.
Put the shortest dates to the front of your cupboards ready to use up first.
If there is anything in date that you're not going to eat, donate it to your local food bank
Seasonal Clothes
As you swap your summer wardrobe for your winter wardrobe, have a good look through.
Do you have things that don’t fit, are a bit worn out or you just don’t actually like anymore.
As you put your summer clothes away, look at what you didn’t wear or anything that doesn’t fit anymore.
If you have children, look at clothes they have outgrown or are past their best. Donate what is still wearable to charity and throw the rest in the bin
The spare room
If you’re lucky enough to have an extra room, but it resembles more of a storage cupboard than a relaxing space, get it under control before the festivities start. Think about what you are actually storing in the spare room and why.
What is under the bed or in the drawers, do you actually ever use it? What’s actually important to you, and what needs to be binned.
Old toys
Toys are definitely the number one offender of post Christmas clutter.
Before the new ones arrive, get the kids to choose a charity they would like to donate to, and pick out the toys they no longer want or play with to give to less fortunate children at Christmas.
Old wrapping paper & supplies
We’ve all got them, hoards of gift bags, tags & wrapping paper that are past their best, or too small to wrap anything. We know we'll never actually use them again and buy new wrapping for each occasion. Now is the time to just get rid of them. You’re not going to use them again, and don't need to save them for an emergency.
Diaries, notebooks & planners
We all love a good diary, planner or notebook to feel like we're a bit more in control of our hectic lives.
There is no need to keep them once they are full when the year is over.
Make space for a new year new planner and throw the old full ones out
What are you doing to declutter before the festivities? Leave a comment and let us know!