The Ultimate Holiday Decluttering Guide

Cleaning Up After Christmas

Decluttering Christmas Decorations

While you’re taking down ornaments, putting up the garland, tinsel and finding the best options for recycling your live Christmas tree, it’s a good time to sort and toss out the rarely used holiday items that you don’t need.

It may not be very joyous or fun, but organizing holiday decorations now will mean you’ll have that much more time to actually celebrate and enjoy the holidays and less time preparing for years to come. Although getting rid of Christmas decorations might seem scrooge-like, if you opt to donate your old decorations, it’s actually a beautiful way to spread joy and cheer to those less-fortunate!

Try offering your old Christmas decorations to your friends or neighbors. You might also join a “Buy Nothing” group for your neighborhood on Facebook, or join Nextdoor to connect with your neighbors and post your free decorations there.

The following is a list of items you can go ahead and toss out or donate, along with all that crumpled wrapping paper: (just don’t donate any broken Christmas decorations…)

• Items that you have multiples of
• Ornaments and decorations that are broken
• Damaged wrapping paper, supplies, bows, etc.
• Old greeting cards that don’t hold any sentimental value
• Decorations, ornaments, etc. that are rarely or never used
• Decorations that take too much time and effort to set up and take down

How To Store Christmas Decorations

Once you’ve gone though all these items, you’ll want to make sure you know how to store ornaments and Christmas decorations to ensure they don’t get broken.

This is pretty simple, just make sure you carefully wrap each ornament with newspaper and place each one individual in a box, containers also work really well with this, specifically those with lids to safely cover them.

You can always get creative with your holiday storage ideas if that’s your thing, some people like to use Christmas tins, while other holiday-themed containers can make it easy to identify when you need to pull them out again.

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There are a ton of great methods out there when it comes to cleaning and decluttering, but that’s just the thing – there are so many!

There’s no one-size-fits all approach to decluttering after Christmas. There, are, however, methods you can implement into your yearly routine, so you can ease the stress of those holiday months knowing you have a plan in place each and every year.

Before getting into a full-blown home decluttering, here are three things that you can put into effect this year that will go a long way in helping keep you clutter-free during the holidays.

1. Out with the old, in with the new

A decluttering method that works incredibly well and gets a lot done at once is for every gift received or new item purchased, get rid of two other items you no longer need.

While going through the after-holiday cleanup process, go ahead and do a little extra. An example of using this method would be to get rid of that ancient laptop or dead PC monitor since your Aunt Karen gave you a new iPad. (Of course, she got a good deal after asking to speak with the Manager…)

This makes the gifts you received even better because they’re also helping you cut all the clutter in your home. You can add even more value by selling, recycling, or donating to a local charity the items that need to be tossed out.

2. Keep shipping boxes for decluttering projects

If you did most of your shopping online, you can use those Amazon boxes that are piled floor-to-ceiling in your living room! Don’t break those boxes down to have them recycled; they can actually be put to use in your decluttering arsenal.

Instead of throwing them away outright, make a goal for yourself to fill each and every one of those boxes with household clutter. Then, get rid of the cardboard boxes full of all of the stuff that was taking up valuable space in your home.

3. Gift, gift and re-gift

If you received a few nice albeit useless gifts due to a white elephant exchange or office secret Santa, all is not lost. While you may not have any use for a color-changing yoga mat or a bacon-scented candle, you may know someone who does.

Set aside some space in a hall closet or chest as a “re-gift corner.” Then, keep these types of items that are nice but just not for you in that space until you find the perfect occasion and person to give them to.

Keeping your home free of junk and clutter is a lot easier said than done, even if you wage all-out war on the existing clutter in your home. In order to keep cleaning up after Christmas not a drawn out thing into the New Year once you’re able to get your place manageable, you really have to stay on top of everything daily.

This means reminding yourself (and others in your home) to put things back where they belong when you’re done with them. However, in order for that method to work, you also need to have somewhere for everything to belong. As they say, “A place for everything, and everything in its place.” If you don’t have a lot of storage bins or boxes, old luggage can be used for storage, if it’s not too broken to zip or wheel.

Establish places for everything to live when not in use. Keep unread magazines and newspapers in a neat stack on a coffee table, then send them to the recycling bin when they’ve been read or a newer issue has arrived.

Make sure each member of the household has a special place to keep personal effects like outerwear, rain gear, purses, homework folders, backpacks, and computer bags.

Set up a filing system for mail and paperwork so it doesn’t get buried in the clutter abyss.

Putting these kinds of organization systems into place – and most importantly, sticking to them – will make it much easier and more enjoyable to keep your home clear of clutter.

When you are able to spend less time sorting, cleaning, organizing, and disposing of tons of junk and household clutter, you’re left with more time and space to enjoy time with family.

Over time, if you’re able to stick to your daily, bite-sized decluttering routine, you’ll notice that you’re a lot less stressed and have more energy than you did before you spent all that time and energy cleaning up after Christmas in the past.

Whether just getting rid of shredded wrapping paper and broken ornaments or decluttering your home top-to-bottom, once you are finished you’ll likely find that you have an overwhelming amount of stuff to get rid of.

While you would prefer to make a little extra dough by selling the good stuff and donating or recycling the rest, the sheer volume of it all makes you want to chuck it all in a dumpster and run for the hills.

This is where junk removal comes in. Junk removal companies provide a service where they will come to your home, remove any bulky items or boxes of random junk items you need to get rid of, haul it all away, and properly dispose of it for you.

When you’re ready to be clutter-free, junk removal is your easiest and most convenient bet to avoid multiple decluttering projects. Decluttering using a junk removal service like LoadUp is kind of like waving a magic wand – in many cases, it’s a one and done.

Using a junk removal company for the disposal of all your unwanted junk items can cut your decluttering time and anxiety in half – or more – quite easily. A junk hauler will have the manpower, equipment, experience, and disposal resources necessary to easily dispose of junk in a responsible manner.

Some junk removal companies, including LoadUp, have a green-minded approach to junk removal and disposal.

Instead of hauling the junk and clutter they pick up straight to the dump where it will sit in a landfill and harm the local environment, these junk removers sort through everything they haul away in order to donate items still in usable condition while taking everything else that qualifies to be recycled.

Rather than turning your successful decluttering home makeover into an exercise in shifting your clutter around to different parts of your house by deciding to attempt getting rid of it by yourself, you can pay a reasonable fee to have a junk removal company get it all out of your life in a matter of minutes.

While using just about any reputable junk removal company to aid in your clutter cleanse will be a huge boon to you, not all junk removal companies are created equal and some will be a better fit for you than others.

LoadUp is a nationwide, professional junk removal company offering fast, easy, and affordable junk removal at a price that’s an average of 20-30% less than those of most other junk removal companies out there.

LoadUp provides customers with honest, upfront pricing before you book, green disposal methods such as donation and recycling, and fast pickup with same-day service options.

So next time your house is full of clutter and you’re left confused which way to turn, call on your friends at LoadUp for an extra hand!

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