Essential Holiday Decluttering Tips for a Joyful Season
The holidays are upon us. Can you feel it?
All of the anticipation + exhilarating energy swirling about. For most people, instead of sugar plum fairies dancing in their heads... right now you’re envisioning, planning, and figuring out every last detail for holiday parties and entertaining guests.
From holiday decorations for your home to menu planning, cooking, baking and ya know shopping for gifts the holidays can be both fun but also overwhelming. And I don’t mean the grueling pain of overwhelm, I mean that they seem to bring about more to do, and more stuff to know what to do with.
With so much going on, it can feel like there’s not a lot of time to work on decluttering your home. Truth is, time spent with your family and friends should be about presence not presents but it also certainly shouldn’t be worrying about how your home looks.
So — whether you’re hosting a gathering or choosing to keep it small this year, holiday decluttering during this season is still a fantastic thing to do.
Let’s dive in + discover why! Shall we?
Why Holiday Decluttering Is A Good Thing?
Holiday Decluttering Is Making Room
First — by decluttering what you already have, you’re making room for anything that comes into your home as a gift. This could be for you, your dear hubby or the kids. The reality is from clothes to toys, my love, ridding yourself of the excess before new stuff arrives is not only refreshing but alleviates overwhelm in the future.
Holiday Decluttering Is About Donating Responsibly
Second — there’s that old adage, “one woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure.” Well, the truth couldn’t be any more obvious. As you declutter + get organized this holiday season, if you donate responsibly you’ll be gifting to someone in need. Could there be a better time in the year to think about others?
Holiday Decluttering Helps To Maintain Focus
Third — you’re maintaining focus on your priority of an organized home. Instead of waiting, like most, to get organized after the holiday season — you’ll be continuing to hone in on and improve your organizing systems.
Ok, but now a couple of go-to tips for stress free holiday decluttering.
Holiday Decluttering Is About Tidying Up
I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again — clutter is not your friend.
Clutter hops right into our lives at the moments when we’re the most crunched for time. As it builds up, the clutter in our mind does, too, until we reach our tipping point… Don’t let it get that far this holiday season, friend!
To be honest with you, really intuitive solutions take time and organizing systems that last aren’t put into place once and then never used, tweaked or modified again. They take continuous commitment to tending to them.
And with the holidays among us, time isn’t really on your side… especially if you’re hosting a dinner soon.
So, in this case — what we recommend is to execute a tidy up session.
What’s a Tidy Up Session For Holiday Decluttering Look Like?
What you do in a tidy up session is instead of deciding “should I keep this?” or “do I love this?” for every single thing in a room, you’re looking around clearing out the obvious contenders that stick out like a sore thumb.
And what we’re not typically doing in a tidy up session that we’d otherwise be focused on in an organizing session is setting up new systems for your spaces.
Then, when the holidays are over and your guests are gone, you’ll have more time on your hands to revisit these areas + setup those systems.
SPOILER ALERT: You must revisit these areas and spend the time to rid yourself of all the excess in these spaces because there’s so much more to dig into than what is on the surface.
And if you don’t revisit these areas, you’ll be doing the same thing again next year + the year after that.
Where To Start With Holiday Decluttering?
Alright, let’s get down to the areas we recommend prioritizing during the holiday season.
Kitchen Decluttering
Whether or not you cook, I’m guessing your kitchen will be a place you, loved ones + guests will be visiting often over the next several weeks.
A sweep of all the spaces in your kitchen can make it efficient + peace-inducing that when someone opens a cabinet, a drawer or your pantry they won't see a complete disaster.
Are you ready?
Declutter Your Kitchen Counters
Your kitchen counters are one of the most likely places that things such as mail, school work, and random items from throughout your home will end up.
What’s on your counter that you don’t use every day? Is it functional? Is it decorative? Is it meant to live in a different place in your home?
If it’s meant to be somewhere else, go ahead + remove it.
If it’s decorative + you like it, then feel free to leave it. If it’s decorative + you’re over it, give it the boot!
If it’s a functional item (such as a blender or toaster), and you don’t use it often — let's store those guys away! If you use it, leave it.
One of the reasons why we focus on the kitchen counters is for mental clarity. A clean countertop surface creates the feeling that there’s plenty of breathing room in this space. And when you’re hosting more people than typical, you want your home to exude that feeling.
Declutter Your Kitchen Drawers/Cabinets
Do you have any that are so full they’re difficult to open? No shame!
Do you have any that you never open because the things inside are used rarely?
What are those things?
Clean. them. out.
Open the other drawers you have around and ask yourself, is there anything in here (cookware, pantry or spices) that you haven’t used in a year? Old spatulas who have seen better days? Or random items that again should be elsewhere?
Declutter Your Tupperware
No lids? Spare lids? Not enough space for the whole gang? It may be time to replace.
Declutter Your Refrigerator
Oh my, we wrote all about fridge organization earlier in the year. Can you guess what the biggest waste of space is in your refrigerator?
It’s old condiment bottles! You know the ones, not your usual ketchup + mustard, but the others: the relish that has been there for a year, the capers that you used in that Italian recipe once + have no idea what else to do with, the mayo that has just a teensy bit left but someone opened a new one so you all use that now.
Psst… we’ve all been there!
These things pile up like crazy + we don’t even notice! Toss them. You have my permission to liberate yourself + I promise it will be liberating :)
Oh + if you’re going gung-ho about a full kitchen reorganization, I have something great for you here.
Bathroom Decluttering
Declutter Your Bathroom Counters
When it comes to the bathroom counters in your home what we’re most focused on for holiday decluttering is the bathrooms guests will be using. And, what we recommend is to remove anything that is not being used daily to make room for other things.
If you have personal toiletries in a guest bathroom go ahead + remove those + replace them with toiletries that your guests would feel comfortable and welcome to use.
Declutter Your Bathroom Drawers/Cabinets
This is mainly for guest bathrooms that again will be used by family or friends who are staying with you. You want to ensure that there is room for additional towels, toilet paper and other bathroom supplies like soaps, shampoos, conditioners etc.
In looking at your bathroom drawers or cabinets, what can or should be removed + stored elsewhere?
Linen Closet Decluttering
Likewise with the guest bathroom decluttering, what you want to do prior to having family + friends for visits this year is to spend a little time decluttering the guest linens.
From towels and bedding — what do you want out? What do you want to store for overflow? And what do you see that needs to go?
The last step here is to wash your guest linens — this way, you know they’re all clean + smell fantastic for them.
Living Room Decluttering
If you spend a lot of time in your living room, which most do around the holidays, it’ll be another place that brings you joy the very moment it’s clutter-free. And because we spend so much time in these areas it can often be difficult to know what needs to be decluttered for the holidays.
So… take a step back. In fact, exit the room + then return again. What do you notice? What looks cluttered to you?
Magazines on the coffee table? Move them, trash them, or sort them neatly.
Remotes? Store away what is not needed.
Overflowing bookshelves — remove what isn’t necessary. Pick out all the ones that aren’t getting much love these days (it happens) + donate them.
Not to fret, if you’re struggling with decorating your christmas tree or ideas for your fireplace mantel this holiday season we’ve got you covered.
Decluttering Children’s Toys
We all know that the presents come flowing in around the holidays for kids. So, do your future self a favor and make room in advance for the new post holiday additions.
I’m not kidding when I say this, if you’re struggling with decluttering + organizing kid’s toys - you’re going to want to give this a looksie.
A worthwhile activity you could enjoy with mini-you by your side is to actually organize + create a pile of things you can give to other kids that might not have as many nice things to wear or play with on Christmas day.
Obviously, this is an amazing lesson to teach your kids but it actually works like a charm to help them understand + to believe in giving their unused or unwanted toys to others.
Brooks is almost four (my goodness, time is literally flying by) but we have been doing this with him for a couple of years now.
Entryway Decluttering
Like in the kitchen, decluttering your entryway is good for you + for your guests.
If you have papers and shoes around, off they go! Even if this isn’t the door you come in often, it’s important to consider what your guests will need + where you want things to go.
Where do shoes go?
Where do bags go?
Where do keys go?
Where do coats go?
These are small things that make a big difference. And when you get those who are coming over to visit on board it will make things a lot easier for you + them :)
Coat Closet Organizing
Lastly, coat closets. These get plenty of attention especially when it’s cold outside + a cluttered one can cause stress or set the wrong mood for guests as soon as you step into the door.
I think you see a pattern here… stop it in its tracks!
Clear out unused shoes and coats.
And make room for guests to hang their winter coats, ok let's be real their Seattle raincoats, too!
Decluttering Gift Wrapping Supplies
Before you go out + buy any gift wrapping supplies — take stock of what you already have + what you want to keep + use. If you’re not going to use it, then it’s best to get rid of it.
Once you’ve done this, now you can have a better game plan for how you want to wrap packages this season + what you’ll need to buy.
This way, when you go to wrap presents… everything you need + nothing more is right there for the taking *wink*
Alright my friend, there you have it. After the holiday decluttering, we’ll want to revisit all of these areas in a more detailed organizing session as we move about your home from one room to the next. But these are things to do, right away, to help create the stress free holiday you deserve.
We wholeheartedly believe that organizing a home you never want to leave is continuous — it’s ever changing + ever evolving.
But I can assure you love, that these are the spaces that’ll get the most use on a day-to-day basis around the holidays and are guaranteed to be seen by family, friends who are visiting — so focus on these areas + your stress will drift away to the sound of Jingle Bells!
Decluttering + getting organized is all about spoiling yourself a lil so you can embrace and enjoy the memories at home with your people! (John, Brooks-Carter + Bradie-Mae, I’m looking at you!)
Sounds worth it, doesn’t it? Well that’s because Investing in yourself + in your home always is, friend.
We know you can do it! I believe in you, friend.
If you’ve given it a try + you're like “This is all too much… I need help decluttering, getting organized or designing my home ” –– friend, we’re here for you.
If you’re in the preliminary planning stages of your next project, let’s chat.
P.S. If you loved this article then you’re going to really enjoy the 4 Days To A More Beautiful + Functional Home.