Decluttering in the New Year
I love the beginning of the year! New goals, new dreams, and a fresh start. And something I like to do as the new year approaches, is to declutter and organize a few spaces that help start the new year off on the right foot.
Once all the chaos of the holidays has settled down, I have a list of 5 spaces that tend to weigh me down when they are cluttered. Have you ever opened your closet and thought "I need to organize in here" only to get distracted and completely forget about organizing until the next time you open the closet door? Me too.
Life with littles makes the simple things a bit more challenging. So I've come up with 5 spaces to declutter and organize during the first week of the year (or any free time you have). Want the feeling of joy when you open that closet next time? I know you do!
Playroom
Although we try to keep the girls toys to a minimum, between birthdays, Christmas and one too many Target runs (can I get an Amen), their toys begin to pile up. So after all the holidays are over and presents are opened, I like to go through their toys to see what they may have outgrown and what they no longer play with.
I try to donate the toys that may have a little wear and tear and sell the ones that are in good condition. Once they get a bit older, this process will include them so that they start to learn the benefits of decluttering from a young age.
Paperwork
If you are anything like me, you have a stack of paperwork that just continues to grow and never seems to file itself. Filing just ins't something I love, but I try to get all our paperwork sorted and filed at least at the beginning of the year. I pull out any paperwork we need for taxes, file any bills or important paperwork, and sort personal things (like the girls craft projects that I want to save).
If you don't have a file cabinet or file bin, I highly suggest getting some to make the organization process easier. I have these 2 file bins; one for personal papers such as the girls crafts, birthday cards, love notes, etc. and the other one is for essential items like medical bills, mortgage paperwork, car maintenance, and any other tax or house related stuff.
Nightstand
This is probably the easiest of all the spaced to declutter, but the one I never think about until my drawers are too full to put anything in. We have nightstands with 2 drawers and I often find myself using them as catch all storage.
You know, that place where you just put stuff because you don't know where else to put it lol. Sometimes this becomes a challenge for me only because I like to have a spot for everything in my house, but some things I just don't know where to put (like extra phone cables or notebooks). But I make the effort to put everything away or discard items so that my nightstand is just about empty.
Fridge + pantry
Last year I planned a months menu at the beginning of the month. It made my weekly grocery shopping faster, easier and more enjoyable since I don't really like making menus and they tend to take way too long as I procrastinate lol.
However, at the end of the year, I noticed that I had planned for meals that just didn't get made so some of the items I needed and bought, never got used. It's easy to just keep buying things and totally forget about what's in the freezer or pantry.
So I like to go through both my fridge and pantry to trow out the things that are expired and make a list of the items that are still good so that I can plan another meal with those items.
Closet spaces
Oh the closets. No matter how big or small, closets seem to just be the place to put stuff. Maybe it's the fact that it's concealed behind a door (you know, out of sight out of mind) or maybe you are like Monica from Friends and the closet is one of those spaces that you just "let go" because we all need a rebellious side lol.
Either way, spending an hour or two in every closet space will set the mood right for the rest of the year. And yes, I said every closet space including your kids closets, spare bedrooms, the coat closet and your own closet.
I specifically saved this space for the last because closets can be daunting. My hope was that you would be inspired from cleaning the first four spaces and be encouraged to clean the closets. If, however, you still procrastinate at the the thought of even opening the doors to this project, I have made a few suggestions below that should help to make the process not only easier, but also keep the sacred space clean all year long.
• Suggestion 1 - As with any declutter project, I suggest to have a trash pile, donate pile, and sell pile. By donating items others can use and selling others to make a little cash back hopefully will help motivate you.
• Suggestion 2 - Remove everything from the closet so you can get a true sense of how much you have and the amount of space you are putting things back into. Sometimes we think we don't have much stuff because it's been neatly shoved into any and all the little spaces. But once the can of worms has been opened, it gives us a true sense of how much is too much.
• Suggestion 3 - If you can't figure out what clothes to get rid of, occasionally I will do the hanger challenge. Essentially, you take all your clothes that are hanging up and place the hangers backwards. As you use each piece of clothing, turn the hanger around the right way. At the end of the year, you can see what you have used and what you didn't which may help make the donation process easier.
So there you have it! My top 5 spaces to declutter and organize for a fresh start to the new year! Honestly, this is the first time I've cleaned this many spaces in January, but I have to say it feels really good to get these to do items off my list since I feel like they have been there forever.
I think this is something I may be doing myself every year. If you are eager to do more OR want to switch up the spaces to declutter, I thought about adding places like the car, under the kitchen and bathroom sink and even the laundry room cabinets.
Whatever places you choose to declutter and organize, just have fun and don't stress over what you need to do and what you didn't get done. Every little bit is that much more than you did before! Happy organizing!