8 Tips To Declutter Your Home After Holidays

Feeling overwhelmed by the mess after the holidays? You’re not alone. December with year-end parties kept us too busy and hustling. Now it’s time to make everything simpler and slower. These 8 decluttering tips will help to declutter your home after the holidays with less effort.

1. Reduce the psychology of regret when getting rid of unnecessary items

There is a famous rule called 80/20. When applying to your home stuff, it is indicated that only 20% of your belongings are literally used 80% of the time. About the leftovers, they will be scattered out everywhere, especially forgotten in the depository. This not only takes up too much space, but also increases dirt quickly. 

In order to eliminate unnecessary items decisively, use a declutter your home checklist to identify items to be removed, then categorize them into labeled boxes for easy handling. These are usual categories:

• Keep
• Fix
• Sell
• Donate
• Throw away

With declutter tips, you can easily eliminate unnecessary items while reducing the feeling of regret when getting rid of something.

Getting rid of unnecessary items after holiday organization

When you find it hard to decide whether to throw an item or not, let’s think of the last time you used it. If it was 2 years ago, or you can’t even remember, it’s time to find a new owner (who needs more) for this item.

For smaller houses, which don’t have enough space for all boxes, you can prepare a “giving” box. Place it in a conspicuous area or where many people pass by. Every day your family can play a challenge to put in 5 holiday items they don’t need anymore (not trash). Repeat this activity for 1 week, and you will see that your house is noticeably cleaner.

2. Concentrate on cleaning a specific area

 After a detailed plan with a clear checklist, focus on cleaning each small space. This declutter tip is undoubtedly effective! The feeling when marking "completed" will help you be more motivated. Otherwise, when cleaning each place a little, it's easy to get bored because of "cleaning all the time but not finishing". Areas that need the most attention when decluttering after holidays:

• Fireplace mantel/Chimneypiece
• Christmas tree place
• Refrigerator
• Guest room
• Entryway eaves

Declutter the fireplace mantel decoration after holiday organization

3. Ten-minute garbage-cleanup challenge

How about playing some games to boost the mood while decluttering? We bet you will like it. You can try these 2 easy games with your family to increase engagement:

Challenge 1: Prepare a large storage basket and press the timer for 10 minutes. Challenge yourself for 10 minutes where you will go around the house collecting holiday decorations, papers, gifts, or damaged accessories. The time limit will help you focus and have a sense of "push" to speed up cleaning.

Challenge 2: Give each person a wicker basket and also time it for 10 minutes. During that time, each person will try to collect as many items they don't use as possible. The winner will get the prize they desire. The competition will increase the excitement of cleaning. 

You just need to grab the inessential items, don’t bother cleaning or fixing them.

Ten-minute garbage-cleanup challenge with wicker storage basket

4. Invest wicker basket

Cleaning is difficult, but keeping everything organized is much more difficult. One tip to keep things from getting messy again is to give your belongings a permanent place where they will belong. On holidays, we often move our stuff around to make over the room. But when the holiday is over, take time to get everything back to their positions. To fasten the finding process, you can make a “lost-and-found” box and let your family gather all the “homeless” stuff.

For the long term, it’s worth investing in wicker storage baskets. With their large scale, durability, they can serve all your storage needs. In addition, they are hand-woven from natural materials, which minimize the negative effect on the environment.  

 

Shop the wicker storage basket

5. Label things will cut down on time spent looking for misplaced items

When storing all stuff in the depository, don’t forget to classify and label them to distinguish each box. This helps easily find what you are looking for, and organize it faster. Even with the holiday decorations, you should also separate the different holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, etc. 

6. Get motivated by taking before - after photos

Taking photos before cleaning helps you realize the mess you don’t notice. Moreover, comparing the difference between before and after decluttering will give you more inspiration. This supports your belief that your effort really brings good results. Sometimes, the result "after" is a reward for yourself.

You don’t need to take photos of all the rooms. It can be your living room cabinet, fireplace mantel, kitchen countertop, etc.  

Declutter after holiday easy with Artera Home's Kim Chinh round wicker basket

7. Engage family members' hands

Like we said in the previous blog, cleaning a home has never been a personal responsibility. The whole family should join hands to create a well-organized home space. You can take the role of a leader, share the cleaning goal with your family, and assign clear tasks. You will reduce the burden of having to handle everything alone and help connect members together. Besides the two above games, we would like to suggest some family decluttering activities:

• Let each member choose the space or chore they want to take.
• Hide a gift at each clutter area. The person cleaning that space will get awarded.
• Record a 1-day declutter of your family and shout out on social media.
• Choose one day to classify the stuff together.

8. Take breaks when you need to

Cleaning and sanitizing your home has never been easy. However, don't turn it into a race against time that makes you feel exhausted and depressed every time you think about it. Let’s divide the work according to a reasonable timeline. Take time to rest and re-energize before continuing the cleaning process.

Not just holidays, cleaning should become a daily routine. This will help reduce housework, as well as limit your stress because there is so much to do before and after the special days. To get more decluttering tips, don’t hesitate to subscribe to us.