It's time to get ready for the new year and what better way than to create a clutter-free and organized living space. Here are some tips to start your new year off right!
Santa's Rule: Get One, Toss Two
As you put away holiday gifts make extra room around the house by tossing/recycling/selling/donating two counterparts for each gift you received.
Take the Holiday Mailing Box Challenge
Here is another easy one... instead of recycling mailing boxes left over after giving/receiving gifts, fill them with items suitable for donation to Goodwill or a similar recycler.
Sort Before You Stow
Before putting away holiday decorations, sort through lighting, ornaments, outdoor decorations, holiday linens and specialty cooking items. Stained linens can repourposed as cleaning cloths. Has-been decor items can be recycled or donated.
Streamline holiday decorating next year: sort before you stow!
Send White Elephants On Their Way
When it comes to holiday giving, it's the thought that counts. So don't hold on to a gift out of guilt. Before they become clutter, consider one of the following ideas:
- Consign "re-gifting" candidates to the "gift closet". (To prevent re-gifting faux pas, make a short note outlining who gave what.)
- Hold an after-Christmas White Elephant Exchange. Ask everyone to bring a wrapped white elephant for the post-Christmas gift exchange. Just be sure to avoid circulating gifts that have been given by your guests!
Set Up A Toy Library
A toy library is a set of playthings that, while old and familiar, still retain play value. Pushed out of the limelight by new Christmas toys, toy library items will seem new and exciting if they are given a rest for a few months, then brought out to liven up a rainy Spring afternoon. When checking out an item from the toy library, ask children to replace it with a different plaything. Rotating toys keep clutter at bay, and enhances the value of children's playthings - proving that absence does make the heart grow fonder!
Take the challenge for a clean and organized New Year!