Is anyone else on a post-Christmas decluttering mission?

[HazelMember]

This morning I’ve ditched a broken pair of shoes, taken 5 electrical items for recycling, binned out-of-date food and taken expired meds to the chemist.

Small wins, but I’m determined to start January with a more organised house!

So far I’ve cleared out 2 bags of the kids old/unused/broken toys and a large bag of clothes. Will take it to the donation bin either this evening or tomorrow.
Got all our decorations down and DP is currently rearranging the living room back to its normal state.
Repainted the kitchen wall ready for the large 2026 calendar to go up.

Going to strip all the beds tomorrow and deep clean the bedrooms, I need to sweep the decking in the garden and vacuum the laundry room. Fridge also needs to be cleaned out and the bathroom given a good scrub.

Not made a start on the admin decluttering or 2026 prep yet, getting anxious that it’s very close to NYE.

Not yet but will be in January

Me! I've been reading decluttering threads for the last 3 days 🤣Took a bag of old clothes to the recycling this morning, decorations are coming down NYD and after that I'm going to be more ruthless than normal with the post xmas purge as we're moving.

I did another hour. Main achievements were sorting through old birthday cards and creating a sellotape and scissors hub. Small wins 😬

I put away all the food we brought back from the Airbnb where we stayed for Christmas. Involved decluttering a kitchen cupboard.

i’m hopeful my dd will move out this year and then I’ll need to get a lodger so I’m planning a big declutter this spring.

Another 7 bags of shoes and clothes donated. Got rid of the packaging for the new washing machine.

Sometimes even though lots of stuff has gone, it still does not look any better!

Cleaned out the garage, donated a bag of books, got rid of old kids xmas decorations and toys.

I've already had a huge purge, nice to be able to run the hoover round without constantly having to move stuff about.
Just the kitchen left to sort now.
@FFSToEverythingSince2020 I don't know how to organise my clothes, I've got empty drawers, crammed drawers, no real order of things.
I'll probably have another clothes cull next week.

Yep, I do it every January. Clear the old toys and clothes to make way for the new ones received at Christmas. Already got one black bag full to take to the charity shop.

I need to do this but don’t know where to start.

By item or room?
Item: Clothes are the worst but in more than one room.
Room: Bedroom is the worst room.

Also if doing it by room do you do one drawer/area at a time?

I need help!

I’m in such a muddle @SleepasaurusI am just currently decluttering as I am using things.

Did my wardrobes yesterday and now have a dedicated wardrobe for all my “activity wear” (hiking books, walking clothes, cycling kit for different seasons etc). Today I did the fridge, freezer and kitchen cupboards - oldest item? A jar of ground mixed spice from 2002 🤢

Yes but have to do it by stealth when DH and DD aren’t looking or I end up having to debate each item I want to get rid of. I only remove items that have no useful value and that no one has looked at or touched in months if not years.

I wish I was as need to badly. My small house is bursting at the seams.
I just struggle to let stuff go.

I did this today too, how funny.

And yes to decluttering, I find it so hard to get a moment to leave the house to get rid of things, but have earmarked this Saturday to go to charity shop with a big bag of books and clothes. Considering nominating a room a month - then by next christmas the place should be done...

If clothes is the worst, start there.

Start with the clothes in one room. There will be clothes that you will not give a second though to that can go immediately. Focus on that to make it easy. Put in a black bag and put by the front door.

The drawers you can do as you are going along. When I open a drawer to get something out, I have a quick look to see if I really need everything in there. Usually there is one thing at least that can go. Bin it or put in charity bag immediately. You will soon start to see a difference.

Are you struggling to let everything go? There might be some things that are easier to let go such as out of date food in cans, expired meds etc.

Oh yes me! I've been decluttering for years and whilst I don't feel like I've made that much progress I didn't buy another coat the other day (I'm doing one in and one out).

I need to do the kitchen today because we are having a new kitchen soon.

I need big things but I seem to have so many small things and it makes me anxious.

I think decluttering is a process and it takes time. The key for me was to stop buying stuff as well as getting rid of stuff.

And realising that really I was warehousing things. We pay a fortune for our homes and it's such a waste to just store things we don't need/like/use.

Yes! To be honest I feel like I'm always sorting and organising. I swear things multiply behind my back. I'm getting very ruthless because I'm so sick of spending what feels like 24/7 sorting and organising.

Having young children does not help. What has helped is booking a donation collection. It gives us a deadline and it feels good. We did 8 boxes of toys donated to children for Christmas. And then my inlaws gifted my children lots of the things we had just got rid of 😬 I know they mean well but duplicate things every year and things the children aren't interested in isn't helpful.

I've got a new foster child arriving on 11th and I've still got some things in the bedroom he will take that I put in there out of the way for Xmas. I'm ordering a skip and making a bit of space in garage so a few boxes from his bedroom can be put into garage. Iv'e got a few other bits that can be thrown out now too.

I’m doing one or two small areas a day over the next few weeks.
started yesterday and so far I’ve done: jumper drawer, sock drawer, cupboard under the sink, towels & bedding.
Tomorrow is under the stairs🤨

Oh and I’ve also done a digital declutter, unsubscribed to every email that has come through this week that I don’t need (will hopefully stop me buying stuff on a whim too!) and deleted screenshots and photos that I don’t want to keep.

@HazelMember thank you! I will try that. Just recovering from the flu but eager to start.

My kids are with their dad so I’ve gotten stuck right in and am being utterly ruthless. Four bags of clothes and shoes and three boxes of books to charity, a couple of bags of broken or overly ugly toys and other random bits binned, boxes of old work projects unearthed and photographed for the CV before binning, towels and old sheets donated to the SPCA and once the kids get home I’m going through their desks, wardrobes and bookshelves with them to rationalise before the new year’s stationery is bought and presents put away.