6 Simple Ways to Eliminate Clutter After the Holidays

As the holidays come to a close, a great new year’s resolution would be to reorganize your home. Organized and clutter-free homes are easy to maintain by following a few simple rules and a little self discipline. The following tips can help you start planning your reorganizing strategy immediately following the holidays.

Toss Outdated Items
As you find room to store your new holiday gifts, for each gift received, donate or throw one away. For instance, if you received a new pair of pajamas, throw an old, worn out pair away. Received a new, top-selling book? Donate books you no longer need to charity. Chances are if it has remained untouched on your bookshelf for years, it won’t get read anytime soon. Once you donate or sell your old item(s), you make room for new ones. New possessions in your home bring excitement and help eliminate ties to old, unused items.

Keep Track of Holiday Decorations
Now is the perfect time to take stock of your inventory before placing it back in storage for next year. Throw away broken ornaments, burned out lights and worn decorations. Shop for replacements right after the holidays to receive the highest savings and rest assured you are prepared for the following year.

Baskets are a great way to keep all of your decorations and entertaining supplies safe and organized until the following year. Spectrum offers a large assortment of baskets ranging from countertop, stacking, wall mount and pegboard mounting.

#835 - Macklin Medium Basket shown above

Organize Gift Wrapping Supplies
Keep your entire collection of gift bags, wrapping paper, bows, tissue paper and ribbon stored together to avoid purchasing an excess supply. Once gifts are wrapped, place your wrapping essentials in baskets or trays that can be stored neatly out of the way until needed again. Baskets with label plates (such as our Macklin, Vintage Basket & Tray, and Small & Medium Locker Baskets) are great for sorting and marking the contents by holiday or occasion.

#988 - Scoop Small Basket and #158 - Vintage Wall Mount Tray shown above

Use Gift Cards to Your Advantage
Did you know gift cards are the most common present exchanged around the holidays? If you happened to receive a gift card to a store where you never shop, don’t buy something just to get rid of the card. Instead, find a website where you can buy and sell already purchased gift cards such as Swap a Gift.com. This way, you still get what you want but don’t fill your home with unwanted things. The gift-giver will never know!

Start Your Spring Cleaning Early
We know spring cleaning is just around the corner, but as the new year approaches, get gratification out of cleaning and organizing your home. Make it a goal to get rid of a certain amount of items in each room. A good place to start is the kitchen. Go through your cabinets and drawers and find at least five things to get rid of in each. When you give yourself a checklist, you are more likely to follow the guidelines and overcome clutter.

Don’t Sweat White Elephant Gifts
Who has ever received a white elephant gift they absolutely loved? Probably only a few, but many people keep these unusual gifts for next year’s white elephant party. Instead, once you receive a white elephant gift, donate it immediately. When the next party comes around, don’t buy anything, but find something in your home to get rid of instead.

If these organizing methods are new to you, we encourage you to start this as a new holiday tradition in your home. By keeping these steps in place year after year, you’ll find yourself easily keeping clutter at bay during the busiest time of the year. Happy holidays from Spectrum!

Shop our website now through 12/31/16 and use HOLIDAY15 at checkout to save 15% on your entire order!