While chaos on Christmas morning is a fun and necessary holiday tradition, there’s no need to carry clutter and disorganization into the New Year. Now that the stress of shopping and gifting is behind you, you can focus on what many people, including myself, would consider one of the best gifts of all: a clean and clutter-free home.
Getting your home back into some semblance of tidiness and organization after the holidays isn’t always easy, but by tackling messes one at a time, it’s certainly doable. From your fridge to your foyer, here are 7 things to get rid of to kick off your after Christmas decluttering.
Related: 30 Things You Can Get Rid Of Today That Will Cut Down On Clutter
7 Things To Get Rid Of After Christmas
1. Old Leftovers
The New Year is a chance for a fresh start, which should probably include getting rid of old, less-than-fresh, or unwanted leftovers that are taking up space in your fridge. If you have a lot of perfectly good leftovers on hand, you can always save those in your freezer to eat down the road.
2. Old Clothes And Toys
If you have limited closet and storage space, make “out with the old and in with the new” your policy when it comes to any new clothes or toys that were unwrapped during the holidays. Make room for the new stuff by setting aside the old stuff to donate.
If you’re tempted to hold onto old items just in case, remind yourself that donating those old items is two gifts in one—someone else will get to make use of your old stuff, and you’ll have less clutter to deal with.
3. Boxes You Don’t Need
Once you’ve taken all your gifts out of their boxes, be sure to break down the boxes and either recycle them or store them away to reuse later. Keep the instructions manuals and anything else that was inside the box, but the box itself is just going to take up space.
4. Christmas Cards
It can feel heartless to put all those Christmas cards from family and friends into your recycling bin, but unless you want to start a huge scrapbook where you memorialize every holiday card you ever get, you don’t have to feel compelled to hang onto them. If there are one or two with photos of your grandkids or that are really meaningful, store them with your other keepsakes and recycle the rest.
5. Decorations You Don’t Want
If your collection of Christmas decorations has officially gotten out of hand, offer the items you don’t want to friends or family, then donate anything left over. Your unwanted decorations may end up making a nice addition to someone else’s collection.
6. Expired Makeup And Beauty Products
Even if you didn’t get new makeup as a present this year, you may have noticed some old stuff while you were putting on makeup for a holiday party or family gathering. Since you’re already in declutter mode, now is a great time to go through your beauty products and toss anything that’s gone bad or you no longer use.
7. Old Catalogs And Magazines
If you’re like me and still get catalogs in the mail then you know how quickly the tend to pile up, especially during the holidays. As fun as it is to flip through them for gift-giving inspiration, you won’t need them in the New Year. If you’d rather repurpose them than recycle them, use a few to make these scented fire starters to help keep you cozy and warm.
What do you like to do to tidy up your home after Christmas?
I remember as a child, cutting up old Christmas cards (fronts only) to be used as gift tags. We (my siblings and I) would also fold them and punch a hole in the folded corner. Then we would pull ribbon through the hole. The extra special ones would be hung on the tree as ornaments (non-breakable and light to pack) because my Dad was in the Army, we traveled often!!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I save different cards. It’s always the last card I receive from someone. I still have the last card my grandmother sent (she passed 30 yrs. ago). I’ll keep Christmas cards until the next year since it might be, for whatever reason, the last card I get from that person. I do the same with emails – who knows what’s going to happen??
Please log in or create a free account to comment.We save our Christmas Cards in a little basket so we can pray for the people who send them all through the year, then recycle them once our cards from the next year start to arrive.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Please remember that Christmas is just beginning. It doesn’t end for Christians until Jan 5 when we reach Ephihancy – the day the Wise Men reached the stable wihere Baby Jesus, our Savior, was born. Don’t rush through this season of hope and gratitude.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Like Angela. I save the pretty Christmas cards and use the front for gift tags.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I daresay the title of this post should be changed FROM “7 Things To Get Rid Of Now That Christmas Is Over” TO “7 Things to Discard Once the Christmas Season is over”.
Christmas actually begins Christmas Eve and lasts for 12 days through Epiphany (often called Twelfth Night) when the Wise Men came to see the Baby Jesus. Epiphany falls on January 6th.
Yes, of course, the clutter of wrappings and trappings of decorations, etc. are discarded after packages are opened, but to say “Christmas is Over” is just not an accurate statement. Unfortunately, the version of Christmas (i.e. sell, sell, sell) the retailers foist upon us beginning in late summer and early fall makes many anxious to have it all over with and cleaned up. Let’s not confuse the commercialism of Christmas trappings with the Celebration of Christ’s birth.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.So true!! What I dislike is that people decorate too early and then (probably because they’re sick of looking at it) take everything down the day after Christmas. Since I’m in New England, I do understand why some put their outdoor lights up when the weather is good – it’s easier to check that everything works but why do they leave them on? Winter is long & dreary enough – the lights are cheerful during these cloudy days/nights.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I’m new to OGT so I don’t know if you’ve heard of this hint that I learned from my mother. She used pinking shears to cut up Christmas cards to make Christmas gift tags. I like them better than those tiny ones they sell that you can barely fit a name on and a great way to recycle!
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