Christmas is my favorite time of year. My decorations go up the week before Thanksgiving (my daughter’s birthday wish), and they linger into the new year. I love the lights, gift-giving, food and family. But there’s one thing that exhausts me almost immediately once the festivities are over.
Clutter.
I’m buried in CLUTTER.
STUFF IS EVERYWHERE. Now it’s February…and it’s too cold to go outside.
What happened?!
Typically, a few months before Christmas, I go through a massive purge around the house. As the seasons change, I take the kids’ clothes and neglected toys to consignment, clean out my pantry and try to use as much food out of the freezer as I can. Anything I come across that hasn’t been looked at in 5 years can go.
In general, I freshen up the main areas of the house, so I’m not overwhelmed by the upcoming pile of gifts and stuff that comes every Christmas. I do a second round of decluttering AFTER Christmas, to incorporate new gifts and just generally clean up my home after the holiday decorating. Now that you don’t have to wait for a garage sale in the summer to sell your items, it’s much easier to stay on top of it. Consignment stores, online swap sites and local charities make it easy.
You may be saying to yourself – I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS. Ok, I hear you. I personally am a stay-at-home mom, so not only do I have more time “IN” the house to work on it, but being “IN” the house makes de-cluttering a necessity for my sanity.
One thing that has helped motivate me to get the job done this time of year is an interesting blog post I stumbled across a few years ago.
The concept is called “40 Bags in 40 Days.” This typically corresponds with the observance of Lent, however, it can be done any time of year. Simply put, you pick one area of your house to tackle each day. It can be one drawer, one closet, one room – whatever you have time for that day.
You just make sure to do something every single day. Maybe you’re not removing everything from the area, but you are at least organizing and straightening it up.
Can you imagine how this would transform your house? When you think about it simply as, “I will only accomplish this today,” it can seem much less daunting.
When I do this, I usually set aside an envelope, and whatever I sell from my decluttering goes into it. This becomes my “fun money” to spend on the house. My goal this year is to pick up some fun tables and chairs from Ikea to put together a crafting area for my kids. I have a motive…Hopefully this will keep the craft clutter out of my living room!
Here are a couple links with helpful printouts, tips and communities you can join for support (because, let’s face it…this could get tough….) 🙂 :
http://www.whitehouseblackshutters.com/40-bags-in-40-days/
https://organizingmoms.com/40-bags-40-days/
Lent begins February 14. There’s no better time to get started!
A few pics of me getting started….
The “art drawer.” Potential kid craft explosion…neat and tidy!
My cleaner cabinet…
And the dreaded linen closet…cleans up nice!
photo from n. jones
Nicol Jones
Nicol is an expert in visual communications and social media strategies for a variety of clients. Her experience in web and publication design – along with skills in project organization, customer service and event management – are why many point to her as an invaluable resource to launch their projects and events.
An avid gardener and food aficionado, Nicol is a busy mom and an excellent cook, too!
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