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Post-holiday clutter causing winter woes? 

The holidays can be filled with lots of joy, lots of family time and, unfortunately, lots of clutter. If the influx of gifts, decorations and seasonal items is piling up, you might feel overwhelmed. We’ve got you covered with tips that can help you restore order, reduce stress and get a handle on your post-holiday mess. 

Some of this guidance can also apply to other deep cleaning tasks like spring cleaning, moving or home downsizing.  

Tips for managing clutter after the holidays

 
 
Treat each room like its own project

If you don’t spend a lot of time organizing or getting rid of unneeded items, you might not even know where to start. You might develop tunnel vision on specific items or try to tackle the whole house at once. Neither one of those approaches is ideal. According to AARP, going room-by-room and fully finishing each room before moving on is the way to go. This helps you keep track of your progress and keeps you on task.  

Decide between selling, donating or throwing items out

The bottom line when decluttering is that things have to leave the house. When going through your items, decide that in real time. You can start with trusty piles of items to sell, donate or pitch. Consumer Reports provides some great guidance for this process of decluttering. The main takeaway is that you might be surprised at what other people will buy from you. Just make sure you're up to the task of posting the items, responding to messages and meeting up with buyers.  

When it comes to holidays, there are a lot of opportunities to reuse or recycle. Keep those shipping boxes and gift bags for next year’s present wrapping session!  

Dedicate space for your decor

Tossing decorations in a spare closet and dumping ornaments into a random box are tactics that lead to clutter and chaos. The Spruce recommends best practices for storing holiday decor. Set yourself up for success by buying some dedicated, clear storage containers for ornaments and other small items, label these storage containers and find the right space to store everything.  
 

Maintain the balance of things

Several lifestyle blogs, including a piece featured on Yahoo!, advocate for a method of purging one item for every new item you bring into the home. You guessed it – if you head home this holiday season with seven gifts, you need to find seven items to either sell, donate, repurpose or pitch. This method of controlling your inventory helps you at least maintain a status quo. Think about trying it this holiday season! If you enjoy the process, you can make it a rule for anything you buy in the future!  

Conclusion

According to WebMD, clutter can be a source of stress. If the problem grows, it only becomes harder to correct, and it could lead to embarrassment and isolation. Try some of the simple tactics described in this article as a way to reset your home and your mental health.  

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