Post Holiday Organizing Tips...You've Got This
Need some simple steps to get your home feeling balanced after the holidays? Decorations, gifts and all the packaging increase the number of items in your home and can impact stress levels.
1) Tackle the low hanging fruit items that are clearly not staying in your home. Take items out of packaging, get boxes out to recycling. (You may want to see if there are some that would work for step 2 below.) The manuals? Those can probably go too. Really? Yes. You can find over 3 million online here or could you find them through the manufacturer if you needed them?
2) Organize holiday decorations with what you already have. Resist the urge to wander the aisles of Target looking for new bins. Chances are high that you have what you need. (And chances are high that the post holiday sales will be a temptation and could add to to clutter. See step 3.) Do a quick scan of your home to see what you already have that might be empty or partially full. Did you get a ton of Amazon boxes? Great, reuse them as holiday decoration storage.
3) Reduce future clutter.
Resist the post holiday sales if possible (maybe easier this year), and if you do, have a specific need in mind for something that you don’t already have.
Gifts that don’t spark joy? Try to use them right away, or let them go. The purpose of them is to convey a feeling from the giver to you. Sometimes that’s all it needed to do. You don’t need to feel bad about letting go of it if you know. When you know, you know. If you don’t know, try to use it and then make a decision.
4) Review decorations before packing them up. Will you be happy to see them again? If not, why store it? Save the energy for storing items you love with care.
5) Holidays lights broken? Locally there is a recycling receptacle in River Forest behind Village Hall (400 Park Avenue) under the train overpass. Mail in option to support a charity? Check here. Some stores may have recycling centers in store (Lowe’s for example).
6) Take a few minutes to write a note to yourself about what worked well, what to drop for next year. You’ll be glad that you did. I mentioned this in a recent Redfin blog article with tips from other organizers from across the country.
Good luck. You’ve got this.