Guest Post: Simple Guide to Decluttering after Christmas, Cymplified!

Is there a niggling on the back of your mind? Do you feel like you have left the oven turned on or your front door unlocked? The cause of that might be a few Christmas decorations or gifts left in the living room. Or, your Christmas tree is still up. If you have plans on decluttering after Christmas, or new year, or even Chinese new year, here’s a simple guide to help you out.

Decluttering after Christmas

Christmas is great, and it’s so much fun. The decorations, wrapping and unwrapping gifts, fake snow and everything else that’s sparkly make any home a beautiful, cosy space with a warm, cheery atmosphere.

Then there’s the clutter. The leftovers. The glittery carpets that will stay glittery until next Christmas. It’s easy to enjoy Christmas and look at the mess and think ‘I’ll do it later’ but when later comes and the clutter builds up, the more difficult it is to find the motivation to do tidy it all up.

So here’s a simple guide with tips and ideas on how to tackle the Christmas clutter.

Take care of Christmas decorations first

Baubles, lights on strings and tinsel can all get in the way of your decluttering adventure. Take care of them first. Anything broken or anything you’re certain you won’t use anymore, recycle and give away. We all get tired of the same old Christmas look from time to time but that’s no reason to throw away perfectly good Christmas decorations simply because your tastes change. The planet is struggling with the amount of plastic we throw away each year and we have to work together to reduce that number. Consider giving your old decorations to a local organisation that might need help such as children’s hospitals. Maybe reuse your old decorations to make new ones that can even look good all year round.

Anything you feel you’ll use next year, keep it stored away safely far from children and pets until it’ll
be used again.

Take it a room at a time

Trying to tidy the entire house in one day is close to impossible and you could find yourself quickly losing motivation and hope. Take time with your decluttering, even if it takes you a few days or weeks. Treat each room separately and focus on it for 2-3 hours; take a break and do another room.

Taking regular breaks will keep your energy levels high enough to get the job done properly and efficiently.

Organise all your things

Take four boxes and give each one a name: keep, bin, relocate and give away. While this may be a
little more time-consuming as it means each item needs to be inspected, it is definitely a method
worth considering. Try not to go back on yourself either, once you decided something should be
binned, bin it! Also try to recycle as many items as you can. If you’re unsure on some of your items
and if you can recycle them, use the guide from recycle now for help. And if you decided what to
give away, give it away. Go to your local charity shop and see if they accept your items. Not only
does that get rid of things you don’t want, but you get to help others too.

Storing gifts

Have you ever noticed how Christmas gifts tend to have more useless packaging around them than
any other time of the year gifts? The extra ribbons and awkwardly shaped boxes are certainly Christmas specific at times and we also tend to put them in yet another bag or wrap it up. It’s just rubbish on top of rubbish!

Thankfully in this case, the majority of packaging is made of cardboard which is 100% recyclable. Sure, the new perfume looks pretty in its box and that set of bath products just stay put so well in their paper containers with ribbons around them. But if you’re set on decluttering your home properly, try to get rid of as much packaging as possible before using and putting away your gifts.

If this becomes all too much, consider getting a helping hand from a cleaning company. Daily Poppins is a trustworthy UK company operating nationwide who can not only help you declutter, but also clean any stains, spills and the collection of dust you acquired over the holidays.

Whatever you decide to go with, keep stress level minimum and take care of yourself too in
preparation for the New Year and the days to come.

This is a guest post from Mr. John Stuart of dailypoppins.co.uk.