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The holidays are almost over and people everywhere will begin to look towards the new year. While resolutions have started to become cliché, the idea of taking time to improve your life is anything but. Many are attracted to the idea of living a simplified, uncluttered life with less stuff. Not only will a big purge make you and your family feel more organized, but it can also be great for the mind. Physical clutter can cause stress and leave you less focused. So now you are probably ready to declutter but you may get quickly tripped up by the very next question… where in the world do you begin?

Start here. Our room by room guide to decluttering will give you tricks and tips to help you reach your goal.

Begin at your entryway:

The best way to declutter is to create a designated space for “clutter.” Make a drop station to hold your daily items like keys, mail, purse, or wallet. Make sure to pick baskets and bins that will adequately hold everything to keep your entryway neat. We also suggest placing a bench and a basket by your front door gives your guests a subtle hint to take their shoes off when they come into your home.

Move to the living room:

One of our favorite furniture choices is coffee tables with built-in storage. If you’re struggling to find a home for various odds and ends around your living room, use a coffee table that contains storage space – either drawers to tuck everything away or an open shelf for your collection of books and magazines. If that won’t work for you right now just use oversize woven baskets. They are great for hiding magazines, books, toys, or electronics

Consider re-decorating, or rather, de-decorate a little. That feeling of clutter may not just be from all the stuff floating around your house. Your aesthetic can have a big impact on the feeling of your space as well. If there are too many colors in your living room, it will make it look overcrowded. A good rule of thumb (although in decorating sometimes rules are made to be broken) is to keep small rooms light, with darker colors limited to larger rooms.

Now get cooking in the kitchen:

How many wooden spoons do you really need?  Do you really use all four cookie sheets?  Evaluate what you need and use on a regular basis. Remember that you can always borrow items from friends or family for holidays or special events.  Keep what you really use and donate the rest.

Nothing makes your kitchen look messier than a cluttered countertop, and the clutter makes counters much more difficult to wipe down and keep clean.  Get rid of unneeded papers, small appliances that are not used on a regular basis (just store these away if you still use them periodically), and decorative accessories that you do not love.

The kid’s room is next:

After the holidays, your children’s things seem to triple in quantity. The new year is the best time to purge some of this stuff. Try this simple idea to pack a powerful clutter-cutting punch as they put away new holiday gifts: for each gift they received, toss two equivalents. New pajamas? Find two outgrown sets to add to the donation pile. The same goes for toys, books, and so on.

Don’t forget your room:

By the time you get to your room you may feel like you’ve had enough with purging. That’s fine, this easy tip will give you something to do now that will help you easily decide later what you should get rid of. To identify clothing pieces to clear out, hang all your clothes with the hangers in the reverse direction. After you wear an item, return it to the closet with the hanger facing the correct direction. After a few months, you’ll have a clear picture of which clothes you can easily discard. This experiment could also be applied to a number of clutter areas in your home (cleaners, linens, tools, hobbies and craft items).

Whether you take it slowly over the course of a few weeks or plan to tackle it in one weekend, commit to your decluttering project and endeavor to keep it up throughout the year. As you know, things easily pile up around the house but the more on top of it you stay, the easier it is to sustain. And remember we are always here to help our Sussex County, NJ storage customers to reduce clutter and keep your items safe throughout the year.

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