I don’t know about you, but after Christmas Day and all the festivities and lovely time receiving new items, I was ready to purge. My kids got new and the old just seemed cluttered. What did I do the day after Christmas? I went through my kids items and tossed. I pulled tons of stuff to donate, sell and toss. And that led to a whole house purge…
Where do I start?
Kids Rooms
- Little toys– I started by grabbing anything little that my toddler just normally tosses on the floor out of many bins and leaves for me to pick up. Anything they don’t play with, I put in a box for donation. If he hasn’t played with it in months, I made the decision to donate or sell.
- Big toys– What big toys do your kids not play with that are taking up space? Get rid of them- donate or sell them. Regain some much needed real estate in your home.
- Books– I was an Usborne Consultant but haven’t been active in months due to focusing on the blog and my husband’s real estate business. We had books we haven’t read (there are specific ones my toddler loves and others we haven’t read) that I made the decision to sell. I just had to be honest with myself. They have so many books- I get it now. I hear that a lot from other moms. However, I love books. Mainly my old children’s books but classics too. We can’t keep all the kids books though. They would continue to take over. Same with the toys. They can only play with so much. I put the ones I didn’t want to sell but were still in good condition on a pile for a Little Free Library near us.
- Next, the clothes. They received new socks so I went through and tossed old socks that my toddler got handed down from my oldest. I put some in the bag to go to my mom’s (we like to keep a stash of extra clothes there just in case).
- I also put a few pairs down at the front door in a cubby for when we are about to go out the door and realize that the toddler took off his socks hours ago. Same with my oldest son’s socks. I went through and looked to see which socks had the heels pretty worn and tossed them. I went through my youngest’s closet and pulled things out that he had outgrown or didn’t use. I found a nap mat that we never use. I also found a xerox box full of shoes that were the size he is in now. I pulled them out and put some aside for my moms and put the rest with his shoes.
If you would like some guidance on how to pair down your kids toys and introduce some learning, meaningful and durable (I totally get it I have boys), check out my post on becoming more minimalistic with kids.
Your bedroom
- Take all those gifts out of the boxes and bags and put them away properly (come on, I know you got them).
- Clean out your closet. If you received new clothing items for Christmas, use the one in one out rule. If you didn’t wear it this past Spring/Summer, out it goes! If you need room pack it away! I’m thinking about getting this for our closet to store our out of season clothing.
Bathrooms
- Pull out anything expired or items you don’t use and are just sitting in your cabinets. Discard any items that are not serving a purpose anymore. We had alot of items from post surgeries. They had to go!
- Tidy things and make items more accessible.
- Clean your make up brushes. Clean your hair brushes and combs while you are at it.
- Weed out all linens that are old and that you do not need.
Kitchen
- Weed out anything that your kids no longer use or have outgrown.
- Downsize any items you have too much of.
- Throw out any expired food, spices, baking items, etc.
- Clean out and organize your fridge. There is bound to be something you forgot was in there. Look at condiments for expired items.
- Give your coffee maker a good cleaning.
- Go through all your cabinets even if it’s seasonal and discard items you haven’t used in a year or two.
- Go through your junk draw and weed out any literal junk, things you don’t need or use.
- Tidy your counter tops and leave just the necessary items that you use on the daily.
Office
- Go through all papers and discard any outdated information.
- Set aside information you need for taxes.
- Clean up and weed through all your office supplies and make a list of items you need to pick up at the store or order from amazon!
Now is also a great time to get together a family command center! It’s a great place to keep all your family’s information, charging station, lists, calendar, meal plans etc. Here is my Pinterest pin board of my favorite ideas!
For weeks I’ve been thinking about how I can purge things and not have so much stuff. I had been cleaning out our basement rec room/office area and storage. Really do we need so much stuff? Nope. You’d be surprised how much stuff you have that you don’t use. We even had some furniture for donation as well!
After Christmas is a great time to pull out old items that your new Christmas items have replaced. I realize this is a bit late to donate for end of the year contributions but the end of the year is a great time to do so.
I know I am a big advocate for selling items at kids consignment sales but I went through those items I had set aside and pulled some things for donation as well. You just get to a breaking point and want it all gone.
I challenge you to start out 2019 fresh and start organizing and weeding out unnecessary items in your home.
I’m telling you it feels so good to have less stuff! Can we say less burden?
I would love to do a refresh and organizing series. What would you like me to cover? Let me know down in the comments! I love reading your comments so share away!
Happy New Year and thanks for reading my blog!
