We dread the cleanup aftermath of wrapping paper, boxes, and cookie tins as we approach the holidays. It feels like the house gets smaller with each passing year, right? 

Well, we have an early holiday treat for you – one without boxes or bows! 

To give you a head start on the holiday season and the coming new year, we’ve compiled our Top 10 Tips for Downsizing Your Stuff. Today we give you our first five tips to get you into the organizational Christmas Spirit:

1. Focus on one space at a time. The thought of decluttering or organizing your whole home might be daunting, so remember to take it one step at a time. You’re more likely to make headway if you break it into multiple, more manageable projects.

 Avoid getting overwhelmed by tackling one room at a time, or even just a part of a room. Sort through your DVD collection, your kitchen junk drawer, or your shoe storage.

2. Set decluttering ground rules. Once you start decluttering and combing through items, it could become easy to make exceptions here and there. Before you know it, all you’ve done is move your stuff to another part of the house and not actually accomplish anything.

The best way to avoid this is by sticking to a strong set of ground rules and options for sorting your items, such as “Keep, donate, or sell”.

3. Pass along sentimental items. There are bound to be some sentimental objects that won’t fit into your new space. Try reaching out to your family and friends about sentimental furniture and décor pieces to give the items a good home, especially if it’s an item you’d like to keep in your family.

If you know you’re going to miss the item, but it has no place in your new home, take a photo of it and add any relevant details (where it came from, what it signifies). Create your own “treasure” photobook or work the pictures into an album.

4. Sell or donate non-essentials whenever possible. Follow the one-year rule: donate or sell it if you haven’t used something in the last year. It’s tempting to hang onto things you once loved but no longer use or think you might use someday. But the truth is if you haven’t used a particular item in the last year, you’re unlikely to use it in the next year. Or ever.

5. Repurpose existing items. You may want to keep certain things in your home, but you realize they won’t fit in your new space. The first option would be to photograph it and add it to your digital ‘Memories’ photo album.

If that still doesn’t work for you, try and think if there’s a way it could be upcycled and incorporated into your new space. For example, you could turn your t-shirt collection into a quilt or convert an old toy chest into usable seating or storage.

This wraps up -sorry, bad pun- our first five tips on downsizing and decluttering your stuff. 

These are just the basics! 

Keep an eye out for my next email – my final five tips will help you get a head start on the post-holiday cleanup; a real ‘Box-ing’ Day, if you will (sorry!). 

With the new year approaching, it’s a great time to start a cleanup of your finances, too. Go online or give us a call at 513-563-PLAN (7526) so we can show you how to organize and plan for 2022 and beyond!