I don’t know about you, but we had a great Christmas with several activities and parties with family and friends spread out over a couple of weeks! We have been staying up way too late playing games, watching movies and eating far too much {yummy} J.U.N.K.!!
Santa Claus was good to us…and I was finally able to go and get an analysis done on my running gait and was properly fitted with some brand new running shoes! Yay!
I love having the house all decorated for the Holidays and love how fun and festive the atmosphere is. But for some reason, when Christmas is over…and the gifts are unwrapped, I feel an intense need to get rid of the CLUTTER!
So, I cleaned up all the Christmas “trimmings and trappings” and “ribbons and wrappings”. Yesterday we also went through all the kids toys and purged everything that we had outgrown or no longer wanted and donated them to Goodwill.
I think it also helped that I had watched a couple episodes of the show Hoarders over the weekend. I don’t watch much TV but find myself fascinated and yet slightly horrified at the state of some of those homes. It hits a bit close to home as my Grandpa {a child of the depression} was a hoarder for the last several years of his life.
So, I get a bee in my bonnet this time of year to get things clean and organized!
What about you? What are some things that you do to get rid of the clutter?
★Amy
JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER
Would you like more Recipes, DIY, Printables and Organization Ideas?
Subscribing to the newsletter will enable us to periodically send you creative content exclusively for Idea Room subscribers.
*View our Privacy Policy here.
Teri says
I get that feeling frequently! I love to get rid of things to feel like everything's clean and fresh (and let's not even get into eating too much yummy junk! LOL). I follow Flylady's program, decluttering the different "zones" around my house, getting rid of anything that doesn't make me smile or that I don't use. I just took a bag of stuff to Value Village this morning! :)
I am the same way! My husband was laughing at me today because I'm on a de-cluttering rampage! All of the decorations are packed away and I'm ready to get the house back in order! Now if I can just get a game plan on how to organize all of these toys. Ahhhhh! I've got 3 year old twins and a 12 month old and I feel like the toys are taking us over! :-)
By the way…..I'm a fairly new reader, but this has quickly become one of my favorite blogs!
I simply set my husband loose on the house. Everything just disappears… even stuff I still need :)
I spent all day yesterday decluttering my closet, bedroom and linen/bathrooom closets! I am definitely in a decluttering mood!
I was sick over Christmas, so my tree is still up. I wanted it down yesterday… before hubby went back to work. But alas.. So hopefully today I will be taking all that down and putting it away for another year. I didn't go gung ho with decorating this year, so it should be a lot easier. I'm very ready to have my living room back!
I get the urge to deep clean right after Christmas every year and actually got started in my craft room yesterday, after I put away all of the inside holiday decorations. When I deep clean I begin in one corner of a room and work my way around, cleaning, purging, sorting and fine tuning when it comes to my organization. I also keep a few boxes handy in the garage to store items for our Spring garage sale and I also donate to my local free cycle group. Next up is the kitchen while my girls play with their new toys and we are cooped up inside.
HA! I felt like such a grinch taking down my tree the day AFTER Christmas, but like you was SO ready to have my home back to its uncluttered and normal status. We do the same thing with the toys, donating what is no longer loved.
Oh HOW I get that bee! Mine comes before Christmas, though. We do a whole house purge in anticipation and I enjoy Christmas a little more that way. :)
I'm the same way! I spent the whole day after Christmas cleaning up all the trash, taking toys out of packages, and trying to sort things out. Then I cleaned out all of the outgrown toys and stored them away for the next baby. I have an organizing wish list to take with me to Target today and I'm pumped! Hurray for getting rid of clutter!
Each year before Thanksgiving, we go through the house and declutter, get rid of toys and outgrown clothes, etc. The kids feel good about passing along their things that time of year to someone who may not have enough…and they tend to let go of more toys for that reason! Then I feel more ready to take on the new Christmas toys, etc. We leave our Christmas decorations up through the 12 days of Christmas, so decluttering before the holidays is a big help!
I am the same way. I always declutter around Christmastime and I don't even keep that much stuff. We have moved to 2 different states in 9 months (w/ the hubbys job) and this move has had me throwing everything away. I mean everything. I have decided that I need my books, craft supplies, and my cookbooks. All the other extras has gone! It makes me feel so much lighter and happy.
We took all our stuff down yesterday too! It feels so nice to have it all put away. My house feels so empty now! (which I like) I have some major projects to tackle organizing-wise, but with a construction project looming (my new craft room Yay!) it's hard to get started.
I am bringing up the boxes to take mine all down today. It is crazy how that deep desire takes over the body – MUST ORGANIZE!! Any posts on organizational things would be most helpful and inspiring! :)
we constantly purge and i am ready for a big one, i have at least 3 closets where people throw stuff in that doesn't belong and i am dying to get them organized!
After reading your post I decided that the Holiday Blues I was experiencing was really just decorating clutter overload. I tore through the house, took down all the decorations, and my mood lifted instantly and I feel great!
Thanks!
I get the same way after the Holidays, I want to clean and throw all the old stuff out! New beginnings! I also watch Hoarders! It's insanely addicting to watch, but it makes me aware that I can't keep everything in site!
Oh, you sound just like my daughter! Me, I like to keep the tree up until New Year's Day or the day after. Eventually, I do get around to "spring" cleaning. But I love just sitting quietly in front of the tree at night, after hubby is in bed, remembering Christmases long past; before Christmas there's just not time for that. Have fun!
Yep, I can relate to ALL of this. I'm actually finding some time to sit down and right my final Operation Minimize post for 2010. I vowed in August to rid my home of 2,010 pieces of clutter by the end of the year and I am proud as pie to report I have actually surpassed that goal. Sadly, there is still clutter. It's MUCH smaller this time around but still present. I'll be doing Operation Minimize again next year, this time incorporating the garage into my numbers. Hope you'll stop by and check in on how I'm doing form time to time, having online support sure does help!! Good for you & Happy New Years