New Year Spruce Up: Decluttering Tips to Prep Your Home for 2025
A new year is not so far away now, and a resolution many of us share is finally keeping an organised home. If the goal is to kick off 2025 with a home free from clutter, start preparing now. Whether you’re planning a move in the upcoming year and are looking to minimise how much you take with you, or you simply want to rid your home of unnecessary items, here are some decluttering tips for the new year to ensure your home is spruced up for 2025.
Make a Plan For Where Items Will Be Stored
Decluttering may not necessarily mean throwing items away but storing items more efficiently. This can help you start your tidying process by deciding where you’re going to keep items you don’t need access to every day.
Maybe you need to install a cabinet in an area of your home to keep everything neat and organised. Perhaps you will use part of your garage for stashing larger items away. Make sure your garage door is secure and functioning properly to keep your items safe. Alternatively, you could opt for a small self-storage unit to keep your items in one place but out of the home, to free up valuable space.
Make a Schedule
It’s easy to get overwhelmed when decluttering or procrastinating to the point where you’re left with piles of items you don’t know what to do with. Create a schedule before you start so you have a plan of action. If you would rather get it completed quickly, you may want to spend an entire day getting everything done.
Another option is to take a little and often approach and do one room a day, over the course of a week. Whichever you choose, a schedule will make the process of decluttering more systematic and prevent you from feeling daunted by tackling your whole house in one go.
Choose Your Approach
There are various ways to declutter, from the Swedish Death Cleaning to Marie Kondo and the Rule of Five. The 12/12/12 rule requires you to locate 12 items to throw away, 12 to donate and 12 to be returned to their proper place in your home. It’s a great option if your home is more disorganised rather than cluttered.
Or you could choose the 80/20 rule, which argues that we use 20% of our belongings 80% of the time—with this in mind, we should either donate or store the 80% we don’t use regularly. Knowing which rule you’re working towards will make the process of decluttering smoother and will help you identify those items you no longer need or want.
Invest In Proper Containers
Every item in your home that you want to keep should have a dedicated place to live. This prevents your home from feeling untidy and disorganised, and also makes it easier to find those items when you need them. You might want to choose plastic containers, wall storage or cabinets that keep everything tucked away. Whatever you choose, make sure that everything you decide to keep has somewhere to go when you’re not using it.
Make a Mend Pile
Not everything in the home needs to be thrown away. Sometimes, it simply needs to be repaired so we can use it again. While decluttering, make a pile of items that need to be mended. You may have a work shirt with a missing button or the lamp that needs new batteries. Then, put aside a few hours to tackle those jobs so they’re not taking up space without getting used.
Work on Reducing Digital Clutter
It’s not just physical items that weigh us down but the digital clutter that we amass on a daily basis. From unread emails to photos and documents, digital clutter takes up valuable space on our devices. This can feel just as overwhelming to deal with as the items around us in the home. Take a day to sort through text messages, emails and documents on your phone and computer so you can start 2025 with a clean slate. Now is also a great time to unsubscribe from those mailing lists you no longer want to hear from.
Choose What to Keep, Donate and Recycle
You’ve set the schedule, sorted out storage and decided on your approach. Now you need to work out what you want to keep and what can be passed on. Letting go of things you don’t use or no longer need can be difficult, but sometimes it’s necessary to avoid feeling like you’re drowning beneath your belongings.
You don’t need to throw everything away… Why not create a memory box of sentimental items that gives you a chance to hold on to what matters most without it getting out of control?
Try to be strict with what you keep. If there’s clothing in your wardrobe that no longer fits or you haven’t worn for years, maybe someone else will get more use out of it. Think about what you truly need and use to guide your decision-making. If it no longer serves you, decide whether it can be recycled, donated or sold, depending on the condition.
Go Through Your Home Décor
One of the biggest culprits for clutter is ornaments and home décor, from candles that have burned out to souvenirs from holidays and decorative cushions that are crowding your sofa or bed. Use this time to assess the items you have on display to decide if they still reflect your style. In particular, focus on broken items or old decorations that may have been passed on to you but don’t really work with the rest of the interior décor. Also, steer away from trend pieces that you may have bought on a whim but now are creating clutter.
Final Thoughts: Decluttering Tips for the New Year
2025 can be the year you get your home in order and start the new year fresh and clutter-free. All that’s required is a plan of action and the motivation to get started. A tidy home that you can enjoy every day is the goal for many of us. You can use this time before the 1st January to kick things off on a positive note. With these decluttering tips for the new year, you’ll be well on your way to creating a more organised and peaceful living space to enjoy in 2025.