Christmas and clutter seem to go together. There are the boxes of decorations that we take out of closets, basements, garages and attics. There are the extra toys and other presents we need to make room for in our homes. There are even extra food supplies that may overstuff our refrigerators and pantries.
Because I get overwhelmed with clutter (although I’m not always very good at keeping it at bay), my first instinct is to run out to the store and fill the cart with all sorts of new organizers to wrestle the clutter away. Did you know that there are even organizers for the refrigerator? The only thing that prevents me from running out and buying are two facts: those organizers aren’t exactly cheap, and buying organizers before you organize your stuff just leads to more clutter in the form of extra organizers. You have to first know what you have and where you want it to live, before those shelves and containers will do the job.
Usually before the holidays hit, I do a major go through of the house. I try to hit each of the major rooms, kitchen, dining room (with pantries), living room, playroom and the bedrooms. Starting at the door or entrance of each room and working around each one, take my three bags or boxes, one for donation, one for trash and one for things that belong in other rooms, and I get to work. My goal is to two-fold. I want to make sure that everything has a home (precariously stacked on the top of the closet and waiting to fall on someone’s head doesn’t count), and I want to make sure that there is extra room for anything new that might appear under the Christmas tree or come into the house during the holidays.
As I am going through the rooms, I will make a note of anything I might need to help organize. For example, a fabric shoe organizer placed on the back of a door to organize all of the hats, gloves and mittens that seem to get lost in the closet this time of year should work for us. By knowing exactly what I need to organize and where it will go, I save money by not overbuying. Plus, whenever possible, I try to reuse items that we already own in our organization.