Expert reveals four tips for decluttering your home after the holidays
The holidays are through and it’s nearly time to get back into the swing of normal life — but you might be feeling overwhelmed by the state of your home.
Luckily, decluttering educator Shannon Leyko has shared several practical tips with The Independent to help people reset and start the new year with a more organised living space.
A self-described “decluttering enthusiast,” Leyko says her background in psychology has shaped her approach to reducing excess possessions.
The mother of three now shares her advice through her podcast, Paring Down, which focuses on helping people let go of items they no longer need in a healthy, sustainable way.
Even so, Leyko acknowledges that the idea of cleaning up and clearing out can feel daunting at first.
“Especially after the holidays, one of the things that helps me keep my sanity the most is to remember that it is a transition season,” Leyko explains. “We don’t necessarily see it that way because we’re not going into summer break or we’re not starting the school year, but whenever you bring that much new stuff into your home, your home is transitioning, and so it’s OK for it to not feel completely at peace, like everything has a place.”
Start with the most stressful areas
Leyko allows herself two to three weeks to “shake all that out,” a process that includes identifying which of their gifts her children aren’t especially interested in.
“Of course, we want to do some decluttering before the influx of gifts, but realistically, there’s just going to be some transition that happens, and we need to be gracious with ourselves, with our kids, and with our space, knowing that it will all work out,” she explains.
“Your house is not going to look the same on December 26th as it did on December 24th because a whole bunch of new stuff came in.”
When it does come time to declutter, Leyko suggests starting with the areas of the home that cause the most stress or frustration.
“The purpose of decluttering is to decrease your stress and make sure that your home doesn’t feel overwhelming,” she says. “So if you feel like you have your kids’ rooms are suddenly overflowing with gifts, go ahead and start there.”
Identify physical boundaries for belongings
Next, she suggests identifying a physical boundary for belongings. This could be a storage bin, or even clothes hangers. Doing so is especially important for kids, she says, as “we want to involve them in the decluttering process so that they don’t get scarred for life.”
“I always say that it’s too abstract to say you have too much stuff, and especially when it’s new stuff, they’re going to be more attached to it,” Leyko explains. “If you say, ‘Hey, all your stuffies have to fit inside this one bin, because there’s just no space for them elsewhere,’ then they have the personal agency to choose which stuffies can stay inside that bin.
“It gives them the right balance of understanding the goal, as well as having that personal agency, which we want to offer our kids as much as possible.”
Keep a running donation box
Through the post-holiday transition period and beyond, Leyko suggests having a running donation box to store items that are no longer needed or wanted.
“We will always have to get rid of things that we don’t need because our preferences change, our children’s interests grow,” she says. “Life changes, and so we are going to need to have a place to put the stuff that we want to get rid of on a consistent basis.”
Have systems in place for basic processes around the house
Another key part of the general decluttering process involves implementing systems for basic processes, like hanging up coats and storing shoes. Leyko noticed that there was less drama and conflict within her family when she began assigning clear paths for everyday items
“It’s a little different than decluttering, which is getting rid of stuff out of your house,” Leyko says, “but also, we all know the feeling of just clutter on our counters and clutter on the floor, and that is a different kind of clutter.
“You have to look at the individual things and say, do we have a system in place that supports a tidy environment?
“I think we look at mundane tasks like tidying and decluttering, and we see them as drudgery because we don’t identify it as a goal, as a system,” she continues. “We actually need to see them as goals that we can work towards and feel a sense of accomplishment towards, rather than just these never-ending task cycles that make us feel like adulthood is a drag.”
