Decluttering in time for Christmas

We all know that the build up to Christmas is usually a manic experience for everyone involved. If there’s one task that should be the top of your list and that is to declutter your home before the festive period.

Across the country, households are preparing for Christmas with, which usually means we need to make extra space for our guests within the home. This is before all the new gifts are accumulated. It’s important to make space in your home before the festivities begin.

Create extra storage

Using extra storage to make space in your home probably seems the most obvious resolution. Creative thinking will help enormously with this, for example a rack on the back of a cabinet in the kitchen can free up more storage space.

Be ruthless

One of the most important things to be when you’re decluttering your home is to be ruthless. It’s easy to fall into the trap of keeping everything you find on the off chance that you might use it one day. Sort your stuff into 3 different groups: things you are keeping, things you are throwing away and things that you want to keep but store away.

Donate

Donation is a great way to get rid of some belongings that you no longer have use for, providing these items are in good condition then charity shops will be more than happy to accept them.

Tackling the kitchen

We suggest working through your kitchen and throwing away everything that is out of date, a little reminder that even your spices don’t stay fresh forever! If you can no longer smell them, you’ll no longer be able to taste them so get rid.

Another tip here is to re-pack your larder. Store your dry ingredients such as pasta and rice and place them into plastic containers and be sure to label them so that your guests don’t inadvertently put coffee in their cereal.

Fridge & Freezer 

The most important utensils of Christmas, the place where all your food and left overs are stored. Here is where you’re going to want to save as much space as possible before the festivities begin. Start with the freezer and clear out all food that you’ve been keeping for a long time. As a rule of thumb you shouldn’t store frozen food for longer than 3 months.

Living Room

Making space in your living room will be imperative this Christmas, usually the furniture is placed around the TV but perhaps this year the tree could be the focal point of the room. We also suggest placing all toys into boxes to keep out of the way and making a nice display of your Christmas cards.

Dining Room

The dining room is the main room of any Christmas get together when the Christmas dinner finally comes out, so you’ll need to make sure that there’s enough space for everyone. We suggest clearing away all unnecessary furniture, ornaments and table decorations, if you have things you don’t want to throw away then perhaps you could store them in another room which won’t be used.