5 things to declutter for the new year for a fresh start
Doing a declutter for the new year is a great way to start a new year with a home that’s reset and refreshed.
However, decluttering doesn’t mean emptying every cupboard, or transforming your whole home overnight. Often, it’s the small decluttering jobs that make the biggest difference to how calm and cluttered your home feels.
Here are 5 things to declutter for the new year that will instantly create more space, less stress, and a more peaceful home, without the overwhelm.
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Why decluttering for the new year matters
When your home feels cluttered, your brain can’t truly switch off. You’re constantly scanning, tidying, and trying to remember where things are.
Decluttering for the new year helps:
- Make your home easier to manage
- Create breathing space in your day
- Get you into a decluttering mindset
- Reduce stress and mental overwhelm
5 things to declutter
Here are 5 things to declutter for the new year, so you can enter the year feeling lighter.
Clothing
I love decluttering clothes, it’s my favourite way to save time getting ready because it means having less clothes to choose from.
The best clothes to declutter for you, and your family are those that:
- Don’t fit
- You’re storing “just in case”
- Are outdated
- You don’t feel good in
- Are for a lifestyle you no longer have
- Are occasional items you’ll never wear again
Paperwork
Paperwork can be a large source of clutter in our homes, and can build up on kitchen counters, side tables, school bags, and noticeboards.
Some paperwork clutter that you may have in your home includes:
- Artwork
- Bank statements
- Bills
- Certificates
- Flyers
- Instruction manuals
- Menus
- School letters
- Warranty info
While you need to keep some paperwork, much of it doesn’t need to be kept once it’s been read or actioned.
Here’s how you can declutter paperwork in your home:
- Gather all paperwork in one place
- Sort it into three categories
- Recycle
- Action
- File
When recycling paperwork be ruthless. If the paperwork has expired, it’s irrelevant, or you can obtain it digitally, recycle it.
If you’re unsure about recycling it, take a photo of it and store it digitally so you can recycle the hardcopy.
To stop paper clutter building up after you’ve decluttered it:
- Have a paper tray or desk paper organiser to store action paperwork located in one area of your home, like your kitchen or office
- Keep to file paperwork in labelled folders stored somewhere safe like lockable storage
- Set a weekly reminder in your phone to sort new paperwork into any of the 3 categories above
Kitchen
I love decluttering my kitchen as often as it needs doing, because it gets cluttered fast.
Here’s some things to declutter in your kitchen:
Food
Check your pantry, fridge, freezer, and cupboards for expired, half used products no one likes, duplicates, and items you bought but never used.
Throw out expired and half used food items, and donate any duplicates or items you never used that are well within their use by date, which you can do at your local grocery store.
Kitchen gadgets and small appliances
When decluttering kitchen gadgets and small appliances, ask yourself:
- Have I used this in the last year?
- Does it serve a unique purpose?
- Is it making my life easier or more cluttered?
Declutter any items that result in a no to any of the above questions, by selling or donating items that still work, or recycling what doesn’t.
Toys
I declutter toys as part of a Christmas declutter as well as before birthdays, to minimise the amount of clutter new toys will create.
Here are some signs that it may be time to do a toy declutter for the new year:
- There’s constantly toys all over the floor
- Your toy storage is overflowing
- Your kids are bored with their toys
- You’re sick of constantly tidying toys up
If you’re not quite ready to declutter toys you can try a toy rotation instead, which means instead of keeping all toys out, you store some toys away and rotate them every few months..
Here’s an article on how to use toy rotation, if you’d like to give it a try.
Items tied to guilt
The final area to declutter for the new year are items tied to guilt or obligation.
These are items you keep because:
- They were expensive
- They were gifts
- You feel guilty letting go of them
- They represent a time that’s no longer relevant
It can be hard to declutter these items, but holding onto them not only creates clutter in our homes, but can also weigh you down emotionally.
To help declutter these items ask yourself:
- Does this item support the life I live now?
- Does it bring joy, or guilt?
- Am I keeping this out of obligation?
Letting go of this type of clutter isn’t wasteful – it’s freeing.
How to start decluttering
Here are a few ways to start decluttering without feeling overwhelmed:
- Set a timer for 10 minutes and declutter as much as you can
- Tackle one a small area at a time
- Use a decluttering checklist to help you
Decluttering doesn’t have to be perfect, and you don’t need to declutter your entire home for the new year.
Even choosing just one of these five areas is enough to clear clutter in your home, and create a space that feels calmer.
Things to declutter for the new year – a recap
Decluttering for the new year isn’t about achieving a perfect home overnight, it’s about creating a home that feels light, and less stressful.
Whether you start decluttering clothes, a pile of papers, a few kitchen gadgets, or a handful of toys, every small decluttering job makes a huge difference.
A great way to start decluttering is to choose one area, set a 10 minute timer, and declutter as much as you can, so you can start to create the home you want to live in.
If you want to make decluttering super simple, download this decluttering checklist full of 100+ items to start decluttering today.
Which areas of your home feel the most overwhelming or stressful right now, and why?
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