The day after Christmas looks like a bomb went off in our house, typically as the kids tear open all their boxes of stuff. They are eager to open their new toys and other items.
The pile of gifts from my inlaws and other family members sits behind the couch, waiting for them to go through and for me to sort.
The day after Christmas isn’t the day I put Christmas decor away, nor do I spend it cleaning the house. It’s just a tidy reset day and rehoming day.
Everything in our home must have a place to go.
This is my post-Christmas system.
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Everything in your home must have a place to go” means that every single item you own should have a designated storage spot so that your house stays organized and clutter-free; essentially, “a place for everything, and everything in its place.”.
Unbox everything
The first thing I do is unbox everything. This includes removing tags off clothing, removing all toys from containers, and anything else.
Why? Well, cause I want to break everything down to get rid of all the trash and recycling.
Then I start taking all that stuff to the garage for garage day.
At this moment, each year, I appreciate that my husband and I keep to the five-gift rule. Because the extras my kids get from friends and family make the gift piles higher but still manageable.
Label all the cords
Now that we have unboxed everything electronic with a cord, we need to get a label.
This is to avoid the cord’s bins. I love to use Wrap It storage labels. They are so easy to use.
Categorize the gifts
Now that the trash is gone, I get to categorizing the gifts. Here is how I break it down.
- Sort gifts by person
- Then, sort gifts for each person by home location -determine the home location based on where you would like this item to be housed. Or where would I look for this item?
- The new items to their new location
- Remove old items to make room for new items. Look through the area where you want things to go and or bins you have, and make the new item fit by taking out something.
For many of us, sticking to the one-on-one rule during Christmas is the easiest way to declutter in small chunks and keep clutter at bay.
Reorganize
Reorganize the new housing area to fit the new item.
A lot of times, when I am putting away new items, I will have to shift to other areas as well.
So, I spend the day reshuffling the house, moving old items to maybe new containers, or creating whole new containers or storage areas.
The goal is to reset the house so there are no piles or clutter and the new items that have arrived sit nicely and neatly in their designated spots.
Take inventory of new storage needed
This year was a perfect example of me needing to add new storage solutions and recreate storage spaces and I had to take inventory and make a shopping list of the things we needed.
This includes a new bookshelf for my son’s growing Lego collection. He wanted to display his Legos, and with a mm, there was no room for the new ones he got.
We also had to reset his closet, so I got some new bins and show containers.
His under-bed storage had to be redone. I got everything from Ikea, and we re-organized his room.
My youngest got a vanity, so we removed her pillow nook area. I also got her new bins for the top of her closet to reorganize her stuff.
Tidy/Wipe surfaces
The day after Christmas is not when I clean the house. It’s more of a wipe-up and sweep-up kinda day.
I am exhausted from most of the day reorganizing and putting things into their home. I typically deep clean the house the day before New Year’s Eve.
I spend the last part wiping counters, end tables, shelves, and all flat surfaces. Nothing extravagant. Lastly, I vacuum the whole house or swept it.