20 Things To Declutter This Winter
When it comes to decluttering sometimes we need ideas of what we can go through and make sure that we only have what we need. Check out this list of 20 things to declutter this winter and see what you are able to get rid of or sell to make space in your home.
With these simple ideas to declutter your home, it will make it easier to manage. The less stuff you have the less storage you need and the more space you have in your home.
When we think about decluttering sometimes we don’t know where to start or what needs to go. Check out this list of 20 different areas you can go through and perhaps, get some out of your home this winter.
You might be able to sell some things and that’s going to make this season less costly too.
1) Sort Out Your Summer Clothing
It’s a great idea to get rid of those summer clothes that aren’t going to be fit for another season.
It could be that they are stained, damaged, or just not the right size. Don’t keep clothes with the hope of one day wearing them again.
Sell them, donate them, or trash them, the choice is yours to make, but get them out of your home.
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2) What Winter Clothing Do You Have
Let’s be honest, how many winter jumpers do you need?
There is a limit to the amount of clothes that you can wear over the winter months. Now is a great time to go through your clothes and see what items can go.
Don’t keep clothes that don’t fit, let someone else have them and wear them. Clothes are meant to be worn and not just hidden in our closets.
3) What Winter Accessories Do You Have?
I’m thinking of gloves, hats, scarves, and boots when I think of winter accessories. How many of these items do you have?
Is it time to let some of these items go? How many pairs of gloves do you need per person in the home?
Do any of your boots have holes in them and need replacing? There is nothing worse than finding a hole in your boot when it’s wet and you get wet feet.
4) Clothes Children Have Outgrown
Children grow and very often what fits one season isn’t going to fit the next season.
Going through your children’s clothes each season is a great way to ensure that they have clothes that fit.
But also it helps you to know what to look out for in the sales of the items your children need to replace the ones they have outgrown.
It’s also a great way to ensure that the new clothes being brought by grandparents are items they want and need.
5) Towels, Towels, And More Towels
How many towels do you own per person in your home? It’s normally two towels each and two spare. Any more than this is excessive and you need to think about pairing these down.
If you have pets, sometimes having old towels is great for drying them off after they have had a bath or have gotten wet outside.
Some rescue centers need extra towels for the animals in their care, check if local ones require towels in your area.
6) Linen For Your Beds
How many sheets do you have for the beds in your home? If it’s more than two sets per bed do you really need more than 2?
Yes, I love new bedding but when I get new bedding I always get rid of one of the sets to make sure that I’m not storing more than I need.
Again, some rescue centers need old linen, so it’s a good idea to ask if the bedding isn’t looking its best.
Otherwise, I think donating to charity is a great idea.
7) Expired Food In Your Pantry?
We all have those items that we brought with good intentions of trying something new for it to sit unopened in our pantries.
It’s time to go through your pantry and look for expired items, it’s time to get rid of these.
8) Excessive Food Supplies
Sometimes we have great ideas and buy a lot of the same food when it’s on a special offer but do you really need it all?
If you have excessive amounts of food in your pantry that you know you are never going to consume before it goes out of date, consider sharing with a local food bank to give someone in need the chance of food for their family.
9) How Many Board Games Do You Own
When it comes to games in our homes, it depends on so many factors, but sometimes there are too many good games and some just sit there untouched for years.
If you have board games that you haven’t played in years it’s time to let them go and be loved by someone who loves to play games.
Being winter it’s a great time to get rid of them as they are going to be popular for families looking for something different to do on cold and wet winter nights.
10) Do You Still Have Videos And DVDs?
If you answered yes to this question, do you have the ability to still watch them? If you don’t even own a player for them why are you keeping them?
Sell them to someone who wants to watch them or who collects them.
11) Go Through Your Mail
With those long winter nights, it’s a great time to sit there and go through the mail that’s just been sitting there waiting for your attention.
Separate them into the different piles:
- To file
- Remove personal information
- Recycle
Once you have sorted, don’t forget to take action too.
12) Pictures And Picture Frames
Is it just me or do you have pictures and frames that have never even been seen in your home?
It’s time to go through these and start getting rid of pictures and frames you don’t want.
It’s up to you whether you sell them, donate them, or trash them. Just don’t keep them if you know you will never use them.
13) Sorting Through School Papers
Getting school papers in some sort of organization process is going to make it easier to store.
Children bring a lot of papers home with them each year and having some way of storing them and keeping the ones you want and don’t want will make it even easier when more stuff comes home from school.
14) Too Many Digital Photos
We are so lucky living in the digital age that we can have too many photos.
It wasn’t a thing in my youth, you had to risk the pictures you took because you had to develop them before you could see them.
Now we can click to our heart’s content and not have to worry about how many we’ve taken of the same thing. But there is a point where we can have too many photos, especially on our phones.
Go through them a few at a time, delete the ones that you don’t like, perhaps duplicates and you could always print a few of these off two.
15) Printed Photos You Don’t Want
It might surprise you but I have boxes of old photos, they are a lot that I don’t want any more.
I might just take an image of the good ones and store these electronically so that I can still have a record of them.
It was hard to throw away printed photos that weren’t the best because you had to pay for the reel to be developed.
Now with digital capabilities, I’m less likely to keep the less-than-perfect printed photos.
16) How Many Expired Beauty Products Do You Have
When it comes to beauty products there is a limit to the length of time you should be keeping them. They too have a date by which you need to use them.
If you have had items for a long time it might be time to get rid of them. It’s surprising how long you should keep things for.
Check your products for how many months after they have been opened that you should consider getting rid of them.
If you haven’t used the item, why do you still have it? Clear out the space in your beauty products. It makes it easier to see what you have.
17) Do You Still Get Paper Statements?
When it comes to the bills and statements we no longer need to get the paper versions delivered to your door.
What do you do with them? If you are just storing them because it’s what you thought you should be doing? Shred them if they aren’t required for tax purposes and in the future see if you can switch to paperless statements to save wasting paper.
18) Excess Amounts Of Kitchen Utensils
Do you have kitchen utensils that you haven’t used or have multiples of the same thing? It’s time to go through your utensils and start pairing down how many you have and perhaps getting rid of a few.
Sometimes we have items in our homes that we don’t ever use, utensils are one of those underused items.
19) Do You Have Expired Paint
If you have ever done any DIY, do you have any paint that is expired just sitting around?
Going through the paint that you have, sometimes it’s what’s been left when you moved in. Go through it and dispose of it carefully.
20) Old Cardboard Boxes Hanging Around
Do you keep cardboard boxes of appliances that you have purchased in case they need to go back? I do, but I do have to make a point of going through these regularly to make sure they are disposed of.
I put them in the loft area of my home and if I haven’t gone in there, these boxes seem to accumulate, I hope I’m not the only one.
Need More Resources For Decluttering?
There are so many things we need to think about when decluttering our homes, I’ve brought together some articles that I think you will enjoy.
We did a super duper huge extensive spring clean and declutter when we moved a year ago to a way smaller space. Now if I buy one item, 3 others need to go to make space.
I visited you via Tell It To Me Tuesday! #13 | 9/5/23 | Link Party
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Thanks for the great tips! I hadn’t thought of expired beauty products! Thank you for sharing at Tell It To Me Tuesday, I hope to see you again this week!
I will be there don’t worry!
You always tell everyone to get rid of DVDs, CDs and videos. I still have a VCR and when we don’t have any internet or cable, I can still entertain myself and the grandkids with a movie. Also when I don’t have electricity, I pull out my Sony Walkman and listen to music all day.
Hi Becky, That’s awesome if you have working machines that you can use, unfortunalety these machines are now so few and far between that it doesn’t always makes sense to keep the items you can’t use.