Inside: Wondering what to declutter in January? Here are seven categories to focus on if you’re taking a slow decluttering approach or you’re no stranger to decluttering and want to maintain.
This morning I got up, made my coffee and headed downstairs to what we call the “second living room”. The kids were still sleeping, and it’s quiet and warmer here.
I gently shoved our cat Benny off my spot that he thinks is his (little booger) and snuggled into my favorite armchair – a blue oversized, almost ten-year-old IKEA Stockholm chair. I sip my coffee and read the news before I start my day.
But I glanced up for a minute, and just out of the corner of my eye, I could see the growing pile of “stuff that needs to leave the house”.
Discarded Halloween costumes. Decluttered Christmas decor. Outgrown clothing.
The pile has been overflowing its designated basket, slowly taking over the mudroom and making it more and more challenging to put shoes and coats away and get clothes out of the dryer.
For five years now, our dryer has existed three rooms away from the washer, right by the entryway where all the coats and shoes live. So annoying, but I digress.
I guess the normal New Year’s decluttering urge came early this year?
Thankfully, our homeschool co-op has an active “Buy/Sell/Trade” form, so I’m hoping most of it can happily go to a new home.
Meanwhile, that pile of stuff started me thinking about what else needs to leave the house come January.
7 Things to Declutter in January (to Give Your Decluttering Focus)
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Every year at the very end of December, usually after the Christmas presents have existed in our house for a day or two, I feel a familiar itch.
Too.much.stuff. Must declutter ASAP. Every shelf and cupboard feels too full. Even the rugs feel like too much.
This may or may not have something to do with the Christmas tree taking over half the living room. Thank god it’s time to put the Christmas decorations away.
We don’t need to do a deep declutter because we’ve been living a minimalist lifestyle for years now. But especially in a family our size, stuff accumulates just from living life – kids outgrow clothes, old electronic devices get discarded, bedding wears out. You know, life.
But sometimes, having a decluttering focus really helps, especially if you’ve been decluttering for years. I came up with seven things to focus on decluttering in January.
So if you’re in maintenance decluttering mode, or you want to take a slower, month by month approach to decluttering, join me!
You Might Also Like: How to Declutter with No Time and a Tight Budget
1. Expired & Unwanted Food
Even in the most organized kitchens, food gets shoved to the back of the cabinet and forgotten, expiring in the dark.
ADHD hyperfixation is real, and those pickles you ate daily for so long that you stocked up on them, but now you can’t bring yourself to eat another jar?
January is the perfect time to do a pantry clean out and declutter! Throw away expired food. Give away unopened food that’s still good.
If you want more help decluttering and organizing your pantry, this post on creating a minimalist pantry is here for you.
2. House Plants
I cannot grow a garden to save my life, but I adore house plants. This year, we adopted two cats, and I acquired a few new cat-friendly plants and moved many toxic ones up high or to my off-limits-to-cats bathroom.
I’m starting to see which plants are destined to thrive in my house and which ones aren’t. Weirdly, one lemon lime prayer plant thrived and the other died.
If you’re a plant person, too, by December, you probably know which plants are destined for new homes or need to be given back to nature. You also may have propagated cuttings and now have too many plants for your space, or they aren’t thriving.
Give some away or let them go. If you have too many planting pots for whatever your designated container is, declutter those, too.
3. Electronic Devices & Cords
My husband is convinced that the second I throw away a cord, he’ll suddenly know exactly what it’s for and need it the next day. So we have one “tech box” in our TV stand where all electronic things go to die.
Phone boxes. Random cords. Old devices. As long as it fits in the box and the lid closes fully, it can stay.
January is a great time to go through whatever that box or bin is for you!
For cords especially, you’ll want to gather every cord you own from around the house, KonMari style, so you can see how many duplicates you have. I’m all for keeping duplicates you need, but do you really need more than two of one type of charging cord?
Take some time to recycle old iPads or phones that you’re sure you’ll never use. I’m planning to mail our ancient first iPad to THIS electronics recycling company. We gave my son my old computer to take apart, and then throw away.
And if you have no idea what a cord is for, label it with today’s date. That way this time next January, if you haven’t used it, you’ll be able to throw it away with confidence.
Related: 7 Duplicates I Refuse to Declutter (Even Though I’m a Minimalist)
4. Decor
I went on a bit of a decorating frenzy this fall, so I don’t have any plans to get rid of decor, other than a piece of art I took for free and can’t use.
But if it’s been a while since you’ve decluttered your decor, January is a good time to do it.
There are a few ways to approach this. If you have a lot of decor, I would choose one room to focus on, and I would “quiet the room” – take art off the walls, throw pillows off the couches, decor off of surfaces.
Leave it for a few days at least, though a week would be better. See if clear surfaces make your life easier or better, if clearer walls make you feel more peaceful.
Bring back what you love and miss. Donate the rest.
P.S. We take our Christmas decorations down before New Year’s Day, but if you wait until January, now is also a good time to decide what Christmas decor you no longer want.
5. Last Year’s Planners & Calendars
I always wanted to be a planner person. I even bought THIS one last year to try one last time to become one.
But no. Post-It notes, the occasional 1Thrive calendar refresh during particularly busy seasons and Google Calendar (with two alerts per event) keep me as organized as I’m gonna be.
Side Note: I think if I WAS a planner person, this would be the perfect planner for me.
I see no good reason to keep last year’s planner and calendars. Throw them away! If you kept the last few years, throw those away, too.
If you have events you want to remember for this upcoming year, go through the planner and put them on this year’s calendar or planner. Take photos of anything important, and then toss it.
6. Papers
I started on this task early this year, but only because I was frantically searching for the user guide to our new, but currently on the fritz stove (do not buy THIS gas stove – you’re welcome).
I took every folder out from our 1Thrive folder storage slot and started going through them one by one. I set aside the papers that were no longer relevant to be burned, created new folders for upcoming needs, like 2025 Taxes, and organized what was left.
Start with paperwork from the past 6-12 months.
Declutter school papers (you can only keep so much artwork by your 7-year-old!), throw away old medical referrals and after visit summaries that are available electronically, get rid of tax bills that are already paid and ditch takeout menus from restaurants you don’t frequent.
Move anything important to long-term storage. Speaking of long-term storage…
Next, go through long-term paper storage and remove things like 8-year-old taxes paperwork or the engineering papers from college that your partner is finally ready to relinquish.
If you’re interested in going digital with just about everything, Abby from Just a Girl and Her Blog has an excellent article on going paperless HERE.
Related: A Mostly Enthusiastic 1Thrive Organizer Review
7. Anything You’ve Decluttered, But Put Off Rehoming
About a year or so ago, I decided I was done with having an area rug in our upstairs living room. It was a rug over a rug, and it was annoying to vacuum.
I stored it in the garage in a $10 large rug bag, in case I changed my mind. I didn’t, but I still haven’t gotten rid of it.
January is the month to set aside time to get those already decluttered items out of your house and onto their next home!
Take the photos and list them on Facebook Marketplace, if you think you can get more than $20 for them. Offer items for free to friends and neighbors.
Throw things away if they’re not in great condition. Take items to the thrift store as a last resort
Give Your January Decluttering a Clear Focus
You are more than welcome to declutter beyond these seven categories in January.
And if you’re new to decluttering, I would recommend starting with THIS list of 101 Easy Things to Declutter.
But if you’re no stranger to decluttering and like me, you could use some focus for those decluttering binges (yes, that’s a real thing), I hope this “what to declutter in January” list is a helpful guide.
Happy New Year decluttering!
Read Next: 7 Tips for Decluttering on a Low Income (Because It’s Different)
