31 Things To Declutter Before The New Year

Between Christmas and New Year’s, what doesn’t pile up in our house? The gifts come in. The kids are home all day, every day. Guests come through, and there’s so. much. food.

And somewhere in the middle of all that, there’s usually a home project we started with big plans and didn’t finish. As I write this, our entryway is half painted.

That week is exactly why I like the end of the year for decluttering. You can see what you have too much of, and clearing some of it out gives you a fresh start going into January.

If you already did some decluttering before the holidays, think of this as round two: the things to declutter before the new year, one room at a time.

31 Things To Declutter Before The New Year

There are thirty-one things here across six categories, so pick the ones that match the rooms you live in most and skip the rest. Go category by category, starting with whichever one bugs you most.

For each item, I ask one question: “Have I used this in the last year?” Late December is the easiest time to answer it, because the last twelve months are still fresh.

And if you are a “what if I need it someday” person like me? My post on how to declutter when you want to keep everything has the rest of my questions, plus a few tricks for the things you can’t decide on.

The Kitchen And Pantry

The kitchen is always where I start, and after the holidays it has earned its spot at the top. All of those meals came through here, and so did the leftovers.

• Expired food. Old spices, forgotten sauces, the cans at the back of the pantry, and whichever holiday leftovers have outstayed their welcome in the fridge.
• Lidless food storage containers. Keep the ones that still seal and recycle the rest.
• Duplicate gadgets and utensils. Two can openers and four spatulas mean you can part with the extras and still make dinner.
• Chipped mugs and extra water bottles. Most of us reach for the same two every morning anyway.
• Takeout menus, soy sauce packets, and plastic cutlery. The catch-all overflow your phone replaced a long time ago.

The Bathroom And Medicine Cabinet

Our bathroom is small enough that nothing has room to hide, so this section goes fast in our house. If yours has more cabinet space, you’ll find more than you expected.

• Out-of-date medicine and vitamins. They lose strength over time, and you don’t want to grab the wrong thing half-asleep at 2 am.
• Old makeup and skincare. Mascara, sunscreen, and lotion all have expiration dates.
• Hotel toiletries and sample sizes. The little collection you keep meaning to take on a trip.
• Threadbare towels and washcloths. Many animal shelters will take them.
• Almost-empty bottles. The shower shelf lineup with one squeeze left in each.

Kids’ Toys, Clothes, And Artwork

This category feels overwhelming fastest, and my best advice is about timing. I try to do our toy purge before Christmas, so the families picking out donated toys have plenty to choose from.

If you’re reading this before the holidays, start here and get the bags out early. If the gifts are already in, this pass is for the things they pushed out. And if it still feels like too much, my guide on how to start decluttering when it feels overwhelming walks you through easing in.

• Broken toys and games missing pieces. Nobody is finishing the puzzle that lost four pieces last spring.
• Outgrown clothes and shoes. If nobody in the house fits into them now, they can go.
• Party favors and fast-food toys. They multiply on their own, and no one notices when a handful disappears.
• Paper and artwork. Ours lands in the office, and I try to sort it into a folder for each kid. (A proper filing bin is on my list.) Keep a few favorites and recycle everything else.
• Baby gear you’re past. Someone in your circle can use the bouncer and the high chair while they’re in good shape.

Closets And Clothes

The kids outgrow things so fast that their drawers always come first. My closet gets whatever energy is left over, and when there isn’t any, it gets skipped.

• Clothes that don’t fit or haven’t been worn in a year. The same one-year question, applied to the thing you see every morning.
• Single socks and stretched-out basics. The missing mate isn’t coming back at this point.
• Wire and mismatched hangers. They tangle together and leave those little points on the shoulders of your shirts.
• Worn-out shoes. The pair you keep meaning to get fixed and haven’t touched in months.
• Jewelry and accessories you never reach for. Someone else would happily wear them every week.

Paper And Digital Clutter

Paper and digital clutter both stack up fast, and paper usually carries a date: a school form, a registration deadline, a flyer for an upcoming event. Once those dates are somewhere you’ll see them, you can let the paper go.

The papers that do stay need a home. My post on how to organize paperwork at home covers what to keep and for how long, and my home file organization categories give each piece a place to land.

• Old mail, receipts, and coupons you’ll never use. The stack by the entry that grows a little every time you walk past it.
• Outdated school forms and flyers. Last semester’s lunch calendar isn’t helping anyone anymore.
• Manuals and warranties for things you no longer own. Nearly all of it lives online now if you ever need it.
• Duplicate photos and screenshots. Clearing a few hundred is usually the quickest way to make that storage-full warning go away, and my guide on how to organize your phone walks through the full cleanup.
• Your inbox and unused subscriptions. Unsubscribe from the senders you delete on sight.

The Junk Drawer, Entryway, And Car

These are the catch-all zones. Our car is a pile of stuff, and the half-painted entryway still collects its usual shoes and coats. The junk drawer, the entryway, and the car all fill back up on their own, so a sweep now buys you a few calmer weeks.

• Dead batteries and mystery cords. If you can’t tell what a cord charges, you’re almost certainly not using it for what it’s meant for.
• Pens that don’t write. Test the cup, keep the ones that work, toss the duds.
• Keys nobody can match to a lock. Try each one on the doors you have, and toss whatever opens nothing.
• The entryway shoe and coat pile. It’s the first thing you and any guest see when you walk in.
• The back seat. Whatever has been riding around with you since the last time anyone cleaned it out.
• Decorations you didn’t put up this season. Decide now, before you box them back into the attic for another twelve months.

What To Do With The Things You Declutter

Once you have a batch going, the goal is to move it along before it wanders back onto a shelf. A few easy paths, depending on what you’re looking at:

• Donate the things that still have life left in them. Clothes, toys, books, and linens all have somewhere to go. It’ll feel good knowing someone is using them.
• Sell higher-value items if you have the patience. Baby gear, brand-name clothes, and electronics tend to move quickly on local resale apps.
• Recycle what your curbside program accepts, and look up drop-off spots for batteries, electronics, and old medications, which don’t belong in the regular trash.
• Pass it along straight to a friend, a neighbor, or a local buy-nothing group. It skips the middleman, and the stuff never sits in your trunk for a month.
• Discard what’s broken, past its date, or done. Expired food and dead batteries are an easy yes.

Whatever route you pick, get everything dropped off or picked up within a day or two, so the space you cleared stays clutter-free.

What Are You Clearing Out First?

You won’t do all thirty-one over one winter break. Pick one category and clear it.

Once the house has a little more room, turn to the dates you’re carrying in your head. Each month’s planning page inside The Simplified Membership™ surfaces key dates and seasonal deadlines weeks early. If you want a taste first, my free monthly preview sends you the five deadlines worth knowing each month, while there’s still time to act.

Need more tips to get started? Try these New Year AI prompts to help you get organized.

I want to hear what you’re taking on. Mine is the kitchen, like always. Drop a comment with the one spot you’re clearing out before the new year, or your best trick for getting the donation bags to the car.