Life Hack: Why you should declutter your home before Christmas — here's how to go about it

It's time to look at key areas of your home that are starting to look cluttered.

Christmas is coming and before you bring out your decorations and deck the halls, now is a good time to declutter your home. As well as clearing space in your home, several studies have shown the benefits of decluttering on mental health.

Reducing clutter can help to reduce stress and improve focus, mood, and sleep.

If you are hosting guests over the festive period, the last thing you want to do is face a spare room clear-out on Christmas week. Instead, look at key areas of your home that are starting to look cluttered.

Start small 

Decluttering can seem daunting, but the key to success is to focus on manageable amounts. Don’t become overwhelmed thinking of tackling the whole place — go room-by-room, or even drawer-by-drawer. Every little helps.

How to organise your items 

Keep: For the items you want to hold on to, make sure you have both a place and a use for them. There is little point keeping something if it’s just going to live in storage so as professional organiser Marie Kondo famously advises: “Keep only those things that speak to your heart. Then take the plunge and discard all the rest. By doing this, you can reset your life and embark on a new lifestyle.”

Obviously, some exclusions apply: seasonal decor or clothing have a time and place, and storing these until they are appropriate to use again makes sense.

Donate/sell: Many items we don’t use regularly could be valuable to someone else. Set these good quality pieces aside and decide if you want to donate them to a charity shop, offer them to a loved one, or sell them.

Recycle: For items that are broken and beyond use, recycling is an environmentally-friendly option. Your recycling bin can take many materials and others can be recycled at specialist locations. For example, some clothes shops will recycle fabric, while places like Boots run a beauty recycling scheme for empty products.

Charity shop donations 

January is traditionally a time when charity shops see an influx of donations, but by dropping off some items in the weeks before Christmas, you could be helping someone on a budget or choosing to gift sustainably to put presents under a tree. 

Buying pre-loved isn’t just about saving money — it’s about saving resources and making a real difference to tackling poverty globally, which is why Oxfam Ireland and An Post have joined forces to make gifting more meaningful with their Send Pre-Loved campaign.

Throughout the campaign, people across Ireland can use PostBack bags to donate quality, pre-loved clothes and gifts directly to Oxfam Ireland shops for free. Sending a bag of second-hand treasures directly to Oxfam stores offers life-changing support for people facing poverty and inequality.  

Selling

Decluttering can also be an opportunity to make some extra cash at what can be an expensive time of year. Apps like Vinted make selling fashion and home items very easy.

If you’re choosing to list your items for sale, good quality, clear pictures are essential. Take photos from a few angles, including photos of clothes tags if applicable.

Make sure you store them somewhere safe and dry — and somewhere you will remember — so when they sell, they are easy to locate and send. Sending them quickly once sold will also make you more likely to get a high rating from buyers. Packaging is an important consideration too. Wrap them up in a waterproof envelope and use bubble wrap or newspaper to protect delicate items.

And it should go without saying, but wash clothes before sending them to a buyer. No one wants to receive a dirty item.