Home of the Year winner shares her January decluttering secrets
Jennifer likes to do her big clear-out in January rather than Spring. Picture: Moya Nolan
I know Spring is traditionally the time to clean out the house, but I prefer to do it just after the holidays, when I’m taking down the decorations. Perhaps it’s a momentum thing — once I’ve started, it’s easier to keep going.
I love the abundance of Christmas but by the time January comes around I get a deep urge to go in the opposite direction and clear it all out for a fresh start.
Storing Christmas decorations and finding homes for any presents you were lucky enough to get requires making space and with that comes the opportunity to consider what you need to hold on to this year and what would get more use elsewhere.
Some items I hold on to because I’m just not sure how best to get rid of them — I’m thinking of my press overflowing with charging cables for long discarded electrical items, a lumpy old duvet, a holiday fridge magnet given by some well-meaning friend that will never see the light of day, and stubs of old concert tickets from back when I was (trying to be) cool.
Here’s how I go through my process of decluttering during the usually boring early January downtime.
In an ideal world, everything goes into three categories — keep, bin or donate. In the real world, there’s a pernicious fourth category which is stuff that I don’t really want to keep, but may not want to bin, and am not sure whether it’s up to donation standards. I wish I were more decisive with this pile but some things are just hard.
So what I do with the maybe pile is keep it all together in one box. I try to go through that box every few months and discard anything I’ve made a decision on with the passage of time.
The next thing I do is consider whether a photo of this item would suffice — I have a folder in my photo album on my phone where pictures of things like concert tickets or homemade cards live. This way I can revisit them but they don’t need to take up space in my home.
The other categories are easy — keep is anything I definitely want, bin is anything that neither I nor anyone else would want, and donate is something that somebody will use but it won’t be me. Be ruthless here — if you’re on the fence with something, for example that sparkly dress, be honest about when you last wore it. If it was more than a year ago then give it away for someone else to shine in it.
Items that someone else will use should be donated or sold. Items being donated should be of good quality; charity shops are not a dumping ground for things that really belong in the bin. Most items that other people would use can be donated — clothes, of course, but also homewares, that bottle of perfume you got but don’t like, candlesticks, bags and other accessories, and unwanted kids’ toys (not broken!).
Check the website of the shop you want to donate to. For instance, NCBI has furniture shops around the country and these are a great place to donate homeware goods; they’ll even collect for free.
Enable Ireland can take small electrical appliances but not all other shops have the means to test them. If you’re shopping, January is a super time to check out charity shops for a bargain, including Christmas decorations for next year.
I don’t just put away my Christmas decorations — I put away everything related to Christmas that I won’t need until next year. This includes reindeer cookie cutters, my Christmas tree-shaped cake pan, Christmas jumpers, sparkly dresses that only get an outing a couple of times a year, pine-scented candles, and my dog’s Santa collar (yes I am that person).
This is all stuff that can take up more space than you would think in drawers and wardrobes, so if you’re not going to use it throughout the year then store it away to make space.
I also like to do a fridge, freezer, and pantry overhaul after the holidays. Take out everything and throw away anything that is past its best before date (there’s some wiggle room on these dates — just be smart!).
Clean and wipe as you go. I then like to cook up any leftovers and freeze, so that I have handy dinners for the next month or so.
Where I run into difficulty is usually my pantry — I often have jars of cranberry sauce or packets of gravy that I’m unlikely to use. If it has a long shelf life and you have the space then by all means keep it until next year.
An alternative is to donate — the Simon Community accepts foods with a shelf life of at least four weeks and also frozen foods.
- Got a question for Jennifer Sheahan? Email home@examiner.ie
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