12 Ways To Organize And Declutter Your Home This Winter

Tom Gaffey
by Tom Gaffey
Credit: Shutterstock / Chiociolla

If you resolved to be more organized this year or currently find yourself living in a home filled with clutter, then the winter is the perfect time to do something about it. The weather outside might be frigid, but inside your home, there is plenty of work you can do. However, organizing your home and ridding it of clutter can feel overwhelming, which is why it is best if you accomplish this goal one task at a time.


To declutter your home this winter, start by getting rid of papers you don’t need, and go paperless. Go through your kitchen pantry and medicine cabinets. Deep clean, organize, and go through everything, and throw out anything expired. Sort your linen closet and clothing closet, and donate what you don’t use. The winter is also a good time to arrange and label all the stuff in the attic garage.


There are so many different ways to go about organizing your home that it can be difficult to find a place to start. The key is not looking at the big picture all the time, but instead going room by room, and accomplishing one achievable task at a time. If you do this, your home will be organized before the first spring flowers arrive. Keep reading to learn the best projects to tackle in the winter to ensure your home is organized and free of clutter.


12 Ways To Organize And Declutter Your Home In The Winter

1. Go Paperless As Much As Possible

Paper has a way of making everything in the home look messy and disorganized. Papers, including bills and financial statements, can also be a pain to go through. This is why stacks of these documents tend to pile up on various surfaces.


One great winter project is to go through all your existing papers, tossing what you don’t need, such as old paid bills, magazines you’ve read, and expired coupons. See what type of papers you collect, and find out if there is a paperless option. Many financial documents and bills can be done entirely online. See what papers you can eliminate moving forward.


2. Organize Your Seasonal Wardrobes

The winter is when you swap out your summer wardrobe for your winter clothing. Take some time this winter to be more strategic about how you pack and organize your seasonal wardrobes. Label items, and group them based on categories to make it easier to unpack in the future. Also, make sure you go through your clothes and donate what you aren’t wearing, instead of holding on to it for another year.


3. Inspect The Pantry And Deep Clean Cabinets

Another area of focus of any deep cleaning and home organization is the kitchen pantry. Over time, these cabinets get filled with random items, and often an organized system turns into complete disarray.


This winter, take everything out of your pantry, and deep clean the pantry itself. Next, inspect all items and throw away anything expired before putting everthing back in an organized fashion. It might help to label your cabinets to encourage better organization in the future.


4. Go Through Medicine Cabinets

Just as your kitchen pantry can get messy and overcrowded, so can your medicine cabinets. Similar to what you do with kitchen cabinets, take everything out of your medicine cabinet, so you can clean it thoroughly. Next, check to see what items are expired. Medications, lotions, and beauty products all expire, so be diligent as you put items back.


5. Clean The Attic And Sort Through Its Contents

The winter is also a fantastic time to go through the attic. This tends to be a place where people put items they aren’t ready to part with but don’t always need to hold on to. The summer is not the best time to organize the attic, as it may not be well-insulated, making it a hot and sweaty project.


This winter, go through your attic and see what you can throw away or donate, and then label boxes to make them easier to find in the future. This will free up more storage space, so you can have more open space in the rest of the home.


6. Store Items You Rarely Use But Can’t Part With

As you go through your home, you are bound to locate items that you rarely use or display, but could never part with. There is nothing wrong with wanting to hold onto an item that holds personal value to you. But if you never use it, put it somewhere that isn’t in the way.


Take time to gather any objects you rarely use, and then label and box them up so you can store them in the attic or somewhere else out of the way.


7. Sort And Organize Your Holiday Decorations

The winter is also the ideal time to go through all your holiday decorations. In January you start putting away all your Christmas decorations, and also begin grabbing things for Valentine’s Day and even Easter.


As you swap out holiday decor, go through it all. If anything is broken, repair it or get rid of it. If any decor looks dated or no longer appeals to you, get rid of it.


8. Find Clothing To Donate Or Sell

Going through your wardrobe is an essential part of organizing and de-cluttering your home. The odds are you can find a full garbage bag worth of clothing you no longer wear for one reason or another.


Go through each item and create a keep pile, a donate pile, and a sell pile. There are lots of online options where you can sell desirable second-hand clothing, so use this winter organization as an opportunity to make a few bucks.


9. Inspect The Linens In Your Linen Closet

Linens are a lot like clothes, in that we tend to accumulate them over time without sorting through all the sheets and towels we already own. Use the winter as a time to go through all your linen.


Inspect all the linen for rips and stains, and discard and donate items accordingly. Once you have gotten rid of any old and stained linens, take your time organizing the closet and putting everything back in a way that makes it easy to grab your sheets and towels in the future.


10. Find Ways To Better Organize Garage Supplies

If you have a garage, then there is a good chance it needs organizing from time to time. The winter is a perfect time to do this, especially when you have a few days of pleasant weather.


There are many ways to organize your garage, and the best method depends on what you store inside. The key is to create storage and organize all the contents in your garage. Make sure everything has a home, and everything is labeled and easy to access.


11. Make Use Of Space Under The Bed

The space under the beds in your home is an ideal place to store items you need occasionally. But this space is often a place where items get lost, or belongings are hastily placed. Use the winter to make use of t he space under your bed. Consider buying rolling totes that make it easy to access items you store under the bed. You can also build your rolling shelves.


12. Get Rid Of Kitchen Items You Don’t Use

As you organize your home, make sure you look within your kitchen drawers and cupboards. Over time, we tend to collect lots of kitchen gadgets and small appliances. Some of these items seemed like great ideas at the time but no longer serve any purpose.


Go through your kitchen items and donate anything you never use, including Tupperware with no matching lids. You will be shocked at how much easier it is to keep your kitchen organized when you get rid of some clutter.


Final Notes On Ways To Organize Your Home This Winter

One of the best ways to be productive within your home this winter is to organize and declutter your home. A clean home with fewer items and better organization promotes a relaxed mood and can lower anxiety. It also looks great.


Some great ways to organize and declutter your home include sorting your pantry, medicine cabinet, and linen closet. The winter is also a great time to organize and label items in your attic and garage. Make the most of the space under your bed, and take the time to donate or sell clothes and kitchen items you no longer need.


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Tom Gaffey
Tom Gaffey

Tom Gaffey is an expert writer who currently resides in Washington D.C. Tom has a passion for real estate and home improvement writing, as well as travel and lifestyle writing. He lived the last twelve years in Hawaii where he worked closely with luxury resorts and event planners, mastering his knowledge of aesthetics and luxury products. This is where he found his passion for home improvement and a keen interest in DIY projects. Currently, Tom resides in Washington D.C, and also working on his debut fiction novel.

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