January Decluttering & Home Organization
Whether you want to set a goal of decluttering your home this year, or you’re looking for a house reset after the holidays, our January decluttering month can be your trusted go-to plan for the start of a new year.
The month of ideas puts focus on all areas of the house. If life is busy, you only have to do 10 minutes a day. For quick wins, also try our mini decluttering for all rooms of the home, or our 10-minute daily surface decluttering plan.
Decluttering for January
The January decluttering calendar printable can be found at the bottom of this article. Good luck with your decluttering, and remember to take it one simple step at a time!
- Sort & organize your holiday photos.
- Tidy & organize your purse.
- Go through your fitness equipment & clothes.
- Toss wrapping paper scraps.
- Go through the gifts you received and decide on what you’re keeping.
- Return or exchange gifts you don’t need or want.
- Donate or plan to re-gift items you received that you don’t want.
- Go through your fridge and tidy.
- Go through your baking supplies and organize them.
- Tidy other remaining holiday food items and supplies.
- Put away the holiday decorations.
- Go through your holiday cards and keep only the meaningful ones.
- Toss old calendars.
- Go through magazines, leaflets, and mail received over the holidays.
- Review your subscriptions.
- Set a timer for 15 minutes and catch up on previous tasks.
- Scan old paperwork like bills and statements (then shred if appropriate).
- Scan old notes & notebooks, then store away or shred.
- Set a 15-min timer & tidy what you can in the kitchen.
- Set a 15-min timer & tidy what you can in the living room.
- Set a 15-min timer & tidy what you can in the bathroom.
- Set a 15-min timer & tidy what you can in the bedroom.
- Set a 15-min timer & tidy the entryway.
- Sort & organize your shoes.
- Set a 30-min timer and tidy the closet.
- Set a 10-min timer and tidy the laundry room/area.
- Put 3 items back to where they belong.
- Choose one small surface to declutter.
- Choose one shelf to declutter.
- Choose one category of items to declutter (e.g., mugs, books).
- Set a 20-min timer for a general tidy & declutter.
Get the January Decluttering printable here.
Decluttering for the Week of January 11-17
Put away the holiday decorations.
Go through the decorations as you take them down and sort them into 1) keep, 2) donate, or 3) toss. When storing the decorations you’re keeping, you can group the items by category (e.g., outdoor lights, table decor, Christmas tree ornaments) and label the storage boxes so that they’re easier to find next year.
Go through your holiday cards and keep only the meaningful ones.
You can also digitize the cards you love or make a printed collage or album with your favorite ones. If there are cards you don’t want to keep, you can repurpose the front of the cards for DIY bookmarks or gift tags. If there are any you want to store, you can use a large envelope or a memory box.
Toss old calendars.
Recycle your wall and desk calendars from the previous years. Before you do that, you can scan or photograph important entries (if there are any).
Go through magazines, leaflets, and mail received over the holidays.
Recycle flyers, magazines, and catalogs you may have gotten over the holidays (and in general). Go through your mail and sort into 1) recycle, 2) follow-up, and 3) file. If there are any important things to file, use binders to keep everything organized. For ones to follow up on, use a small tray to keep them all together and work on them when you have time.
Review your subscriptions.
Review your statements and see if there are any subscriptions you forgot about or no longer need. Cancel the ones you no longer want or need. You could also check if there are better alternatives for the ones you need.
Set a timer for 15 minutes and catch up on previous tasks.
Choose one small task you’re behind on. Set a timer for 15 minutes and stop as soon as the timer ends. You can play some music or have a TV show in the background if that helps you stay focused on the task.
Scan old paperwork like bills and statements (then shred if appropriate).
Scan old paperwork using a phone app or a scanner. Make sure to also back up the digital files to an external drive (or cloud storage). If you’re sure the digital copies are sufficient and you don’t need the physical documents, you could shred them.
Get the January 11-17 Decluttering printable here.
Decluttering for the Week of January 18-24
Scan old notes & notebooks, then store away or shred.
Skim old notes & notebooks and decide what’s realistically worth keeping. You can scan it using a phone app or a scanner and store them on your computer and a backup drive. If you want to keep some of the physical notebooks or notes, try to keep only ones that are important. Place the ones you keep in a labeled storage box. Shred everything else.
Set a 15-min timer & tidy what you can in the kitchen.
Focus on things that could make a big impact, such as clearing countertops, washing and putting away the dishes, clearing all visible clutter, and wiping down surfaces. This way, you can have a quick reset rather than a deep clean.
Set a 15-min timer & tidy what you can in the living room.
Start with things that make a big difference like putting things away, vacuuming/cleaning the floors, dusting, and clearing the coffee table.
Set a 15-min timer & tidy what you can in the bathroom.
Some simple ideas that make a big difference include replacing the towels with fresh ones, wiping the sink and counter, cleaning the toilet, and putting things where they belong.
Set a 15-min timer & tidy what you can in the bedroom.
High-impact cleaning ideas include vacuuming, changing the bed sheets, putting away any clutter.
Set a 15-min timer & tidy the entryway.
Put shoes in their place. Arrange the coats and bags neatly. Put away things that aren’t frequently used.
Sort & organize your shoes.
Go through all your shoes and ask yourself which ones you want to keep. Then, sort them by category (daily wear, special occasions, gym, seasonal, etc.). Donate ones you don’t want to keep (or toss if not in good condition).
We’d love to know how you get on with the tasks this month. Let us know in the comments. January is the perfect time to set a goal of resetting, decluttering, and organizing your home, one day at a time.
