January - The Official De-clutter Month

The holiday seasons is over. January seems to be the official month to de-clutter. The push seems to come from every angle. Stores have tote boxes conspicuously displayed and there is one for everything including that fake tree you bought last year. You can even rent whole storage units to help with this effort. But then you’d have to worry about keeping them neat and tidy so I say get rid of it!

There are several methods for de-cluttering clothing. The easiest is if you haven’t worn it for a year, it needs to go. I personally don’t do well with this because I always think but what if a NEED it this year? Then what? Hence I have some very old shirts that haven’t been worn *cough* in a while.

It’s always important to de-clutter your bathroom. This is a great time to get rid of expired medications and unused prescriptions. Your local community offers drop off times for your expired medicine. Don’t flush it or throw it away! According to my wife, this is also a good time to get rid of expired makeup and products you thought you’d use but never do. I’ll take her word for this part.

We de-cluttered our pantry this weekend. My youngest daughter took on this task. We got rid of stale cereal, expired items and anything we deemed inedible. Make sure you donate to your local food pantry if you find any groceries your family won’t eat but are still safe.

There is something therapeutic about getting rid of stuff you no longer need, especially if you can donate it to help someone else. We’re still in a pandemic and it’s January in Maine.

Let’s de-clutter!