20 Things To Declutter Before Christmas
Christmas is one of my favorite times of year, but it can also be one of the easiest times for our homes to start feeling cluttered.
Decorations come out, packages arrive, gifts come into the house, kids bring things home, and suddenly every surface seems to have something on it.
That’s why I love doing a little decluttering before Christmas.
This isn’t about trying to completely declutter your house during an already busy season. Instead, think of it as making a little breathing room before the holidays arrive.
Even getting rid of a few things now can make decorating easier, cleaning quicker, and putting away new gifts much less overwhelming.
Here are 20 things I would declutter before Christmas.
20 Things to Declutter Before Christmas:
1. Old Christmas Decorations
Before you decorate, look through what you already own.
Do you have decorations you haven’t used in several years? Anything broken, faded, or no longer your style?
Instead of automatically putting everything back into storage, use decorating as an opportunity to decide what you actually want to keep.
If you don’t love it enough to display it, consider whether you really need to store it for another year.
2. Broken Christmas Lights
We’ve all probably put a strand of lights back into a box thinking, “I’ll figure this out next year.”
And then next year comes.
Test your lights before decorating, and let go of strands that don’t work and aren’t realistically going to be repaired.
3. Christmas Decor Boxes and Packaging
Sometimes the decorations aren’t the problem; the packaging is.
Look through your Christmas storage for empty boxes, unnecessary packaging, old plastic containers, and anything else taking up space.
Keep packaging only when it actually serves a purpose.
4. Unused Gift Wrap
Before buying more wrapping paper, ribbon, bows, bags, and tissue paper, see what you already have.
Get rid of anything damaged or unusable and make a point of using up what you already own this year.
This is also a great way to avoid buying duplicates simply because you forgot what was tucked away in a closet.
5. Toys Your Kids Have Outgrown
If you have kids, this is one of the best times of year for a toy declutter.
Christmas often means new toys are coming into the house, so making some space beforehand can make a huge difference.
Look for toys that are broken, missing pieces, no longer played with, or simply outgrown.
Depending on their ages, you can also get your kids involved and explain that donating toys they no longer use gives someone else the chance to enjoy them.
6. Games and Puzzles
Go through board games, card games, and puzzles.
Are all the pieces there? Does anyone still play them?
Keep the favorites your family genuinely enjoys and consider donating the ones that have been sitting untouched for years.
7. Kids’ Books
Children can outgrow books surprisingly quickly.
Before more books potentially arrive as gifts, go through the bookshelves and pull out anything that is too young for your kids, damaged, duplicated, or simply never read.
You don’t need to get rid of sentimental favorites. Just focus on the books nobody reaches for anymore.
8. Kids’ Clothes
The end of the year is a great time to check children’s closets for clothes they’ve outgrown.
Look for shoes that no longer fit, worn-out pajamas, too-small jackets, and clothes that have been sitting there waiting for someone to wear them.
Clearing these out creates space for anything they may receive during the holidays.
9. Your Own Closet
While you’re working on the kids’ clothes, don’t forget your own.
You don’t need to do a massive closet cleanout. Simply pull out a handful of things you know you don’t wear.
Look especially for uncomfortable clothing, things that don’t fit your current lifestyle, duplicates, and items you continually skip over.
10. Coats and Jackets
Winter is a great time to see which coats and jackets you actually wear.
If you have coats that no longer fit anyone or that haven’t been worn in several winters, this can be an especially good time to donate them when other people may be looking for warm clothing.
11. The Coat Closet
Holiday visitors can quickly remind you how crowded the entryway or coat closet has become.
Clear out anything that doesn’t need to be there: old shoes, reusable bags, umbrellas that don’t work, outgrown jackets, random sports equipment, and anything else that has migrated into the space.
Even a little extra room can make your entryway feel calmer.
12. The Pantry
Before holiday cooking and baking begins, take a few minutes to declutter the pantry.
Check expiration dates, combine duplicates where appropriate, and pull out food your family realistically isn’t going to eat.
This also makes it much easier to see what you already have before buying ingredients for holiday meals.
13. The Refrigerator and Freezer
Christmas often means extra groceries, leftovers, desserts, and make-ahead meals.
Make some room now.
Throw away expired food, use up what you can, and take inventory of what’s hiding in the freezer.
You may even find ingredients you can incorporate into meals over the next few weeks.
14. Kitchen Gadgets
Holiday cooking has a way of making an overcrowded kitchen feel even more crowded.
Look through your kitchen drawers and cabinets for gadgets you never use, duplicates, broken utensils, and appliances taking up valuable space.
You don’t need five versions of the same tool if you always reach for one favorite.
15. Mugs and Drinkware
This category seems to multiply in many homes.
Take a quick look through your mugs, water bottles, travel cups, and glasses.
Get rid of chipped items, promotional cups nobody uses, missing lids, and anything you always pass over when choosing a drink.
16. Serving Dishes
Before hosting or preparing holiday meals, look through your serving dishes.
Which ones do you actually use?
If you have platters, bowls, trays, or specialty dishes that haven’t been used for several holiday seasons, ask yourself whether they’re worth keeping.
17. Linens and Towels
Holiday guests are a good reason to take inventory of your linens.
Go through extra sheets, blankets, bath towels, and hand towels.
Remove anything badly stained, worn out, or no longer needed. Then you’ll know exactly what you have if someone comes to stay.
18. The Guest Room
If you have a guest room, it can easily become the place where everything without a home ends up.
Before holiday visitors arrive, clear out anything that doesn’t belong there.
Even if you aren’t expecting overnight guests, decluttering this room can prevent it from becoming a dumping ground during the busy holiday season.
19. Your Donation Pile
Do you already have bags or boxes of decluttered items sitting somewhere waiting to leave?
Now is the time.
Put the donations in your car, schedule a pickup if that’s available in your area, or take them to your preferred donation location.
I don’t really consider something decluttered until it has actually left the house.
20. Your Calendar
This one isn’t physical clutter, but I think it might be one of the most important things to declutter before Christmas.
Look at everything you’ve committed to during the holiday season.
Do you actually want to do all of it?
Sometimes simplifying Christmas isn’t about owning fewer decorations or buying fewer gifts. It’s about giving ourselves permission to do less.
Maybe you don’t need to attend every event, continue every tradition, make every recipe, or say yes to every invitation.
Leave some empty space in your calendar too.
You Don’t Have to Declutter Everything Before Christmas
The goal isn’t to have a perfectly decluttered home by December 25th.
In fact, I think putting that kind of pressure on ourselves defeats the purpose.
Instead, focus on creating a little more space.
Declutter one drawer. Fill one donation bag. Clear one shelf. Go through the toys with your kids. Clean out the refrigerator.
All of those small decisions add up.
And when Christmas arrives, you’ll have a little more room for the things that come into your home, but more importantly, you’ll have a home that feels easier to live in during one of the busiest times of the year.
For me, that’s really what decluttering is about.
It’s not about getting rid of as much as possible. It’s about removing the things we don’t need so we have more space, time, and energy for the things we actually want to enjoy.
And Christmas is a pretty good time to make room for that.
