20 tips to declutter your home

There’s a certain exhilaration that comes with throwing things away and freeing up space in your home.

It’s not only an aesthetic task — KonMari-ing your space has proven health benefits, too. A UCLA study found that women who live in a cluttered environment are more likely to experience a surge in cortisol, a stress hormone. Yes, that untamed junk drawer is adding to your stress.

Since the holidays are typically a time we accumulate more, as wish lists are fulfilled and sales make us purchase-happy, it’s the perfect occasion to take a good, hard look at all the stuff you’ve amassed over the year — and get rid of junk.

To make it easy on you, we crafted this handy list of 20 things you need to toss, recycle or donate to start 2017 off on the right foot. Make your way through this list for a serene, clutter-free home.

1. GIFT PARAPHERNALIA

Shopping bags, crinkled gift ribbon and ripped wrapping paper: Toss it all. Nothing psychologically prevents you from enjoying a fresh start like Christmas-themed trash sticking around and cluttering up your home.

2. OLD PRESCRIPTIONS

Take the new year as an opportunity to clean shop in your medicine cabinet. Get rid of prescriptions and over-the-counter pills that have expired or that you haven’t used in months, since it’s also unsafe to keep expired medicine around.

3. OLD TOWELS

Who wants to begin a new year with stained, discoloured towels? The start of a new year is the perfect time to upgrade your bathroom with a set of fresh towels. Toss any threadbare ones that have too much wear.

4. OLD CHARGERS

Gather up any random chargers that are cluttering up your shelves, and try to match them to the technology in your home (wireless speakers, Fitbits, etc). If you cannot find a single item that you still own and use that can be charged by the charger in question, toss it.

5. RECEIPTS

Most of us have a hodgepodge of old receipts and tags lurking in a myriad of places at home. Unless it’s a receipt for a big purchase (sofa, laptop, refrigerator or television), throw them all away. Make sure to toss receipts and tags for clothing you’ve worn because you won’t be returning it and definitely don’t need the proof of purchase.

6. EVENT TICKETS

This is one of those items you probably don’t even realise you end up accumulating. Unless you plan to frame or scrapbook the special movie night when you got engaged, throw them away.

7. INVITATIONS

If old invitations mark an important memory and you want to save them for posterity, put them somewhere for safekeeping. Otherwise, give your kitchen an instant makeover by recycling the cards and invitations on the fridge.

8. OLD MAGAZINES

If they’re more than a year old, they’ve got to go. Every last one of them. Take a look in the mirror and admit it to yourself: You are never going to re-read them.

9. CHIPPED MUGS

It’s time to purge your cabinets of the random, chipped, coffee-stained mugs that not even a college kid would keep around.

10. OLD NAIL POLISH

The colours separate and it gets gross. Say goodbye.

11. SHOE BOXES

Clear out your wardrobe of the packing boxes for things you kept in case you wanted to return, but didn’t end up doing so.

12. OLD BILLS

If you paid them, toss them, unless you need to keep them for tax purposes. Alternatively, scan important documents and keep a soft-copy on an external hard drive for future reference.

13. BROKEN JEWELLERY

Did you make it a priority in the past six months to fix it? Then the item is not a priority to you and you don’t really need it because you lived six months without it. Get rid of broken jewellery you haven’t worn or made an effort to fix. While you’re at it, toss earrings that have been missing a match for ages. You need to face the reality that the missing earring won’t be magically walking back into your life.

14. DRIED PENS

No one needs the number of pens they mysteriously accumulate and we bet half of them don’t even work. Streamline your collection.

15. OLD BATH MATS

Bath mats should be replaced once a year. They see a lot of foot traffic and get stained, dirty and worn down. Start the new year with a fresh pad for your feet.

16. UNUSED GIFTS

You did your civic duty and kept it around out of guilt, but you haven’t used it ... in a year. It’s time for the guilt gifts to go.

17. TAKE-AWAY MENUS

You can easily order in via the internet or your choice of smartphone apps. Toss the old take-away menus cluttering your fridge or kitchen drawer.

18. OLD WARRANTIES

If they’re expired or you’re never going to need them, get rid of them.

19. PARTY FAVOURS

You’ve likely come home with some relatively meaningless items from parties and weddings. We all have mementos we keep around for sentimentality, but some of it is just junk. Unless you love it, clear it out.

20. BROKEN HEADPHONES

One word: useless.