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The start of a new year is a great time to get organized, especially if you’re thinking this is the year you may sell your home.  Getting a jumpstart on it now will eliminate more stress later.  Most every house has some room for improvement when it comes to purging the unwanted clutter.  Don’t know where to start?  Use these tips to help kickstart the new year.  And you don’t have to do them all at once!

1. Clean out bathroom cabinets.  Purge any old items that are no longer worth using.  Use bins and baskets to organize towels, bottles, hairbrushes, etc.  Too many bath towels or hand towels?  Animal shelters and boarding kennels love getting donations like that.
2. Clean out kitchen cabinets.  Think of how many glasses you actually use on a daily basis and donate any extras.  Same goes for the utensil drawer!  Also, clean out any outdated food items that have been pushed to the back of the cabinet.
3. Clean out the laundry room.  Group like things together and find storage containers or baskets to help hold those groups of items so they’re easy to find.
4. Clean out your bedroom closet.  Turn all the hangers facing backwards, face them forward as you wear them.  At the end of the year you’ll be able to see what items you didn’t wear and can donate them.
5. Throw away or donate old magazines, CDs, DVDs that aren’t watched or listened to (unless they’re sentimental of course).  These items can really add to the clutter, but with everyone listening to music on their phone or tablet and watching movies on Netflix, it really eliminates the need for keeping lots of old music or movies on hand.  And magazines are just a hard copy of Pinterest!
6. When you’re putting the Christmas decorations back in the attic, clear out any old items that need to go.  The attic is often overlooked since it’s out of sight, and over time becomes more and more cluttered with junk.  Cleaning it out now will make bringing Christmas decorations down more enjoyable next year!  Or if you’re planning to sell your home, it will make moving a lot easier if you’re only using your attic to keep things you actually use.
7. The beginning of the year is a great time to replace your air filters in your home.  Starting in January and knowing that it’s a good idea to replace every three months will help you stay on track when it comes to remembering when to replace them.
8. Create a family command center with a calendar, a place to hang keys and make grocery lists, and hold all the incoming and outgoing mail and receipts.  This dramatically reduces clutter on your counter and helps keep the whole family organized!