How to declutter before Christmas in four calm weeks

The short answer: how to declutter before Christmas: give yourself four weeks and work one zone per week, starting with the rooms guests will see. Spend about 15 minutes a day with three bags: trash, donate and relocate.

• Week 1: entry and living areas
• Week 2: kitchen and pantry
• Week 3: bedrooms, closets and the guest space
• Week 4: storage and the holiday prep zone, so decorations have somewhere to go
• Next step: Plan it with the Cleaning Schedule ($4.49).

Here's how to declutter before Christmas: give yourself four weeks and work one zone per week, starting with the rooms guests will see and the places new things will land. Spend about 15 minutes a day with three bags (trash, donate, relocate), drop donations off each weekend, and finish storage last so decorations have somewhere to go. You'll have room to cook, host and wrap without the last-minute scramble. If you'd like less to buy and store this year, too, see our minimalist Christmas plan.

Here's the plan, week by week.

Why declutter before the holidays?

The holiday plan here is a short sprint. For a full room-by-room method, read how to declutter your home.

• Space for decorations. Every surface you clear is a place for the tree, the mantel or the card display.
• Space for gifts. New things come in during December. Make room before they arrive.
• Easier cleaning. Less stuff means faster pre-guest cleaning.
• Easier hosting. A clear kitchen counter and fridge make holiday cooking much calmer.
• Giving season. Donating good items in November gets them to people while they're still useful for the holidays.

The 15-minute daily method

You don't need whole weekends. A short daily session is easier to keep up.

1. Set a 15-minute timer.
2. Pick one small spot: a drawer, a shelf, a counter, one closet rod.
3. Use three bags or boxes: Trash, Donate, Relocate (belongs in another room).
4. Empty the relocate bag before you stop.
5. Put the donate bag straight into the car.

Fifteen minutes a day for 28 days is seven hours of decluttering, which is plenty for most households to see a real difference.

The 4-week plan

Week 1: Entry and living areas

• Clear the coat hooks and shoe pile. Keep only what's worn this season by the door.
• Sort the mail and paper stack. Shred, file or act on each piece.
• Clear the coffee table and side tables completely, then put back only what you use.
• Pull books, games and DVDs nobody touches into the donate box.
• Make a spot for the tree and holiday decor now so you're not moving furniture in December. Sketch the layout on a room planner before you move anything.

Week 2: Kitchen and pantry

The kitchen does the most work over the holidays, so it gets a full week.

• Fridge and freezer: Toss expired items and use up the rest. A freezer inventory list shows what you have before you start holiday meal prep.
• Pantry: Check dates, combine duplicates and move older items to the front. Our pantry inventory list walks you through it.
• Containers: Match every lid to a container and recycle the orphans.
• Gadgets: Keep the ones you used this year. Donate duplicates.
• Serving pieces: Find the platters, roasting pan and gravy boat now, not on Christmas Eve.

Week 3: Bedrooms, closets and the guest space

• Pull clothes that don't fit or haven't been worn in a year.
• Check coats, boots and gloves. Donate good ones now, when they're needed most.
• Thin out sheets and towels to two sets per bed or person plus guest sets.
• Clear the guest bed and nightstand if you're hosting overnight.
• Sort toys into keep, donate and toss to make room for new gifts.

Check toys and baby gear for recalls before you pass them on. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says its rules apply to charities, thrift stores and people who give away used products for free, and hazardous products should be destroyed, not given away. Its advice for broken or wobbly nursery items: when in doubt, throw it out.

Week 4: Storage and the holiday prep zone

• Make room on the shelf where decorations live so they can come out and go back easily. Our Christmas decoration storage guide covers the bin-and-label system.
• Set up a wrapping station: paper, tape, scissors, tags and a gift-hiding spot.
• Clear one shelf in a closet for gifts as they arrive.
• Take any last donations in before mid-December.

What to get rid of first

These rarely need a hard decision, so start here when you're tired or short on time:

Guests coming? Clear out worn towels and spare sheets first, using our linen closet organization tips, so guest beds are easy to make. For more on this topic, see our decluttering hub.

• Expired food, spices and medicine
• Broken decorations and lights that fail a test
• Containers without lids
• Duplicate kitchen tools
• Single socks and stretched-out clothes
• Old phone cases, chargers and cables for devices you no longer own
• Catalogs, menus and old paperwork you don't need to keep
• Items you meant to return or give back

Where to take what you clear out

If you itemize deductions, keep a dated list of what you donate and where. The IRS generally lets you deduct the fair market value of donated property given to qualified organizations, and you'll need Form 8283 if your noncash deductions are more than $500. It's worth asking for a receipt every time.

Keep it from piling back up

• One in, one out for clothes, toys and kitchen gadgets during December.
• A 10-minute nightly reset for the main living area.
• A gift-receiving plan: decide where new things will live before you unwrap them.
• A January follow-up: use the January decluttering checklist and our guide to what to do with unwanted gifts and gift cards.

Once the clutter is gone, the three-day plan to clean before holiday guests is much faster.

Tools that help

• Cleaning Schedule ($4.49): A 9-page printable with daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal deep clean and room-by-room pages. Write your four decluttering weeks onto the room-by-room page and each 15-minute session already has a place to start.
• Holiday Season Bundle ($15.99, vs. $25.94 bought separately): The Cleaning Schedule plus the Christmas Budget & Gift Planner, Meal Planner & Grocery List and savings trackers, so decluttering, gifts and meals all live in one plan.
• Home Management Bundle ($16.99, vs. $32.94 bought separately): The Cleaning Schedule, Household Binder, Home Inventory and more for keeping things organized after the holidays.

See all our home printables or browse bundles.

Planning the money side too? The free Holiday Budget Starter Kit is 3 US Letter pages, emailed to you after you join our list.