Christmas is over for yet another year and it’s time to clear out the clutter. The problem being, with clutter brings more clutter. The chances are your day was filled with gifts by the dozen in boxes, bubble wrap and bins stuffed with wrapping paper scattered across the floor. In other words, a celebration of family life, materializing around your home.

So, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get stuck in as we clear out and make room for all the gifts received. Here are our top tips for the biggest post-Christmas clear out starting with the dumping ground for all clutter…

Garages tend to be the first place we go to when looking to dump our Christmas clutter. Because they are big open spaces, they are the perfect place for all that paper lovingly wrapped now strewn to one side, the gift of rollerblades your daughter no longer wants, the table decorations you need to give back to your mother, and anything else that doesn’t have a set place. With the New Year around the corner, it’s the perfect time to dive head first into the clutter and separate the loved items from the ones you should let go.

1) Make a plan of attack

Depending on how generous you were feeling this year, mission clutter clearout may take a little longer than expected. You will no doubt have a mountain of toy boxes and wrapping paper still piled up in your garage. And, let’s be honest, the festive period hardly inspires a mass tidy up when you’re in the middle of stuffing your face and drinking sparkling cider.

It helps to envision what you would like to achieve? Do you need to make room for the car or is this a case of generating a sparkling new workspace for the New Year? Keeping in mind what the end result will be is a motivational boost during the longer hours.

2) Clean and inspect

Dust gets everywhere! Ridding your grimy garage from all the dust that collects in the corners and cracks is a big job. It’s one thing cleaning out after Christmas, but it’s a whole different task when it comes to cleaning out your entire garage. Everything needs to be inspected, checked and removed according to your future plans. You should be ready to get your hands dirty as you go in deep with quality polish, rubs and scrubs.

3) Make a storage plan

Look closely behind the clutter to picture a whole new living space with enough room to store all your essentials. As you explore this undiscovered room, hiding away amongst the trash, is a much larger space than you could ever imagine. Be sure to make a list of where everything will go as you start to pack away. This may result in a DIY job for the man of the house; perhaps you need shelves handy for when you’re looking to store the kid’s new Christmas bikes, or a mini fridge to store all that leftover beer.

4) Keep it clean

Once you’ve put in all the leg work to ensure your garage looks squeaky clean, it’s tempting to let things get messy again in the new year. The whole 10+ hours you put into sorting, scrubbing and… screaming will all be wasted if you give up now. If you’re looking to keep your standards this high all year round, be sure to invest in some new polished accessories for your garage.