Yes, we are only nine days into 2023, but I am already designating it as the saddest day of the year so far.

Today is the day that I start taking down all of my Christmas decorations. As I've mentioned a time or two, I'm known as Jeri Christmas from Black Friday until the New Year, but at my house, I carry that designation a bit further into the New Year.

How to Declutter Room by Room

When my children were young, we always had all of the house decorations up on my Daughter's birthday, December 22, and when my son was big enough to notice that we had decorations for his sister's birthday, but not his, we extended our takedown day until after his January 8 birthday.

Yesterday was my son's birthday. We had a lovely dinner with most of our family consisting of BBQ ribs, mashed potatoes, ranch-style beans, green beans, and rolls.  I had every intention to make what we call "dessert to die for," but I left my pans at work, so that will have to wait until this week.

Now that the birthday festivities are finished, the huge chore of de-Christmassing my house begins. I'm also in the process of changing out all of my solid-colored storage totes for clean bottom totes. I have used mostly cardboard boxes and solid totes for the last 10 years or so, but I just feel like the clear totes will make identifying what's in each box a bit easier.

It's one of my steps to de-clutter and organize both my storage shed and my garage so that next year, we won't have to look in every box to find the outdoor lights and timers.  It's a plan. And as soon as I can get all the tears out of my eyes, I'll get started.