When you're running out of storage in your home, the basement may seem like a viable solution. Unfortunately, basements experience fluctuating temperatures and high humidity levels, which can cause severe damage to materials like wood and fabric, especially in the winter.

Winter may be the season of cozy blankets and crackling fires, but it’s surprisingly tough on many of the everyday items we stash in garages, attics, sheds and basements. Freezing temperatures, moisture and rapid temperature swings can warp wood, drain batteries, damage fabrics, crack candles and even ruin electronics or sentimental keepsakes. According to professional organizers and home-care experts, some of the most common household goods simply aren’t built to survive the cold. Before temperatures drop, it’s worth taking a quick inventory.

Decluttering your home often means creating a pile—or multiple piles—of stuff you no longer need. Although some of the items that have seen a lot of wear and tear likely belong in the trash, others don't need to go in the landfill; they can see a second life somewhere else.

Don't forget: You can often donate good-condition items you no longer use to local schools and daycares, libraries, secondhand clothing shops, or neighbors searching for something specific in a no-buy group.

A tidy bathroom doesn’t happen by accident. People who keep their bathrooms clean and organized all have a few key tools and habits in common.

From smart storage solutions to simple daily habits, these five tips will prevent clutter from building up and make upkeep effortless.

Here's why you shouldn't try organizing a bathroom without them, according to the experts.

Spring cleaning has long been the go-to full home reset, designed to dust away the remnants of winter and prepare your home for brighter days and better moods. But why wait until spring to make improvements?

At the turn of the year, many homes are feeling cluttered, crowded, and mentally draining – making now the perfect time to reset. Rather than hold off for spring this year, decluttering during winter is a smarter, calmer alternative.

When the days get shorter, and we spend more time at home fighting off the cold, retail therapy can feel like the perfect solution. While a little treat on occasion is not a bad thing, it is vital that you avoid going overboard on seasonal shopping, experts say.

Not only are these items locked into use for only part of the year, but they are also rarely timeless and end up quickly looking dated, quickly contributing to clutter and wasted money.

If there's one thing that's always bound to inspire a healthy dose of envy in me, it's a perfectly tidy bathroom. You know the ones — where everything has a place, and there is a place for everything, not an errant toiletry or too-old razor to be found. Just neatly folded towels and delicately decorated marble trays.

Those days between Christmas and New Year's tend to blur together. After you've taken enough time to rest and catch up on all your TV shows properly, it's the perfect time to declutter your space.

Decorating a home during the holidays can be one of the most enjoyable parts of the season. It’s a chance to remember, as Charles Dickens wrote, “Remembrance, like a candle, burns brightest at Christmastime.” So many of our treasured Christmas items remind us of a bygone era or a special person.

Sparkling Christmas decorations might look beautiful and festive, but storing them without spreading glitter around your home for the rest of the year can prove to be a tricky task.

Luckily, say our professional organizers, it doesn't have to be – all you need is a little expert know-how when it comes to stashing away your decorations until next Christmas.

There’s something quietly satisfying about taking down your Christmas decorations. The house exhales, space reappears, and suddenly your home begins to feel like itself again. But the way you pack everything away matters more than we often admit. Storing your Christmas decorations incorrectly leads to tangled lights, chipped baubles, flattened wreaths, and that impending sense of dread when December inevitably rolls back around.

There's something about a well-organized kitchen that soothes the soul. It's the ultimate flex, a clear sign that you've got your life in order, all your ducks in one row. It's the reason we make every pantry picture the Kardashians have ever posted go viral; it's the ultimate aspiration. I don't need a two-storey dressing room, I need a color-coded produce drawer.

Now that 2026 is officially in full swing, your resolutions are likely focused on tidying, cleaning, and decluttering. And, if the latter is top of your list this year, where's best to get started?

There are a lot of ways to declutter out there—the pile method and the discernment method are two of them, and now, everyone’s hushing their house. “It means taking everything out of a space—a whole room, or a small cupboard—and giving the space a deep clean, then putting things back with intention,” explains Barbara E. Tanaka, Strategic Home Design and Organizing Advisor at Real Estate Bees in Charlotte, North Carolina. “It’s like resetting the space so you can clearly see what you actually need and what no longer fits the ‘now’ you.”

The week between Christmas and New Year's is for rest and relaxation—and, let’s face it, forgetting what day it is and eating leftover sugar cookies for breakfast. That said, the slow pace doesn’t mean your days have to be entirely unproductive. From tackling small post-holiday resets to mapping out goals for the year ahead, there’s still room to check off a few meaningful tasks from your list.

Every year when I am battling through tangled decorations and tattered tinsel, I promise myself I'll be more organized next year. This year, I have finally decided to break the cycle.

Ahh, winter ... The days grow shorter, the temperatures drop, and we spend more time cocooned like hibernating bears inside our homes. And while the season can feel slower, winter presents an opportunity many of us overlook: decluttering.

It tends to happen slowly: Your coffee table goes from a stylish centerpiece to a landing pad for remotes, mail, and maybe even last night’s half-empty mug. What should be the main anchor of your living room suddenly looks more like a messy catchall than the functional design statement you intended.

When it comes to hosting, there’s nothing worse than a guest seeing something you’d rather keep hidden—especially when it comes to clutter. Just like us, professional organizers hide things when guests come over. It may seem hard to believe, but even they have mail piles, shoes, and more that they don’t want on display.

I love to shop, and I am definitely prone to impulse purchases – especially when it comes to clothes and accessories. As a result, I always feel like I am decluttering my closet, and feel guilty about my 'wasted' purchases every time.