New clothes, new toys, new knickknacks, new appliances… Gifts are a big part of Christmas and all the wonderful new things you get also means less room and more stuff.

Here are a few tips to help you manage the accumulation of new things and keep your life more organized for the upcoming year.

• Gifts – If there are a lot of gifts under the tree, stash a few away. There’s nothing more exciting about getting a gift in late January or February. It keeps the magic going

• Toys – Use the in and out rule. For instance, for every puzzle you get, one goes out. If your kids are older you can box up toys for the younger ages and donate them, just make sure they have all the pieces and parts first.

• Clothes – If your kids received clothes that they don’t quite fit into yet, put them away in a box or on a higher shelf until your kids grow. This will keep the closets from getting cluttered.

• Activity Books and Crayons – Go through all the colored pencils, crayons and markers throw out the ones that don’t work or are too small to make room for the new ones. If your kids received coloring and activity books, put the adult supervised ones on a higher shelf and the ones the kids can do on their own in a reachable spot.

Voila! Your start of a clutter-free 2018!