As we welcome 2025 in the Miami Valley, many Dayton homeowners are looking to start fresh by decluttering their living spaces and setting intentional goals for the year ahead. Whether you’re preparing to sell your home in the competitive Dayton real estate market or simply want to create a more organized living space, this comprehensive guide will help you transform your home and life.

Start With Your Living Space: Room-by-Room Decluttering Guide

Kitchen and Pantry

Begin your decluttering journey where families spend the most time. Dayton winters are perfect for indoor organizing projects, starting with your kitchen:

• Check expiration dates on pantry items and donate unexpired, unused foods to local Dayton Food Banks or find a free “Little Pantry” in your neighborhood to bless

• Sort through kitchen gadgets, keeping only items used in the last six months (remember when you went through a brief baking phase and bought every sized tin? good times…)

Living Areas and Bedrooms

With Dayton’s housing market remaining active, maintaining organized living spaces is crucial for both daily life and potential resale value:

• Sort through books, magazines, and paperwork and toss what you don’t need
  • You can also find Little Free Libraries all over the Dayton area to donate your gently used books for someone to find for free
  • This is a great time of year to get creative and use old magazines for vision boarding
• Evaluate furniture placement and rearrange for optimal flow or reset the space by “shopping your home” for decor 

Host Clothing Swaps and Join Free Groups

 “Free Groups” on Facebook are also a great option to offload items during your decluttering process! There are groups for different neighborhoods and cities in the area. They are full of treasures like new clothing with tags, kitchenware, tools, garden essentials, toys and more. 

Plus, you may end up finding something on your list and get it for FREE (if you can’t find one in your area, invite your friends over and swap items you no longer need). It is a common practice in these groups to leave a “buy nothing” bin outside of the home to encourage contactless pick up/drop off for exchanging items as well.

Garage and Basement

Many Dayton homes feature spacious garages and basements that often become cluttered storage areas that can easily become overwhelming if you don’t check in on them periodically and purge items you no longer need.

• Create designated zones for tools, seasonal items, and sports equipment
• Install proper storage solutions like wall-mounted racks to save space and declutter floor space
• Consider climate-controlled storage units for excess items if a move in in your future
• Schedule bulk waste pickup through the City of Dayton services

Digital Decluttering for Modern Living

I don’t know about you, but my digital spaces are WAY more cluttered than my home is – so taking the time to follow these steps to declutter my inbox & camera roll is essential for me to step into the New Year with a clear mind & goals.

Email Organization

Maintain a “zero inbox” policy if possible by setting a weekly alarm to go in and filter through emails to delete or move into proper folders

Photo Storage

• Back up physical photos to cloud storage or an online storage like your Google Drive or a Dropbox account
• Sort through duplicate photos in your camera roll, pick your fave and delete the rest 
• Create organized albums by year or event (this will save you SO much time when you’re searching for that specific photo from that amazing brunch you had last month🥂)

Setting Intentional Goals for 2025

Home Maintenance Goals

Create a realistic maintenance schedule for your Dayton home:

1. Quarterly HVAC maintenance for Ohio’s seasonal changes
2. Monthly deep-cleaning routines (or outsourcing this to an incredible local home cleaner like PurpleBee Cleaning!)
3. Seasonal yard maintenance plans (the gutters are calling…)
4. Regular decluttering check-ins (I recommend doing this seasonally but pick what is doable for you!)

Action Steps for Success and Maintaining Your Organized Space

The key to lasting organization is creating sustainable habits:

• Implement a “”one in, one out” rule for new purchases

• Create designated spots for frequently used items

• Involve the whole family in maintaining organized spaces. The more help you have, the more likely you are to maintain your organized space!

Local Resources for Decluttering Success

Donation Centers in Dayton

• Goodwill locations throughout Montgomery County
• St. Vincent de Paul
• Habitat for Humanity ReStore on Wilmington Pike
• Violence Free Futures
• YWCA
• Artemis Center
• AMVETS 

Recycling and Disposal

• Montgomery County Solid Waste District services
• Local electronic recycling events
• Bulk pickup scheduling through the City of Dayton
• Local community shredding events
• Electronic & metal recycling at ARC Electronics

Preparing for Real Estate Success

For those of you considering selling your Dayton home in 2025, decluttering is a crucial first step in the selling process. Experience shows that organized homes consistently sell faster in the Dayton market, as clean, clutter-free spaces not only photograph better for listings but also make a stronger first impression during showings. 

When potential buyers walk through a well-organized home, they can more easily envision themselves living in the space, making an emotional connection that often leads to faster offers. 

Additionally, starting your decluttering journey now serves a practical purpose: when it’s time to move, you’ll have less to pack and transport, making the entire moving process more efficient and cost-effective 🙌🏼 You can thank me later! 

Who is getting organized in 2025?!

Starting 2025 with an organized home sets the foundation for a successful year ahead. Remember, the journey to an organized home is a marathon, not a sprint – take it one room at a time and give yourself grace! A little progress each week makes a HUGE difference in the long run.

Looking to buy or sell a home in the Dayton area? Let’s get together for coffee & chat to see how I can support you with your home goals for 2025! ☕