It is January, and I am full of unoriginal impulses to organize and de-clutter every corner of my home. One Magpie wisely suggested “touching each drawer / cabinet once over the course of the year,” the slow and seasoned approach, but I find myself all early-month bluster and business, wont to tackle any door I open. (No drawer is safe!) Over the weekend, we took down Christmas — and then some. I got rid of two vases I’d come to actively hate that had previously enjoyed prominence in our dining room. (For what reason did they last so long?! Nepotists!) I donated books my children have outgrown and others I DNF’d and never plan to, placing them in a Little Library in our neighborhood. I risked my life by throwing away some of the ticky-tacky projects my children had created over the holiday, hiding them in the waste bin beneath decoy paper towels. (Don’t worry, I keep a lot, too!) I retired several toys my children had outgrown and cleared out stained, too-small or otherwise orphaned clothing. I found homes for new Christmas toys that weren’t simply on the carpet of my children’s rooms. These activities were vigorously rewarding; this is a kind of clear-the-air therapy that works.
I found myself drawing up a “sage list” of other things to clear out in 2026. What’s on yours?
Sage List (Things I Want to Let Go of in 2026)
Old, orphaned cords and cables
The linen closet (especially old shower curtains — we don’t even have a shower that asks for a shower curtain in our house — and tattered towels)
Makeup I don’t like
Books I DNF — donate to a little library!
Clothes that make me feel uncomfortable or unkind to myself
Any decorative object I no longer like — I’d rather a bare corner than a grimace
“Shoulds” — trying to avoid this word (anytime I use it, I’m training myself to ask: says who?)
Tight underwear and mateless socks
SWAG (and stop accepting it in the first place!)
A calendar low on white space
Guilt over silly things; I am the grand maestro of inventing reasons to be guilty for anything I do
The disillusion that I am in control of how other people will respond to me
Those shaggy scraps of wrapping paper that are never actually big enough and instead collect dust in my basement (will repurpose in my kids’ craft drawer)
Memories that bring me agita
Negative self-talk
Things that are broken that I haven’t managed to fix in the last year
Any paper version of something I can scan
Expired spices, medicine, and skincare
Grievances from 2025 — let the past belong to the past
Post-Scripts.
+Three cleansing exercises for the year.
+The best book-based movies. (Comments are fab.)
+Things I don’t want to postpone.
Shopping Break.
+Seen above, one of the two trays that come in this $25 Target set. The colors were so perfect for our living room, and I just love corraling loose items onto a tray. Seen above with this wick trimmer and snuffer set, and a fresh candle from Flamingo Estate! When I lit it in the room (after just-removing the Christmas tree, vacuuming up all the needles, and packing away all the other Christmas decor), I thought of all the Magpies who added “a fresh candle in a just-cleaned room” to my “fresh slates” list.
+Our coffee table! Look for less here and here. The rest of the details seen above here.
+Fun new arrival at J. Crew. And did you see their limited edition skiing collection as a part of the lead up to the Olympics?! Obsessed with this sweater, these vintage-vibe sweats, this tee.
+Eyeing these sunnies for 2026.
+Anyone else feeling ultra-pale these days? I have been mixing a drop of this into my moisturizer (a little goes a long way), and then I blend this with my foundation drops. Have also heard good things about Saie’s sun melt.
+Love these joveralls. Layer a pointelle henley or cashmere crewneck beneath for an unexpected look.
+In the vein of this post, two random household upgrades we made this week: a) a proper bench for our weights!*, and b) a linen memo board for my studio! I’ve wanted a home for all my little cards and inspirational notes and scraps of beautiful paper and hang tags for years now. This will enable me to empty my drawer and display these keepsakes somewhere in my line of sight.
*On the weights note: my husband surprised me with this and I was delighted! We’d previously kept our weights in a tidy row along the edge of the fitness room, but we were talking this week about how we’ve been clipped into a pretty consistent fitness regimen since 2025 and we spend a lot of time down there — why shouldn’t we beautify? We’re now thinking of adding a storage unit for towels and shoes and a big mirror so we can properly observe our own form.
+Oo a very chic satin heel, under $100.
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Things I want to let go of in 2026:
False sense of urgency
On the material side: skinny jeans! Ugh. Can we not go back there?
Yes!!!
I’m dying over the decoy paper towels!! I feel this so deeply, haha! I just decided to finally replace the bath mat we’ve had for too long that makes me angry every time I wash it. It’s too heavy/thick to dry in a normal dryer cycle, so it just sits in there making the rest of the load damp. The problem is going in person to find the right replacement – this may be the nudge I needed to prioritize this! I’ve also been trying to keep a tiny section of our counter clear. Needs work again this week! Also, can I get rid of the plastic alphabet magnets?? Feeling mom guilt about this but frankly tired of looking at them after 8 years…
I highly recommend the stone quick dry bath mats. I got them for all our bathrooms a few years ago and haven’t looked back.
Thanks! Will check them out.
I am operating in the exact same wavelength at the moment!! Massive declutter. Clear out the cobwebs, rearrange, cull.
Yes! Feels so good!