There’s so much joy in the holidays — from time spent with family and friends to unexpected gifts; from a touching church service to the delight of a child on Christmas morning.

In the aftermath of Christmas, however, there’s a dilemma to which most people can relate: more stuff. Of course, each gift is appreciated, as is each giver of the gift, but as one settles firmly into adulthood, things tend to accumulate: family mementos, clothes, furniture, sporting equipment. You name it, it likely can be found in closets, basements, garages, attics, outbuildings and even storage facilities.

Now is a good time to take inventory. While many gifts will spend the next few days in their boxes under the tree, when it comes time to put those new things away, perhaps that will also be the time to figure out what that particular gift can replace.

A new and much-loved sweater? How about taking an old, rarely worn sweater out of the drawer and start a pile for donation?

A new kitchen appliance? What about donating the old?

A new bicycle, coat, pair of boots? Make room for the new, by culling out the old.

A helpful way to go about it actually stems from a Japanese author, who has found a way to determine if it’s time to find another home for one’s possessions. The method might seem strange to some: holding a thing — whether an item of clothing, a books, a set of plates or any possession — and asking oneself whether it adds joy to one’s life. If the answer is no, it’s time to re-home that thing. If the answer is yes, then back to the closet it goes. It’s a surprisingly effective method for clearing out the clutter.

For those with sufficient storage space, it could be easy to hang on to items that have outlived their usefulness in a given household. But another consideration is that that item that goes unused in one house, could be much more appreciated in another home—perhaps a home where its tenants can’t afford to buy new.

This is where the Salvation Army and Good Will come in. It’s also where Ruth’s House, Beaufort County’s domestic violence shelter, could use a few donations. Plenty of folks shop the gently used goods donated to Good Will and Salvation Army. Ruth’s House has an antique store downtown in which donations are sold to support the shelter and its services.

So before stuffing a new sweater in a drawer or erecting new shelves to house another set of dishes, think about how useful donations of the old could be to many of Beaufort County’s less-privileged folks.

The new year approaches. Maybe it’s time to take the words “out with the old, in with the new” to heart.