Unclutter Holiday Decorations
Clean up Holiday Decorations while you unpack.
It is a great idea to clean up Holiday décor every year. What I mean by this is to acknowledge that you don’t love or use everything you have in those boxes and that they are really clutter in your life. Follow these simple steps and you will have a clean, clutter-free set of your favorite decorations for each year.
As you unpack each box, set aside your favorite items that you love, cherish, evoke wonderful memories, are really functional, or are just simply pretty. These are the items you look forward to seeing every year.
Separately, look at the items which are left behind. Ask yourself to honestly answer if you really want or need these. Do they address the emotions or practicality listed above?
With the decisions made as to what you no longer want to keep, box or bag these up and set a date to make a trip to any one of the great places to donate your re-saleable items. Charities that have stores want these items right now in season. Toss the rest in the trash or recycling.
Let me give you a real life example. I recently helped someone unpack their holiday items and we came to an entire box of holiday tins. This gal used to attend a yearly cookie exchange and received a new tin to take home her shared goodies annually. The result was a large collection of at least 15 tins. The party has fizzled out over the years. Once she realized that she truly didn’t need that many tins, she selected her favorite three and donated the rest. That is good clutter reduction.
We did the same process with wrapping paper, especially the leftovers from many years ago. She acknowledged that she didn’t want to use certain papers because her tastes had changed and she likes some new patterns better. We put the old papers in a bag and donated them to a local pre-school who will use them for craft projects. Now she has a reasonable amount of wrapping paper and will use them this year. Think about ribbons, gift boxes and more that you have in abundance.
The same process will work with other holiday items. Look for ornaments you don’t really love, serving dishes that aren’t right, light sets that don’t work…you get the picture.
