Happy Friday everyone! I've been talking a lot about de-cluttering lately to make space for Christmas decorating and gifts. Today I want to share an idea for helping you purge your Christmas decorations.
If you're like me, each year you accumulate more Christmas decorations. Maybe you have a different themed tree each year. Or perhaps you like to make a new wreath or mantel display every year.
In our family we give each of our kids a new ornament each year. It's a tradition my parents started when I was little and I still have many of those ornaments. When I lived on my own and decorated my first tree I didn't have to buy much because I already had a supply of ornaments!
We also receive Christmas books, CD's, DVD's, and decorations as gifts from family and friends. Plus my birthday is just before Christmas and I often receive Christmas clothing, candles, kitchen items, soap, and other Christmasy things.
Over the years, our Christmas storage needs have increased from one or two bins to now 8 bins plus our tree. Luckily we have this great shelf in our garage to store them all year (those 2 stacks of green bins in the middle are Christmas bins).
Last year I decided I did not want to add any more bins, so after Christmas, I purged until I was able to fit everything into the same number of bins (even though we had received quite a few new items). It felt good knowing that I was able to keep to the same number of bins for a change.
This year, thanks to a tip from my organizing inspiration, Peter Walsh, I'm purging before Christmas. He suggested giving away or throwing out any items that we're not using this year. {Click the link below the picture to read his tips - I'll wait for you :) }
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I love the idea of purging anything we aren't using this year! I always have some decorations that I don't put out, mainly because we just don't have the space to put out everything we have. I typically choose my favourite things to use and display. So why do I keep storing things year after year that I don't actually use any more? This is the perfect time to de-clutter!
These are just a few of the things I've purged so far:
- Ornaments - we have too many to fit on our tree so I gave away some that had less meaning or that we had multiple copies of
- Clothing - I had some things that didn't fit well or that I didn't wear because I had others I liked better so I donated those I knew I wasn't going to wear any more
- Childhood crafts - I had been keeping a lot of crafts I made as a child, thinking I'd recreate them with my kids sometime. But, these old crafts were falling apart or deteriorating and I've seen so many creative ideas on Pinterest that I didn't feel I needed to keep these anymore.
How about you? Do you have Christmas items that you don't use every year? Are you accumulating more and more holiday decorations?
If so, spend some time this weekend de-cluttering your Christmas items. Throw out anything that is broken. Donate or give away anything you no longer use or love. You'll breathe easier and enjoy your season more without all the extra seasonal clutter!
Happy organizing and have a great weekend!
