Have you ever felt overwhelmed during the month of December with all the stuff that enters your home? The trick I've found helps me is to declutter throughout the month. Will you join me in the Net Zero Decluttering Challenge?
Each day this month I'll share some decluttering tips and ideas so you can end the month with the same number of items in your home (or maybe even less!) than what you started the month with.
Today I'm sharing tips on decluttering your holiday wrap as well as your wrapping accessories and supplies.
Today's Suggested Decluttering Task
Whether you've finished wrapping your gifts for this Christmas or haven't even started, you can still spend a few minutes decluttering your gift wrap. It will either simplify the wrapping process this year (because you're not rummaging around through piles of wrap or wrapping accessories you don't want), or it will decrease how much wrap you have to store until next year.
Gift wrap and wrapping accessories are not very expensive to purchase, depending on where and when you shop, but for some reason many of us hold onto wrap like it's worth a fortune! I come from a Dutch background and we grew up saving everything... used wrap if it was still in good condition, used tissue paper if it wasn't too wrinkled, used bows and ribbons if they weren't too bent, etc. And when gift bags came into the picture... wow... what a thrifty idea! (I'm probably showing my age here... some of you may never remember a time when gift bags weren't around LOL!).
Now I'm all for reusing things... it's cheaper and it's better for the environment. But there's a point where it just becomes clutter. And that point is usually when you have so much of it that you can't keep it organized and you end up not using it. It's easier to run out and buy new wrap than to deal with the stash of old stuff.
So, if you're going to reuse your wrapping supplies, keep them organized! And if you've got a huge stash of wrap and accessories, take some time to declutter it so it's more manageable.
Here are a few tips:
- Recycle any gift wrap that is too torn or tattered to use
- Recycle all the little small bits of leftover paper (unless you wrap a lot of small items like stocking stuffers... but at the end of your wrapping this season, toss the leftover bits... you'll have more again next year!)
- Recycle any gift boxes or gift bags that are ripped or too worn to use
- Recycle any tissue paper that is ripped or too worn to use
- Donate any gift bags that you don't think you'll ever use (as long as they're still in good condition - make sure you remove the tag if it's been written on)
- Toss old ribbons or bows that are too squished or tattered to reuse
- Give away any rolls, flat sheets, bags or boxes that you have too many of (a good guide is what you'll use in one year of holiday wrapping... otherwise you're storing it all for multiple years)
- Use up as much of your gift wrap and wrapping supplies this year as you can and don't stock up on more during the post-holiday sales unless you really need more for next year
After doing all this decluttering, make a note of anything you still need to buy to finish your gift wrapping this year. Or if you've finished your wrapping, take note of what you want to shop for when it's 50-90% off after Christmas so you're ready for next Christmas (assuming you have space to store wrap all year).
For tips on organizing your gift wrap and wrapping accessories (after you've decluttering them!), check out these posts:
Here are links to gift wrap organizers similar to what I use or that I have used with my clients to keep their gift wrap, gift bags, and wrapping accessories organized:
Right now I'm actually hosting a giveaway of the Wrappy gift wrap organizer so go and enter and maybe you'll win one!
Decluttering My Christmas Gift Wrap
I went through our Christmas wrap and found lots to declutter! We have scaled back who we give gifts to over the last few years so I figured it was a good idea to scale back how many gift bags and boxes we keep too.
We haven't done any of our wrapping yet for this year, so I was hesitant to purge too much, but I'll probably declutter more after we're done.
Here's what I've decluttered so far:
4 used boxes. They're still good enough to use but we have too many so I kept a few newer ones.
Random used items - 2 bottle bags, 5 treat bags, 2 small bags, 1 medium bag, and 4 bows (most of it was recycled or tossed, and I donated a few things that were still usable).
We rarely give alcohol so I only need to keep a few bottle bags. We give our chocolate treats and white chocolate candy cane bark in smaller treat bags so I didn't need these bags any more. We also don't use bows very often so I decluttered a few of them. And we have too many small and medium bags so I recycled a few that were worn or ripped.
3 extra large bags and
4 jumbo gift bags (the size of garbage bags!). We don't give very many large sized gifts anymore since we have no more toddlers or very young children that we give gifts to. So I donated most of our extra large and jumbo gift bags. I kept a few because sometimes my kids give some of their old toys to their cousins and we toss them all in a big ol' gift bag from them.
And I donated 6 brand new small bags that I bought at 90% off after Christmas a couple of years ago. Great deal, but I have too many of this sized bag for how many of this sized gift we give now.
We used to run out of this sized bag because we use them for teacher gifts when we give our gifts in a jar (they're the perfect size for a mason jar!). My kids sometimes gave them to multiple teachers so we went through quite a few bags this size. But my son is in middle school now and isn't planning to give any gifts to his teachers and my daughter will be there in 2 more years and is only planning to give her main teacher a gift this year. Hard to believe we only have a couple more Christmas jars to give away after this year. So I donated these bags and will probably donate a few more after Christmas.
My Christmas gift bags & boxes bin is much less cluttered now! It will be easier to get out the ones I need and there will be less bags getting caught on other bags.
My Progress in the #NetZeroClutter challenge
So that puts me at 31 items today in the #NetZeroClutter challenge and -138 overall. I'm nearly 1/2 way to my goal of 300 already!
What's Next For You?
Take some time today to declutter your holiday wrap and wrapping accessories. Or anything you'd like to declutter! Take some pictures and share your progress on social media using the hashtag #NetZeroClutter. Let me know how you're doing in the challenge so I can cheer you on!
Sign up to receive my blog posts by email so you get each day's post in your email inbox every morning. You can unsubscribe after the challenge is over if you don't want to continue receiving my blog posts by email.
I'd also love for you to join our 365 Items in 365 Days Facebook group as you do this challenge! You'll be able to share with others what you're decluttering and feel encouraged and inspired by everyone else who is also decluttering!
If you'd like more decluttering ideas, you can check out my Decluttering/Purging Tips & Ideas board on Pinterest.
So that's today's post in the Net Zero Decluttering Challenge! I'm enjoying doing this challenge and I'm excited to have you join me. I love hearing all the stories of how much more you're enjoying your holidays because you're not overwhelmed by all the stuff in your home!
How many rolls of wrap or gift bags or wrapping accessories did you declutter? How can you reduce holiday wrapping clutter in the future?
Happy
I link up at these great parties - Check them out!
Here are all the posts in this challenge in case you missed any or want to share some with your friends or family!
