Declutter Your Holiday Trimmings

Halloween, Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa…ready or not, here they come! Before the holiday craziness kicks in, it’s a great idea to go through your stashes of decorations and lose what makes you go “ho-hum” versus “ho-ho-ho”.

SORT
First, pull out all your decorations and organize them by holiday so you can see what you have. Once you’ve edited them, be sure to re-store them this way, separately, by holiday. And don’t forget to LABEL the boxes!

EDIT
Next, loose anything that’s unusable. That ball of broken lights. That dusty wreath that you replaced years ago. Those chipped Santa salt shakers. Also, anything you didn’t use last year, like that spectacular lighting rig or inflatable winter village, can probably move on too.

WRAP IT UP
Now is a great time to weed out your wrapping supplies and get them ready to go. Toss any tired bows, motley tissue, ripped bags or frayed ribbons. Remove the smaller amounts of wrapping paper still sitting on those big rolls and set them aside for small wrap jobs.

Here’s a fun tip, take all the small pieces of wrapping paper and run them through the shredder.  Then use it to cushion delicate items when you wrap them.  Great way to give wrapping paper a second use!

Finally, be sure to corral all your supplies in one big bin (throw in a pair of sharp scissors and a big roll of tape) so everything is at your fingertips when you need it. Here are a couple of my favorite wrapping supply wranglers:

• Wrapping Paper and Ribbon Storage Box

• Vertical Wrapping Paper Box

Tracy’s Tip:  

As the kids grow up and move out, they’ll need holiday decorations of their own. Gather up a few treasured ornaments or decor that they enjoyed as children and pass them on. 

This also applies to nieces, nephews, even younger friends who are just starting out. What a great way to declutter and delight at the same time!