How to Declutter Your Christmas Decorations

Do you have boxes and boxes of Christmas decorations that are a mess? Is it frustrating to decorate each year because you can’t find what you’re looking for? Follow these four easy steps to get your Christmas decorations organized so that getting your house ready for the holidays can be a truly joyful experience!

My kids think I’m lame. I refuse to spend a lot of money on holiday decorations. I’m also mostly too lazy to put them up. Thank goodness Christmas only comes once a year (and that my husband and kids help with the decorations), because that’s all I can handle.

Despite the fact that I have rarely purchased holiday decorations, we still seem to have an awful lot of them. Most of them were given to us (for which I am thankful, because of my aforementioned skin-flintiness–I just made up that word–did you like it?) and some we have inherited. The bottom line is, we have boxes and boxes of decorations, most of which don’t get used year after year.

Can you relate?

This year, why not declutter those decorations before you put the boxes away? You’re going to have the boxes out anyway. Now is the perfect time!

Here’s how I suggest you declutter your decorations:

1. Decorate your home to your heart’s content!
2. When you’re done decorating, take each box of decorations one by one and see what is still left in it. Take each item out of the box.
3. Evaluate each item and decide whether you want to keep it, donate it, or trash it. Don’t worry about how much you paid for it, who gave it to you, or not wanting to “waste” things. How do you FEEL about the item. Do you love it? If so, then keep it! If not, donate or trash it.
4. Consolidate all the items you wish to keep into boxes or plastic bins. You might want to separate things and keep them together. For example, all the lights can go together, all the ornamental balls can go together, other miscellaneous decorations can go together, etc. Or, if you have “themes,” (such as a gold and red theme, blue and silver theme, etc.) you can store all those decorations together. However you decide to do it, it’s important that you clearly label the boxes/bins. Go the extra step to add a detailed list of what each contains and tape it to the outside of the box or bin. Then you won’t have to open everything to find that one item you’re looking for.

There! That wasn’t so hard, was it? There’s really no reason to keep decorations that you haven’t used in ten years or more, right? It’s time to let them go. It will make your holiday season so much more enjoyable if you open those boxes next year and are met with things that delight and excite you!