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Decluttering Christmas Decorations: Helpful Tips for a Simple Christmas

Decluttering Christmas Decorations: Helpful Tips for a Simple Christmas

DECLUTTERING CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS: HELPFUL TIPS FOR A SIMPLE CHRISTMAS

I thought it might be helpful to share some tips to make decluttering Christmas decorations easier. Maybe they could help you avoid clutter at Christmas and make it easier to decorate your home. Have a simple Christmas with seasonal decorations that bring festive fun and meaning to you and your home.

DECLUTTERING CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

Once Christmas was over I used to bundle all my decorations into one, two or more boxes and bags and stuff them away until I needed them the following Christmas. It seemed like a quick and easy way to clear the decks for the New Year.

However, this approach would inevitably mean that when I came to pull them out the following year, some would be broken, have missing parts or the lights wouldn’t work. I’d have to sort everything through, buy a few more replacements and then repeat the whole process.

Decluttering Christmas decorations is helpful for many reasons and when I started to do this in my own home, I found that I really enjoyed and looked forward to decorating my home for the holidays. It wasn’t a chore or something I did just to keep my kids happy.

What with some Christmas music playing in the background and a glass or two of mulled wine for my husband and I, it became an exciting and much anticipated tradition that our whole family looked forward to!

THE BENEFITS OF DECLUTTERING CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

Just like decluttering your home more generally, there are some wonderful benefits of decluttering Christmas decorations.

1. Makes storing them easier

If you don’t have so much clutter then it’s easier to store them. They take up less space, are easier to pack away and you can easily see what you’ve got.

2. Makes it easier to decorate with them again

When you have less clutter, it’s quicker and easier to pull everything out, see what you’ve got and work out what’s working, what’s broken or missing and whether you need to repair, throw, donate or buy a replacement.

3. Makes it more fun to decorate

When I’m not sifting through a lot of broken baubles and knotted tinsel, I can spend more time working out where to put everything so that my home looks warm, cosy and festive.

4. Avoids excess clutter

Christmas brings a whole extra load of clutter into our homes. People, presents, gift wrap, extra food and more take up space alongside our usual every day clutter. Lots of decorations that haven’t been sorted and decluttered can add to that clutter and it’s easy for a cosy home to quickly become a cluttered home.

Declutter Christmas decorations

TIPS ON DECLUTTERING CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

I tend to declutter my decorations before I start decorating at the beginning of the Christmas season but I’m also mindful of what I’m storing away as I take everything down after Christmas is over.

If you’re looking to declutter Christmas decorations in your own home, but aren’t quite sure where to start, here are some tips you could bear in mind.

1. Meaningful Christmas decorations

Our family has quite a few Christmas decorations that have been passed down through the generations. I like to keep these because I love the feeling that successive members of our family have also enjoyed decorating their homes with the very same items!

Choosing which decorations to keep depending on how they make you feel is a good filter. Do they make you happy, bring a smile to your face, do they remind you of loved ones no longer with you, your children when they were little?

2. Get everything out

Before you start decluttering, I’d encourage you to have a good root around and pull everything out. Make sure there are no hidden boxes lurking in the attic or garage. Make piles for the items you want to keep, want to donate and what’s best for the rubbish bin.

3. Choose a theme

A theme helps you discard decorations that aren’t in keeping with your chosen theme or helps you stop buying Christmas decorations just for the sake of it and perhaps which you don’t really need.

Your theme could be to only use natural materials. For example, pine cones, holly and branches, a real tree. Or, it could be that you prefer sticking with just one or two colours, silver and blue, red and gold. Choosing a theme makes it easier for you to discard or disregard the rest.

4. Get rid of decorations that are broken

When I decluttered my own Christmas decorations, I found that I had a couple of sets of lights that weren’t working. I think we’d kept them so that we could buy some replacement bulbs and then start using them again. In all the years we’ve kept those broken lights, we still hadn’t bought bulbs so I bit the bullet and got rid of them. I didn’t want to store them any more and I didn’t want to keep checking them each year, only to realise they weren’t working and still needed bulbs! I kept the remaining two sets of lights and use only them.

5. Plan where you’re going to put your Christmas décor

The reason that I was happy only keeping a couple of sets of lights was that I didn’t actually plan on using any more. Once I’d decluttered my decorations, I obviously ended up with less than I’d started out with so I had to plan my decorations more strategically.

I chose to put my Christmas décor only in certain places where the eye was drawn, we spent most time or had the most traffic through the home. Some examples could be the mantlepiece, hall table, a wreath on the front door, the Christmas tree in the living room and the dining table.

Maybe you have some other places to add? This way there wasn’t Christmas clutter everywhere, but just in focal and strategic points where it would be shown off, noticed and appreciated the most.

6. One in, one out

If you want to buy new decorations for this year, but don’t want to add to your clutter, what about the one in, one out rule? Buy a new item but donate or get rid of an old one?

7. Define your storage

Another way of decluttering Christmas decorations is by keeping only enough that will fit into its designated storage. This removes the responsibility from you of making those all important decluttering decisions and instead you’re using other limits to make the decisions for you.

I decided I only wanted to store one big box so I kept just enough decorations to fit into that box but no more. Anything that didn’t fit (apart from the Christmas tree) had to go.

8. Donate your unwanted Christmas decorations

If you’re feeling guilty about getting rid of Christmas decorations, I encourage you to donate them to charity rather than throw them away wherever possible. There will be many people looking to decorate their homes for Christmas but who don’t have the budget. Donating what you no longer want to keep is a great way to help and support others.

Declutter Christmas decorations

DECLUTTERING RESOURCES

Here are some other resources to help you declutter your home in different ways:

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON DECLUTTERING CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

I’d love to hear your thoughts on decluttering Christmas decorations. Do you go overboard and love the Christmas clutter or do you prefer a simple Christmas and opt for simple Christmas décor? How often do you declutter your Christmas decorations? Do you buy new ones or have you, like me, kept hold of decorations passed down from family? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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I’m Antonia and on this blog I share practical inspiration to simplify your home, time and life. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest! You can also subscribe to Balance Through Simplicity and receive regular simplicity tips straight to your inbox for free. Make sure you never miss an article plus you’ll get a copy of my free Declutter Starter Kit as a welcome gift!