Decluttering for a Simpler Christmas: Holiday Decorations

Do you feel overwhelmed at Christmas with all the extra “stuff” in your home?

Before Christmas there are lots of holiday items taking over your home.  Decorations, gifts, lights, craft supplies, activities and projects for kids, special baking supplies and tools, candles, Christmas cards, gift wrap, holiday dishes, and Christmas clothing. Just to name a few!

And after Christmas there are all the new gifts in your home. Toys, books, electronics, games, clothes, and more decorations!  It can make your home feel cluttered.

One of the best ways to simplify the holiday season is to declutter your home in the weeks leading up to Christmas.  To help you do that, I’ll be doing a series of posts sharing ideas to help you declutter your home for a simpler Christmas. 

This week, many people will decorate their homes for Christmas and put their lights and ornaments on their tree.  As you’re going through your decorations, take some time to declutter them.  You probably have some things you won’t put out for one reason or another.  Rather than storing them for another year, consider purging them.

Here are some suggestions of decorations you can purge:

• Items that are broken (and if you have something that you’ve been “meaning to repair” but never actually get to it because December is so busy, just do yourself a favour and throw it out!)
• Decorations that are worn, faded, or discoloured
• Things you are tired of or no longer enjoy
• Items that you have many of (if your tree is looking a little full, consider just putting up one or two ornaments from a set and giving away the rest)
• Anything else that you don’t use or plan to use this year (unless there are unique circumstances why you aren’t using it now but that you will use it in the future – for example breakable ornaments when you have little ones… or a new kitten)

Examples of decorations I’ve decluttered:

Every year when we decorate our tree, we find some ornaments we no longer love or that we can part with because we have a lot of them. We usually buy a family ornament every year (often from a place we’ve been or recognizing an important event or milestone) and we always give each of our kids a new ornament (again, often representing an interest or event that year – a tradition my parents started with my brothers and I so that we’d have a bunch of our own ornaments when we got our own trees). When my kids were younger they often made ornaments at school, church, or various events/activities. And sometimes we receive ornaments as gifts. So following the one-in-one-out rule, every year I try to declutter some of our ornaments, along with other decor we don’t use or love. Here are some items I decluttered one year.

Usually we let go of ornaments that don’t hold a lot of meaning. But sometimes, we also give away things that we really liked year after year, but we now enjoy others, so it’s time to let go of even some old favourites.  It’s putting Peter Walsh’s saying into practice: “If everything is special, then nothing is special.” I want to really appreciate our tree and if it’s so cluttered that we can’t see the branches, then we can’t value the ornaments that are special to our family now. Time to let go.

Also related to our tree, one year I gave away this brand new skirt.  I had it for about 5 years and never used it.  I’ve got another skirt that I use and love, and while this one was a good deal when I bought it (“just in case”), I really don’t need it.  If something happens to the tree skirt I have now, I probably won’t want this one anymore anyway because my kids are a bit too old for Santa themed decor.  Time to give it away to someone else who can use it, instead of storing it any longer!

Probably one of the most frustrating things for most people is Christmas lights!  I’m not a fan of these strands where the whole set doesn’t work when one light is burnt out or loose.  It takes so long to find the one that needs replacing.  We tried to get this one working, but when we couldn’t, we put it in my e-cycling box for the next time I go to the landfill.  We’ve been using LED lights the last few years and they still work when one light doesn’t. And they use less power. Sometimes it’s time to let go of older electronics.

These are some general decorations I gave away one year. Pretty quilted placemats that I didn’t use because we have other placemats and table cloths we use more.  Cute coasters but we have more than we need.  A candle holder I didn’t use because the tall thin candles are hard to find and we had a lot of other candles already.  A Christmas card holder I hadn’t used in years because I was given another one with pockets that fits my space better.  And a few Christmas greetings books that I rarely looked at.  It was time for these things to go to someone else’s home who will appreciate them more!

I also gave away some Christmas kitchen items.  I enjoyed these books but when it comes to recipes, we tend to make a few favourites every year and we can find new recipes online, so they went to someone else to enjoy baking goodies from them.  And I finally came to terms with the fact that I’m just not a sugar-cookie-baking kinda gal so these cookie cutters finally left my home.  No more “I really should use those” moments of guilt and pressure every year. Same for the spreaders.

I’d had these stencils since I was young and I’ll tell you, I couldn’t remember the last time I used them. Every year I’ve thought it would be fun to spray our windows with “snow” or make cute crafts, but my kids loved our window decals and they enjoyed other craft sets, so these kept getting packed away unused. It was time to let them and my feelings of not being “that mom” go!

That tangled mess you see on the table is a set of strands of Christmas shapes.  We hung them from the suspended ceiling in the basement for a few years and it was cute.  But they’re so tangled I couldn’t even get one strand fully separated for the picture.  Yes, I probably could have stored them better to prevent this, but I didn’t. We had fun with them for awhile and I decided to let them go instead of spending an hour of my time de-tangling them.

The goal of purging Christmas decorations is to help you enjoy your special items more by having the breathing space to treasure them. I hope you are able to have a simpler Christmas by decluttering some of your decorations!

If you need help decluttering, contact me for in-person organizing services in the Mississauga area, or virtual organizing services anywhere else.

Happy decluttering!