Have you been promising yourself for months or even years that you're going to declutter your home? Don't worry you're not alone. Finding the right time and the right way to start your decluttering process can be tough.
That's why I like this time of year for decluttering. There's one category of stuff that you are most likely going to be taking out that you don’t dig into at any other time of the year. You’re gonna pull all of it out, it's gonna be all over the place, and it's gonna be a great opportunity to get decluttered.
What category am I talking about? Holiday decorations of course.
So, why am I saying the holiday decorations are a fantastic way to jump started your entire decluttering process? Because all of that stuff lives somewhere else the rest of the year so, while it's out, you have the opportunity to get some practice on a finite amount of stuff.
While I don't agree with every single thing that Marie Kondo says about decluttering and tidying, one of the things that she recommends that I do agree with is pulling everything out and going through it at one time so that you don't miss anything.
That doesn’t mean I think you should completely overwhelm yourself. I mean that, if there's a section of your home you're going to declutter, like a shelf, start by taking everything off that shelf so you can see it all and make intentional choices.
That’s where those boxes of decorations come into play. You’ll be emptying them anyways, and you can then mindfully choose to only put back what you love.
Over the years your taste changes. Times change, you change, and I bet you want to revamp your decorations every now and then. I know I’ll be doing that this year. Something about working from home and spending so much time looking at my house has me looking forward to freshening up our decorating game.
Do you have boxes and boxes of ornaments that your children made when they were younger? I know that they come with so many wonderful memories. I also know you don’t really want them on your tree after a while, right? Don't worry, I won't tell your kids.
You can pack those up to give to them when they have their own homes and their own Christmas trees. You could ask each of your kids which ones they want to keep.
Or have a small separate tree for the homemade ornaments. And, if you really can’t get yourself to get rid of them, but don’t want to put them up anymore, you could even create a separate bin for them that doesn’t get in the way of everything else each year.
How about ornaments and decorations that were given to you that aren’t your taste, but you feel guilty getting rid of them? I have a friend whose mother made Christmas decorations to sell and had given her and her husband so many of her creations over the years that they were taking over their home. My friend is one of the sweetest people you could ever meet and didn’t want to hurt her mother’s feelings, but she was beginning to resent the well-intentioned boundary-crossing.
Finally, a few years ago, she bit the bullet and just did it. Sold, donated, tossed. And felt as if she’d been released from jail. The funniest part was that her mother never even noticed! She did have to learn how to say no when offered new creations after that, which was a good lesson anyways.
Do you have some décor you spent a bunch of money on, but, for one reason or another, you never use it? And do you keep holding onto it because you feel like you’d be throwing away money if you got rid of it?
Were you totally into snowmen at one point and everyone gave you snowman stuff at Christmas every
year that you truly did like? Are you now all about snowflakes and could go the rest of your life without seeing another snowman?
How about strings of lights that don’t work, you keep saying you’re going to fix them, but never do? Broken ornaments you hold onto because great-aunt Lucy gave them to you? Stuff you bought because it was on sale, but didn’t have a use for? Multiple sets of holiday dishes, but you only ever use the one?
You get the idea, yes?
Make some mindful choices and keep only the things you really want. Not the stuff you keep out of guilt, shame, obligation, or anything other than love. The things you keep that you don’t really like or want are draining your energy. If you put them out at the holidays, they’ll drain your energy by staring at you. Then, when you put them away, they’ll drain your energy from their dark corner.
After the holidays, when you’ve decluttered this category, you’ll have a sense of what it’s like to declutter and some of the feelings you have to face when doing so.
Then, during the 2 most boring months of the year, January and February, you can test out your new skills on a few things around the house. Let’s face it, here in the north it’s going to be a quiet winter. Practicing your tidying skills could be a great way to pass the time and you could come out into the spring feeling refreshed!
I know I’ll be doing a little extra tidying this winter so if you want to join me and need a little guidance, I’ll be available to coach you through it all.
And, if you get some decluttering done on ornaments or other stuff, I’d love to hear about your successes and see some before and after pictures that you can send to me through Instagram or Facebook @soulfulspace.coaching. Happy decluttering!