The holidays often end up overwhelming and stressful. Our schedules are packed, we feel pressured to buy dozens of gifts, and our homes end up full of stuff. I wanted to share my tips for a clutter free Christmas in hopes that these tips help to reduce stress during the holiday season.
Declutter Before Christmas
Everyone always gets into decluttering their entire house after Christmas or at the beginning of the new year. But if you want a clutter free Christmas, it makes the most sense to start decluttering your home before the holidays even start. This should help reduce the overwhelm that generally happens after the holidays!
Click here for 10 Things You Can Declutter Before Christmas or 25 Things To Declutter Before 2020
If you have kids, include them in this. Have them go through their toys or clothes and talk to them about donating some items to children in need.
Put Away Non-Christmas Items
Instead of just adding all your Christmas decor to the decor you have out year round, put some/most of your regular decor away and replace it with Christmas decor. This will reduce the amount of things you have out on shelves & surfaces and will help you have a clutter free Christmas!
Minimize Your Christmas Decor
If you have boxes and boxes of Christmas decor, go through it and be ruthless about which items you keep. Paring down your Christmas items to only the things you truly love will help to reduce clutter in your home over the holidays.
Donate the items you no longer need to a thrift store, or put them on Facebook marketplace for free to bless someone else this Christmas!
Dial Down The Gifts
The more gifts you buy for your family, the more things you’re going to have to put away & find homes for after Christmas.
We have significantly reduced the amount of gifts we buy for Christmas, which has in turn reduced the amount of things we receive. This doesn’t mean you have to entirely give up gift-giving, but just be more intentional and mindful. You don’t have to buy a gift for every single person you know.
Non-Physical Gifts
When we do purchase gifts, we try to stick to practical gifts, or gifts of experiences instead of things. If you need ideas of clutter-free gift ideas, I wrote a separate blog post about 50 Gift Ideas That Aren’t Things. This completely reduces clutter while still allowing you to be generous!
Slow Down
This tip isn’t about physical clutter, but just clutter in our lives. We often overcommit ourselves to Christmas parties, gift exchanges, or Christmas traditions are feel we have to do.
If you want to have a clutter free Christmas this year, try to take a step back from the busy-ness and reevaluate how you want to spend your time. I’m not saying you should skip your family Christmas, or give up traditions that you value. But giving up even one or two obligations will help to reduce your mental clutter.
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