Decorating for the holidays can be a fun way to celebrate as a family. But when you have an excessive amount of decorations to set up or put away, decorating can make your home seem small, cluttered, and messy and figuring out how to declutter can make YOU feel overwhelmed.
This year, simplify your holiday plans and relieve stress by decluttering your Christmas decorations. As you set them up or even when you put them away, spend some time decluttering with these tips!
Bonus: once you’ve finished decluttering your holiday decorations, take a few extra minutes and declutter the rest of your home decor. Take it a step further and deep clean your house to get a “refreshed,” clean home feeling.
Here’s how to declutter your Christmas decorations as quickly as possible!
Declutter as you put away
After the holidays, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the clutter and mess. But decluttering your decorations as you put them away is a simple way to make sure the decorations that you actually use are organized and ready to use again next year!
Make a decluttering plan
Before you start decluttering your decorations, make a plan (or get the Winter Refresh Cleaning System to follow step-by-step instructions to get your home in order).
Take pictures of your decor
Once you have a plan to declutter and organize (and clean your home from top to bottom afterward), take pictures of your home while it’s still decorated. Sometimes, it’s easier to see how things look in a picture, and you’ll be able to get a better idea of how things look from an objective perspective.
Taking pictures will help you know exactly how you want things to look next year, and it’ll also help you see which decorations you’re using, which decorations you need to stop using, and whether you need anything else.
Gather decorations together
Once you’ve taken pictures of your already decorated home, gather all decorations together. It’ll be easier to see what you have, what you’re using, and what you’re not using if they’re all in one location.
Discard unused decorations
Are there any that are broken, worn, or no longer bring you joy? Are there any that you use but don’t give your home the look that you were hoping to achieve? Toss them (or donate them if they’re still in good condition).
Organize your decorations
Organize (and label) the decorations that you decide to keep. To make it easy to find and set up your decorations next year, take inventory of your decorations and write down where you’re storing them.
For easy storage, reuse Christmas packaging. Old Amazon boxes make excellent storage boxes, and save the discarded tissue paper from gifts to wrap fragile ornaments. I also love these clear containers so you can easily see the decorations once they’re put away.
Declutter as you decorate
Another way to declutter your decorations is to declutter as you decorate.
When you declutter as you decorate, you have the opportunity to see everything and start with a clean slate. In Kon-Mari tradition, you can also touch each decoration before setting it out and determine if it “sparks joy.”
Before you start to decorate, though, create a plan so that you’re not wasting time (or setting out decorations that you should declutter).
Get an overview
One of my favorite decorating principles is the idea to “quiet a room.” Before you decorate, look at your space. Photograph each room in your home so that you can see your home from a different perspective.
Decide how you’ll use your decorations
Look at the decorations that you already have. What will you need to move to make room for the holiday decorations? Could you declutter your current decorations to save you time after the holidays?
Don’t feel the need to add decorations to every corner just because you own more decorations than you could ever use. Take a minimalist approach and only use the decorations that you truly love.
Think about which decorations you will use. Do you need everything that you own? Could you repurpose decorations, like using a star-shaped candy dish for both 4th of July and Christmas?
Declutter the “leftover” decorations
After you’ve decorated, check to see if you have any leftover decorations.
Declutter the remaining decorations. Donate or trash anything that you didn’t use or doesn’t serve a purpose. Chances are, if you haven’t used them, you won’t miss them. Get rid of them!
Decluttering holiday decorations before and after you decorate is a great way to keep your home decor simple. It’s also a great way to start (and end) the holiday on a stress-free note!
Happy decluttering!