Undecorating from Christmas? I’m sure some of you are already done. I’m not. There are several things holding me back including time and desire, but mostly nostalgia. This will be the last Christmas in my condo. My little condo. The first property I bought on my own after my divorce. Since this will be the last Christmas here, I’m enjoying my tree and decorations just a little bit longer. I’ve been putting it off, but it’s time to undecorate with a purpose.
Over the years, I’ve collected numerous decorations and ornaments. They fill several storage bins, six to be exact. But in order to allow renewal in my life, I also need to allow it in my home. It’s time to remove those things that aren’t working for me and I’ll start by not storing away Christmas decorations that I no longer need. It’s time to cut the storage bins down from six to two.
It’s funny that I have this odd collection of ornaments that I use, ones that I don’t use and even some that sit broken or falling apart. I have one bin of lights that go unused year after year. Why? And I have plenty of ornaments that just never get put out, year after year. I just keep storing them away. Keeping things you don’t need can drag you down. It takes your time. Time to go through your decorations to find the ones you want to put out and time to put them all away again. Imagine how much easier it would be to manage two boxes of ornaments instead of six?
As I start to undecorate and go through the containers at the same time, I’ll ask myself some questions to help me weed out what I really want to keep versus the things that I’m keeping out of obligation or because I thought I might need it in the future.
- Did I use it this year?
- Do I have a sentimental attachment to it? (And if I don’t, will someone else who might want it?)
- Can I donate it or sell it?
- Did I answer No to all of the above?
If the answer to the last question is yes, then the item goes in the trash. It can be that simple. It might hurt a little, but next year it will be so much easier to do Christmas.
I’m a big fan of discarding as you go. It’s so much easier to do it while you’re packing away, rather than trying to do choose what to use when you set it up next year. Always keep the “maybe’s” in case the new place lends itself to a different style, but you’ll feel a real sense of accomplishment getting rid of the dead lights and broken ornaments – if there’s good stuff you can always donate it. x
Out of sight, out of mind. It’s so easy to let “things” accumulate, but I learned once before that most things lose their “meaning” if you haven’t seen them in awhile. My husband and I are downsizing our lives in order to have less “things” that accumulate dust and take our attention. We just started with the ornaments, but there will be more.
Ah. I also have 6 bins and the bin of lights that we don’t use. I managed to eliminate one bin this year. Perhaps next year I will follow your lead.
I’ve been where you are. We moved in May of last year from a house to a condo. Like you, I’d been schlepping around Christmas decorations that I hadn’t used in years. I donated nearly all of them to an annual yard sale fundraiser for my (then) local hospital, keeping only a few favorites that we set out in our new place. It made decorating–and undecorating–SO much simpler!
We are in the process of downsizing, but Christmas decorations might have escaped except my focus is on renewing myself, our lives and our home. How can we accomplish that with six bins of decorations?
Are you suggesting I need to throw out the decorations my children made many years ago, that I don’t hang any more? Fun and challenging post.
I kept a couple that mean the most to me and I still put on the tree because of that. The rest are gone.
Good idea! I need to do a lot of undecorating in my house!
Sad that this will be the last year in your condo :(, but at least you are handling the yearly Xmas tear down with class.
Sad in some ways, but so ready for it too.