The holidays can be an exciting time of year, which makes some households really want to amp up the décor. The decorations bring an extra level of excitement and all of the “feel good feelings”. The problem with this is that more decorations can bring more clutter into your home. This year, consider how you can decorate for the holidays without adding clutter.
You can go the full minimalist holiday décor route if you want or you can choose to scale back on your usual display. Whether you choose to decorate inside and/or outside, eventually, everything winds up in your home at some point. Even if it all gets put into boxes and just shoved into the garage, this is still a way that clutter builds up.
Decorate for the holidays with decluttering in mind. There are so many adorable, fancy, beautiful items out there each year that feel like you have to buy them. You don’t! Keep your sanity (and your bank account) in the positive this holiday season with decorations that won’t bring you a cluttering headache later on.
How Do Holiday Decorations Add Clutter?
Clutter begins unintentionally. Most people don’t go buying items with the thought of, “This would make a great addition to my clutter pile.” It happens over time and silently. One day you look over and wonder where all this clutter came from.
While the holidays are eagerly anticipated each year by many, this is also a time when all of the best décor items are on display, enticing buyers to buy more and more each year. Everyone wants the pretty stuff and to feel like they have a winter wonderland in their home. What they don’t usually consider is what happens AFTER the holidays are over and the decorations need to come down.
6 Ways to Decorate for the Holidays
Decorate for the holidays without adding clutter to your home by using the following six tips. Don’t worry, you can still have holiday magic in your home.
Go Through Past Years’ Decorations
Before you go out shopping for more, decorate for the holidays without adding clutter by going through what you already have. This will save you from duplicating purchases which not only saves with the clutter, but monetarily as well.
Take a day to gather all of your holiday decoration boxes first to take inventory of what you have. You may find you don’t even need to purchase anything at all this year for decorations. During this time, you also may find items that are broken and need to be thrown out. Or that you have decorations that you no longer love. Consider giving those unwanted decorations away on your neighborhood Facebook Group or to a family in need.
Buy Minimal Decorations
If you can help yourself, stay away from buying decorations in general. It will still be the holidays even if your house doesn’t look like the North Pole. If you can’t help yourself, then set a budget to limit the amount of decorations you buy.
Buy minimal decorations, just enough to make you feel the magic, but not too much that you’re going overboard now. A budget is a great way to reign in the decorations to be more minimalist.
Buy Neutral Items to Use for Multiple Holidays
There are some items you can buy that can be used for multiple holidays. Instead of buying decorations for each holiday individually, consider what items you can use for more than one. For example, items that are white can be used for October through January. Interchange them with your other displays. Make your décor neutral so that you can continue using them for each holiday.
Buy Items That Can Be Used Year-round
In addition to buying neutral holiday decorations, you can also purchase items that can be used all year long. Typically, bowls and jars are used for holiday decorations. You can fill them with various festive items. Use them again any other time of the year to fill with other items that make you happy.
There is no limit to how many times you can use a particular item. Consider pillows and blankets as well that can become interchangeable.
Purchase Reusable Holiday Decorations
Sometimes going for the cheap stuff ends up proving to add clutter to your home. Buying reusable holiday decorations can be a frugal move and one that has a purpose. If you buy an artificial tree, for example, that is an expense you don’t have to come up with each year. You can safely store it away in the attic or in a storage shed to bring out again next year.
The same goes for other reusable items that will actually last and not just end up in a pile in your garage or in a box in someone’s closet. Non-reusable items don’t last long due to their quality so it will cause you more of a mess later on that isn’t worth it.
Make Your Own Decorations
Consider adding your very own touch to your décor during the holidays. Start a minimalist decoration tradition by only decorating with items you can hand-make. Use paper to cut some snowflakes to hang around. You could be surprised by what you can design and make yourself.
Keep Your Home Festive and Clutter Free
You don’t have to take all of the fun completely away from the holidays just to avoid the clutter. There are plenty of ways to still celebrate while keeping your home clutter free (or less cluttered). Find the best tips from this list to inspire you to decorate your home for the holidays without adding clutter.
The holidays can be a special time. Unfortunately, they do come to an end. Don’t make yourself work harder come January when you start to remove the decorations. Plan now so that you can have the best holiday season.
If you aren’t sure where to begin in your holiday and clutter journey, let’s chat over a complimentary connection call to make a plan of action for you. Keep your sanity and magic all at the same time.