Tips for Decluttering Christmas Items {Net Zero Clutter Challenge 2019}

How is it December already?! And yet here we are. Christmas is three and a half weeks away. As the song says... "It's the most wonderful time of the year!" And it really is.

But December is also the most busy time of the year for most of us. Or the most stressful time of the year. Those aren't things they usually write holiday songs about.

When things get overwhelming for me, one of the things I do to alleviate the stress is to declutter. Call me crazy, but extra stuff around me adds to the anxiety at any time of year, but especially in December!

• When I need to find places to store all the Christmas gifts we'll be giving. 
• When Christmas decorations, though beautiful, sometimes make my home feel smaller. 
• When entertaining means hiding things in the rooms we don't use as often. 
• When our schedule is extra full with school concerts, Christmas parties for every group or activity we're part of, and extended family gatherings. 

On their own, each of these things is wonderful, but all together, in the space of a month, it can be overwhelming.

I don't know about you, but I have a heightened awareness of how much stuff is in our home. And when I think about all the stuff that will be entering our home throughout the month.... well... it's even more overwhelming.

So... I declutter. It makes me feel better at any time of year, but especially in December :)

Since I started the #NetZeroClutter challenge 5 years ago (can you believe it's been 5 years?!), I've really noticed how much better I feel as the month goes on.

Join me this month!

Decluttering Christmas Items {Net Zero Clutter Challenge 2018}

It's December! And you know what that means... clutter! For most of us, more items enter our homes this month than any other time of year. And we're so much more aware of the clutter in our homes because we tend to entertain more this month than other times of the year as well.

Besides all that, December can feel so overwhelming... there are so many extra tasks to do, places to go, and people to see.

All of these factors make it hard to enjoy this otherwise wonderful time of year!

Whenever I feel overwhelmed I've learned that I will usually feel better if I declutter (at any time of year... it's really a stress reliever!). But over the last several years I've found that the single most important thing I can do to help me feel less overwhelmed in December is to declutter throughout the month.

Once I reduce that overwhelm, I can enjoy Christmas much more! So this year I will be decluttering again :)

For the last three years, I've hosted the #NetZeroClutter challenge and many of you joined in and decluttered in December. Will you join the Net Zero Decluttering Challenge this year?

Week 1 - Introduction and Holiday/Kids' Items {Net Zero Clutter Challenge 2017}

December can feel so overwhelming... there are so many extra tasks to do, places to go, and people to see.  But more than demands on our time, are the demands on our space. If we're entertaining during the holidays, we suddenly become much more aware of the clutter in our homes. And just the thought of how many new items will be entering our homes this month is overwhelming! All of these factors make it hard to enjoy this otherwise wonderful time of year.

There are lots of tips out there for managing your time better during the holidays, but I've found that the single most important thing I can do to help me feel less overwhelmed in December is to declutter throughout the month.  And reducing that overwhelm means I can enjoy Christmas much more.

For the last two years, I've hosted the #NetZeroClutter challenge and many of you joined in and decluttered in December. Will you join the Net Zero Decluttering Challenge this year?

Week 1 - Introduction and Holiday Items {Net Zero Clutter Challenge 2016}

Do you feel overwhelmed during the month of December with all the stuff that enters your home? It makes it hard to enjoy this otherwise wonderful time of year.

I've found that when I declutter throughout the month it really helps me feel less overwhelmed and I can enjoy Christmas much more.  Will you join the Net Zero Decluttering Challenge this year?

Tips for Decluttering Holiday Items and Decor {Decluttering Sentimental Items - Day 13}

Today in the Decluttering Sentimental Items series we're decluttering holiday items / decorations.  These can be for any holidays, although most people tend to have a favourite season that they primarily accumulate things for.  If Christmas is the holiday you have the most "stuff" for, your things are probably packed away in the attic, basement, or garage, but it's actually a good idea to take some time to go through them now.  The Christmas season is always so busy and it's harder to be objective about what to keep and what to let go of when you're in the midst of the holiday season.

Day 31 - Christmas Lights {Net Zero Decluttering Challenge}

Before I jump into today's post and the end of the #NetZeroClutter series... I just want to celebrate something else right now.  This is my 500th published post on this blog!  That's a pretty big milestone :)  And how fun that it's on December 31st!

I had no idea when I started this blog 3 1/2 years ago that I would ever write that many posts.  Or that I'd even still be blogging.  Or that anyone would be reading it!

So thank you... my loyal readers... for being here every step of the way!  Whether you've been here since the beginning (if you have please comment and let me know so I can thank you personally!), or whether you've joined me along the way or even recently (welcome!), I am so honoured and proud that you take time out of your lives to join me in this little part of the blogisphere.

Thank you for sharing your decluttering and organizing journeys with me... through comments here... or on social media... or in the 365 Items in 365 Days Facebook group.  Hearing your stories makes my day.  All the time.

So thanks!  Have yourself a bit of cake today to celebrate with me :)

OK... on to today's post!

Day 30 - More Decorations {Net Zero Decluttering Challenge}

Have you ever felt overwhelmed during the month of December with all the stuff that enters your home? The trick I've found helps me is to declutter throughout the month. Will you join me in the Net Zero Decluttering Challenge?

Each day this month I'll share some decluttering tips and ideas so you can end the month with the same number of items in your home (or maybe even less!) than what you started the month with.

Today I'm sharing tips on decluttering more holiday decorations.

Day 29 - Tree Ornaments {Net Zero Decluttering Challenge}

Have you ever felt overwhelmed during the month of December with all the stuff that enters your home? The trick I've found helps me is to declutter throughout the month. Will you join me in the Net Zero Decluttering Challenge?

Each day this month I'll share some decluttering tips and ideas so you can end the month with the same number of items in your home (or maybe even less!) than what you started the month with.

Today I'm sharing tips on decluttering your tree ornaments.

Decorating a Special Christmas Tree!

I had a wonderful opportunity this month to choose a charity that needed a Christmas tree and then decorate a tree donated by ChristmasTreeMarket.com.

I chose the Peel Family Shelter, a local shelter that provides safe, secure short-term accommodation to families that are in a housing crisis.  After a few discussions with staff members, we decided to decorate the tree at a time when the kids from the shelter could help.

Day 2 - Holiday Decorations {Net Zero Decluttering Challenge}

Have you ever felt overwhelmed during the month of December with all the stuff that enters your home? The trick I've found helps me is to declutter throughout the month. Will you join me in the Net Zero Decluttering Challenge?

Each day this month I'll share some decluttering tips and ideas so you can end the month with the same number of items in your home (or maybe even less!) than what you started the month with.

Today I'm sharing tips on decluttering your holiday decorations.

7 Steps to Get Organized for Spring!

Spring is one of my favourite seasons.  Summer is my absolute favourite, but spring is a close second.  I love the sense of new beginnings and new life after what always feels like a very long, cold winter (at least around here!).  There's nothing like the feeling of the first really warm spring day!

Today I'm going to share a few ways that you can get organized for spring so that you can really enjoy the season.  

365 Items in 365 Days: January/February Update

How are you doing in the 365 Items in 365 Days Declutter Challenge?  It's the 49th day of the year today so if you started in January, your target is to have purged 49 items by now.  But don't worry if you've just started.  Just jump in!  It's always a good time to declutter :)


Today I'll be sharing what I've decluttered since my last update in December.  As you know I was down and out for most of January, so I didn't do a lot of decluttering, but I will work extra hard next month to catch up with my average of 1 item per day goal!  Oh, and this doesn't count for me personally, but in the last few weeks I've helped my clients declutter approximately 5 giant bags of recycling, 8 bags of garbage, 6 boxes of donations, plus a bunch of large items for garbage, donation, or giveaway.  I love my job :)

By doing these monthly updates I hope to give you ideas of things you can purge from your home!

365 Items in 365 Days: December Update

How are you doing in the 365 Items in 365 Days Declutter Challenge?  It's the 350th day of the year today so if you started in January, your target is to have purged 350 items by now.  But don't worry if you've just started.  Just jump in!  Now is the perfect time to declutter with the holidays approaching so you'll be able to have guests over and enjoy time with family and friends.


Today I'll be sharing what I've been decluttering since my last update.  It's only been a few weeks, but I've got so many posts planned for the rest of December and I won't be doing very much more decluttering, so I figured I'd do my December update now. 

By doing these monthly updates I hope to give you ideas of things you can purge from your home.

Day 9 - Making Room for the New {12 Days of Being Organized for the Holidays}

Do you ever feel overwhelmed when you think about all the new "stuff" that will be entering your home during the holidays?  Those with kids are often especially overwhelmed.  New toys, clothes, books, and games from generous grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.  Not to mention your own gifts to your children, and of course those from the jolly red-dressed guy!

If you already feel like your home is cluttered, the thought of adding more to your home can be stifling.  But it doesn't have to be that way!

Today I'm sharing a few tips to help simplify your holidays by decluttering.  {It just wouldn't be a series on organizing if I didn't discuss decluttering right?!}

Day 5 - Holiday Decorating Tips {12 Days of Being Organized for the Holidays}

Do you decorate for the holidays?  I always find it helps make my home more festive, but it can be overwhelming dealing with all the decor items. Today I'm sharing a few tips to help make Christmas decorating easier.

Day 1: Planning for Christmas {12 Days of Being Organized for the Holidays}

Do you get overwhelmed during November and December?  Do you get to the end of Christmas Day and you're exhausted and wonder if it was all worth it?  There's shopping, baking, wrapping, card-writing, cooking, and decorating.  All in the midst of parties, gatherings, and celebrations with everyone and anyone you've had contact with all year!  It's a lot to juggle.  And it can easily become overwhelming.

But it doesn't have to be that way.  With some advance planning and organizing, you can simplify the holidays and get things done earlier, so you can breathe and actually enjoy this festive season.  Doesn't that sound good?

To help you do that, I'm going to be writing a series called 12 Days of Being Organized for the Holidays.  Each of the 12 posts will focus on one aspect of being organized for this special time of year.  I'll spread the posts out over the next 6 weeks, with an average of 2 posts per week.

Each post will have practical tasks you can to get organized.  If you've already completed those tasks {good for you!!}, feel free to do something else that's overwhelming you.  If you haven't checked these items off your to-do list yet, then spend some time working on them so you won't have to do everything all at once at the end.

OK, so now that I've told you about the series, let's get to today's post!  I'm going to kick this series off with some tips to help you plan out the next few weeks.

Day 31 - Extra Bits {31 Cheap & Easy DIY Organizers}

Think you have to spend a lot of money on costly organizing tools to get your house in order?  Nope!  Getting organized doesn't have to be expensive!

Throughout this series I'm sharing ideas to help you organize your home by either

• making simple organizers with things that don't cost very much OR
• using items you already have in a different way.

If cost has been holding you back from getting organized, now you've got no more excuses!  

It's day 31!  We're at the end of this series.  Thanks so much for sticking with me throughout this series!

I've shared a LOT of cheap and easy DIY organizers this month.  So you can't use the excuse that organizing is too expensive anymore.  Because there are 100+ ideas in this series that show it isn't.

Today, I have a few more DIY organizers to show you.  These didn't fit any particular day's theme, so I'm including them all here today as "extra bits".

Christmas Storage Inventory List {Free Printable}

Are you packing up your Christmas decorations this week?  How do you store your decorations?  If you use the red and green totes, it's hard to know what you've stored in each one until you open it up and start taking things out.  If you've got several bins, it can get pretty overwhelming figuring out where to start!

After a busy holiday season, many people say they are going to simplify things next year, but by the next holiday, they're right back in the thick of everything and get too overwhelmed.  If that sounds familiar, then right now is the perfect time to take steps toward simplifying next Christmas! 

Here's a printable inventory list to record what you're storing in each container as you pack it up this year.  I'm also including tips for storing your decorations.  These two things combined will make decorating so much simpler next year!

Organizing Ideas for the Weekend #8

Happy Friday Saturday everyone!  {I had this ready to go yesterday and somehow didn't publish it. Ooops!  I'm hoping it will still help many of you though.}

After a month hiatus due to illness, I'm back with another organizing idea for your weekend.

I know many of you have already taken down and put away all your Christmas-related items.  If you're one of those eager beavers, you can pin this post so you can refer to it next year before you begin "Operation De-Christmas".  Then find something else to organize this weekend :)

Organizing Ideas for the Weekend #7

Happy Friday everyone!  I've been talking a lot about de-cluttering lately to make space for Christmas decorating and gifts.  Today I want to share an idea for helping you purge your Christmas decorations.

If you're like me, each year you accumulate more Christmas decorations.  Maybe you have a different themed tree each year.  Or perhaps you like to make a new wreath or mantel display every year.