Putting Away Christmas and Gifts the KonMari Way
Guilty of still having your Christmas decorations up? This blog is all about how to use the KonMari Method™ to help tidy your home post-holiday season.
When it comes to Christmas, my family submerged in the holiday fun. In fact, our home is on a popular holiday street in San Carlos, filled with cars lined up to preview our neighborhood’s decorations. Our home exterior is lit first thing December 1st and turned off promptly on December 26th.
As tradition states, there are 12 Days of Christmas that begin on Christmas Day. While our exterior is on its own decoration schedule, our interior is on a completely different one. On the 13th day of Christmas, our tree is finally taken down and our nutcrackers climb the stairs again to nestle themselves in their attic tissue beds for the rest of the year.
As a KonMari Strong household, the comings and goings of holiday décor are made so much simpler. This year as you put your seasonal things away, a great method to help organize is Joy Checking each of your holiday items before putting them away until next year. You may be surprised by which items resonate each year. Once you’ve joy checked your decor, instead of storing the items you no longer wish to keep, try donating them to local facilities so they may spark joy for another.
If you live in the San Carols/ Bay Area region, here are some great donation locations: Habitat for Humanity, Dressed for Success, and your Local Library for books!
Joy checking is also a great method for gifts! Once the dust settles and you have your house back in order from the holiday season, it is a good practice to consider the new gifts that have come into your possession. The infamous Marie Kondo truly has the best recommendations for this.
“They are all gifts that someone used precious time to pick out and purchase for you. They are expressions of love and kindness, but they don’t suit your taste. You don’t want to donate them just yet, but you also shouldn’t shove these gifts into a closet. Surely the people who gave them to you don’t want you to stow away the gifts without using them, only to make you feel guilty every time you see them! So what should you do? Here are my three simple rules for making the most of the gifts you receive:
Open them immediately and thank the gift giver for their kindness and generosity. By honoring the time and thoughtfulness the circle is complete.
Remove the packaging (doing this commits you to try it out)
Start using them now.
Try each gift at least one time (unless it just doesn’t fit)-even if it doesn’t immediately spark joy. As you use or wear you will really have a sense of whether it is something you want to enjoy and honor in your current and future life. Give it a try and if over time it still does not Spark Joy, you will know what to do. Trust your instincts and either Keep with Confidence or Thank it for its service.”
My challenge to you is to try each of these three steps and see what a difference it makes in your life. Honor the gifts you receive and see if they fit into your lifestyle. It is important to remember the act of honoring your gifts by thanking the giver and using them is gratitude, and that gratitude should not leave you feeling guilty over a gift that did not spark joy to you.
For gifts that did not make the cut into your lifestyle, be sure to donate them so they may fulfill their use and spark joy in another's life. For clothing, thredUP is a great retail resource for gently used clothing. Donate your items via mail by requesting a kit from their website. By using thredUP, you will be contributing to a larger Collaborative Consumption movement, which encourages consumers to live in a more collective, sharing economy.
Here are quick links for more information on thedUP:
