I reduced my holiday decoration storage boxes from seven to four. (I wish I had taken pictures.)
I’ve been listening to several decluttering and minimalism books (I’ll list the good ones in a different post), so I had some ideas on how to do this before I started. I won’t say I didn’t make a mess in the process, but it was fairly quick and emotionless.
Here are the rules I followed:
- Instead of taking everything out of a box and then sort it, I sorted each item when I took it out of the box. When the box was empty, everything was either in a keep or discard pile.
- I looked at all my decorations in bright sunlight to see if they were worn, faded, or damaged. I rarely have good light when I decorate my house in the fall and winter.
- I further separated the keep pile by picking out those things that were most important to me. I put them back in the box first. When my boxes were full, I had to make a decision about what was still left. Since it was not my most loved stuff, it was easy to move it on.
- I had cardboard boxes for my donations. Once it went into the box, I didn’t look at it again.
- I also had a trash bag. It was amazing how much trash was taking up space (old paper treat bags, tattered garlands, dead lights, etc.)
- In the end, I got all my most-loved decorations in four bins. (it’s actually in 3 1/2 bins, so I have a little room to grow.) Now I know that when I move, my decorations will be safe and won’t get lost.
Not a bad way to spend four hours.
Great advice!