I haven't talked about it a lot on this blog yet and that is one of my goals this year is to write a lot more about minimal decorating in my home. The truth is that while I love new and easy creative ideas and feature a lot of them, I don't make all of them because I believe that less is more. I am a huge advocate for showcasing a few great ideas in your home rather than having all of them.
My husband and I had a garage that looked like something from that hoarders show for. I mean really, it was bad. We just held onto to everything thinking we might use it one day. The truth is, we didn't and we often bought the same thing twice because we couldn't find it in the mess we called a garage. That led us over the last few years to get rid of anything we weren't really using and loving. The stuff that I am not using regularly takes up space, adds stress, and quite frankly, doesn't deserve my time. It has been a long process and we are not close to done. The garage is cleaner but not organized, the drawers are cleared out a bit but could use more purging, and the clothes could be categorized in a way that would be easier to take care of. Also the pictures desperately need some attention. Anyway, since christmas is around the corner and I know many of you have a lot of christmas decor but don't know where to put it or if you really want it anymore, you might think about saying good bye to some of it and just keeping your favorite pieces. I have a few tips and ideas from other blogs for you.
1. Keep the same rolls all year round. Choose 1-2 of generic large rolls of wrapping paper, not twelve. Also maybe purchase some generic white or brown paper gift bags for other gifts. That's it! Don't buy any other wrapping. Instead be creative and draw on brown paper bags and use yarn or string from your craft collection for gifts. After you have done this, you will be happy that it is easy to store and you can keep using it all year round for birthdays so you don't need separate wrapping for that.
To view brown paper packaging ideas on pinterest, click here.
2. Limit yourself to paper as an extra decoration each year. If you are a creative soul like me, you get sick of the same old every year. I get that but you also don't want to make five projects all year on top of making or buying presents that make you want to pull your hair out. Give yourself one material: paper and make something new and fun out of that every year. I can think of ten things just off of the top of my head: snow flakes, paper chains, polka dots on the wall, paper holly, origami stars, fold envelopes for an advent calendar, paper confetti for the tree, paper polka dot garland, rolled up paper with a yellow paper flame to resemble candles, or how about candy canes. Now the biggest and most important part of this idea is that you have to throw away the paper crafts you made when christmas is over and than start over the next year. For one, we are trying to minimal with storage and decor. Two, paper doesn't store well. Three, this allows you to try new ideas and themes each year without having take up storage, and hold onto every little thing. Paper is cheap and so you can likely afford a few sheets of paper for a new decoration each year.
To view paper christmas ideas on pinterest,click here.
3. Minimize storage. Give yourself 1 large interior box, 2 ornament boxes, 1 lights and exterior box and a christmas tree box. I know for many of you, this would be difficult to do but imagine how much easier the storage would be if you could purge enough to do this. You would have quality over quantity and getting down the christmas stuff wouldn't be so overwhelming. This would require you to get rid of all of the blow up decorations and instead stick to lights. You can be creative with the lights and you can fit a lot of lights in one large box, believe me. You can also fit some garland to wrap around the lights if you want for added flair. They are also easy to store. As far as inside, you will need to choose a few favorite items to put around the living room, the stockings, and then pack some paper for decorating each year or store that in your craft room or area if you usually have lots of paper.
For easy christmas storage ideas, click here.
4. Set up some traditions, a few that are timeless. When choosing traditions, you want to think of something that you will always want to do with your family no matter the age. For example,don't choose to go to children's museum every year on Christmas Eve because once your children turn 10 that idea and tradition will seem boring and lame. You want to choose something that will be fun forever. My family and i watch christmas movies all day on Christmas Eve and have a buffet out for everyone to eat off of. I have done this since I was a kid and now I do it with my own kids and husband. It is something that I feel is timeless and I never want it to change. Now the movies will probably change because right now my kids are wanting christmas cartoons but the tradition never will. Also, don't choose too many! Choose a few great ones and stick to those. Too many will make you stressed and will also make them all not feel that special. The reason why this also keeps you minimal is that you don't feel like you need to do everything all the time or figure out what to do each year. You have your plans in place and so you might choose one new activity to go to but you aren't traveling everywherre for the season of giving.
For christmas tradition ideas on pinterest, click here
To see way to relax and have a stress free christmas on pinterest, click here.
6. Reminding yourself that quality is better than quantity but also that quality doesn't have to be expensive. Their are many low priced gifts out there that are really cool and cute and would be appreciated by anyone. You just have to do Some online looking and research before hand. Also, look into easy diy gifts because their are many and they can be just as nice or more if you are willing to put the time into them. Some of them only take 30 minutes or less. Don't go cheap, it's better to get a small gift with quality than a large gift that is cheap and will be throw away within the following year.
To see diy gift ideas on pinterest, click here
7. Budget, budget, budget. Those little dollar signs are ringing in your ears as this holiday arrives so it's important to reel In that temptation to buy everything you have ever wanted. Sure, it's a good idea to enjoy this season to if you can afford it, get a few nice things but christmas and happiness is not about the money. Think about diy gifts instead. You can make things for just as good of quality as they are made if you follow a great tutorial. If you don't want to make things, think about personal or something different that gifts the giftees personality. Choose a budget before Black Friday and stick to it. You can do it !
To see inexpensive but cool bought gifts, click here
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