It’s so wonderful to receive gifts from family and friends throughout the holiday season! But then what do you do with all of your new stuff when the holidays are over? Follow these 5 easy steps below to stay organized as you receive gifts during the holiday season!
First, ask yourself… Is this gift something I actually want?
After receiving a gift from someone (and thanking them for the gift, of course), step one is to decide if this is something you will actually use or enjoy. If yes, that’s great! Move on to step two! If the answer is honestly no, you can still be grateful for the gift, and not keep it. If that’s the case, move to step four.
Yes, I want this gift… Now what?
Now that you’ve decided this is a gift you want to keep, it needs a home in your home. One of my favorite organizing books is called Unstuff Your Life by Andrew J. Mellen. He says everything should have a home, and like things should be with like things… and at Mohr Time, we agree! So any new gift that comes into your home should get a home and be near things that are similar to it.
Put your new items with other things that are like that item in your home. If you got a new shirt, it will go with your other shirts. A new spatula will go with the other kitchen utensils. If there is nothing like this gift in your home, decide where it makes the most sense to live - near where it will be used, near something that’s similar to it, or maybe near where you’ll be able to enjoy it most. Once you’ve identified your gift’s new home, put it away! Boom! Organized!
If the area where you’d like to make this new item’s home is too full (let’s say you received a shirt, and you already have tons of shirts), move to step three!
I found a home for my gift but the home is full!
If the area where you want to store you new gift is too full, you can leverage this time to also declutter! When I was little, if I wanted to get a new shirt, my mom would always have me take out 5 old shirts first to get rid of. Or 5 older toys left when a new one came in. This is a great time to be in this practice in your home! As you put away your new items, can you remove 1, 3, or even 5 similar items that you no longer need? Maybe you can even bless someone else’s life by donating these things… as you receive new gifts, others can too!
I honestly don’t want this…
If the answer from step one was no, and this gift isn’t something you will use or enjoy, that’s ok. There’s no need to feel badly about that. It was very kind of that person to think of you, and you can be grateful without keeping this item for it to just take up space in your home. I’m sure that’s not what they wanted when they gave you the gift anyway! If you don’t want to keep this item, ask yourself the following questions…
Can this gift be returned for something I will use and enjoy? If so, go ahead and return it and get something else!
Can this gift be donated to someone who will use it and enjoy it? If so, this is a great way to stay in a place of generosity. Someone was generous to give it to you, and now you can be generous and donate it so that someone will get to enjoy it!
Is there someone else I know that will enjoy and use this gift? Ok prep yourself everyone.. this is a controversial opinion… In some cases, I think it’s ok to give a gift you received to someone else. REGIFT?!? Yes. If it’s something that’s not extremely personal and you haven’t opened it or used it, I think it’s perfectly fine to give it to someone else that will like it more. If it’s a personalized gift, or you’ve already used part of it, you definitely should NOT give it to someone else.
I’m grateful for this gift and I've decided I’m not keeping it.
Of the gifts you decide you don’t want to keep, sort them into which ones you will return, which ones you will donate, and which ones you’ve decided will be great gifts for someone else. Now schedule actual times to take these things where they go! It doesn’t do any good to sort them into these groups for them to sit in your laundry room or by your garage door for months (or indefinitely!).
Schedule a day to do your returns. One time blocking technique I love is called batching… put all the things that are similar in your calendar together in one time block. Save all your returns for one block of time and just get it all done together. That will save you time, rather than running one errand here and one errand there.
Schedule another block of time to do your donation drop offs. You can even schedule your returns and drop offs in the same time block window, and just knock it all out at once!
If you have items for specific people, contact them to set up a time when you can actually give them the item, or schedule a time to put it in the mail if you are mailing it to them.
Once you schedule all these errands, stick to your schedule and get them done! And if you don’t want to or don’t have time to complete your returns, donations, or mail runs in your schedule, remember that Mohr Time can always do that for you!! :)
Hopefully these tips help you stay organized through the holiday gift-giving season! All of us at Mohr Time wish you joy, peace, and love during this holiday season!
With love,
Sarah and the Mohr Time Team