Last night, being Twelfth Night, was OH's favourite night of the year. More or less as soon as the Christmas decorations go up, he is looking forward to the day they come down.
To make him suffer for being such a grouch, I never take them down until the last possible moment. I'm nice like that. Although I didn't actually have many up this year, he still couldn't contain his excitement at them being put away.
It didn't take long to pack everything away, so whilst I was putting them back in their storage bags, I decided to do another cull. Quite a few more things went onto the donation pile.
I live in hope that one day I'll get back to just 3 storage bags; one for wrapping items, one for tree decorations and one for my wreath, but for the moment they are spilling over into a 4th storage bag. I have reduced what is going back into it this year though, so I'm going in the right direction.
Whilst pottering about, I also decided to do a good sort through of the regular birthday wrapping bag. It's been a bit of a mess for a while now. A few more things got added to the donation pile and a few items just got binned. I'm going to make a point of using up as much of the rest as I can this year and keep things to a minimum.
I'm not going to buy any more rolls of wrapping paper, as they take too long to use up and I'm usually bored of the design before I've used it all. Instead, I will buy packs of sheets or gift bags as I need them or use fabric from my stash for wrapping. I did uncover a useful template for making small gift bags in the process of this task, so I must remember to use it when I need one.
Eventually, I think I might just stick to using brown paper/ribbon/string and do away with the necessity for a wrapping bag altogether. It would make life much simpler and less cluttered. It would also be fun to stamp designs on brown paper, to personalise it for whomever's birthday it is.
I feel like I'm gradually getting the house back to it's normal state. There's still a few clearing up jobs left to do in the sewing room, after a busy few months selling on eBay, but once they're done, Christmas will be completely packed away. (Until I start to prepare stock again in six months time!).
Next job on my list, is a bit of a spring clean, as everything is looking a bit grubby and dusty. It will feel good to let a bit of fresh air into the house. I'll keep you posted on progress.
We took the tree down yesterday as well. Seem to now have a big open spot in the basement. I did some culling as I was decorating and will do the same next year to see if we can get another tote cleared out.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
It feels very satisfying to get rid of a few things doesn't it, especially if you don't use them anymore or are unlikely to again.
DeleteMy Christmas stash has got bigger, I purchased glass balls for the tree, they have to be stored in boxes and take up loads of room. Oh well they looked good on the tree.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it just has to be done. Mine increased from 3 bags to 4 when I bought some cake tins and some vintage baubles and crackers. I'm going to use the crackers next year, so that will reduce things a bit more. A good cull of the baubles might help, but as I didn't put up the tree this year, I couldn't face going through all the baubles. Maybe next year.
DeleteGot mine down to one bag, by selling excess at boot fair. Still have a variety of colours to decorate the tree, so not much of a deprivation. One roll of gift wrap for Birthdays, 2 just purchased in the sales for next Christmas and a cardboard box for sellotape, ribbons, tags and bows. Funnily enough I gave that a good tidy last week too. Might need to check in sales for some bows but if not what I have will do.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I have far more tree decorations than I can ever use, but some do have sentimental value, so I find it hard to part with them. Well done for getting your's down to the minimum. I live in hope.
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