Wholeness Healing Center

Make Your Holidays a Clutter-Free Season

“The more I examine the issue of clutter, the more effort I put into combating it, because it really does act as a weight. ”
~ Gretchen Rubin,
American Author

The season is upon us. With that comes lots of background noise operating to entice us to put on our consumer hats, get out and take advantage of all the glitter and glitz that we see. Good prices. New items. Once in a lifetime deals. It would be wise to put that impulse to respond on pause and sit with it for a bit. Decide what you really want, need, or choose to spend your money on and how you want to feel at the end of the season. There is a lot of hype going into the season and at the end, it can feel quite deflating when our hearts have not been filled with the connections we want, but our houses have been filled with a lot of clutter and items to find a place.

Some ideas for a more clutter-free holiday might include the following:

• Plan ahead and consider each item you buy and whether it is truthfully something the person needs and is useful. Do not give any gift just for the sake of buying it.

• Ask for what you want. When people ask you what you want for a present, be prepared. Let them know something practical that you want and will use. You could ask for donations to a favorite charity.

• Consider intangible gifts. This could be service gifts or giving something to their favorite cause or doing them a service – washing their car, cleaning their home, etc. • Consider going through your things before gift giving and giving to a charitable cause. Give yourself limits, such as for everything coming in, two things must go out.

• Give consumable gifts that will not become clutter.

• As a family, make the choice to give the gift of time as a donation, such as volunteering to serve meals somewhere.

• Give experience gifts such as tickets to the movies or a favorite play. These experiences will live on as great memories yet no clutter!

As you make decisions on how to prioritize your connections this season, be sure you take a moment to notice how it feels after you have spent time talking to someone that you seldom see or what you notice as you chose to put other priorities, such as the relationship connecting before spending and more “stuff”. These actions can truly fill your heart. Have a heart-filled season!

Tags: clutter free holiday ideas, holidays with "stuff", pause before impulsively shopping