Decluttering: Holiday Shopping

With Halloween behind us, it's time to start thinking about the holidays (especially for families that exchange gifts with extended groups over Thanksgiving). I don't know about you, but once I started to work toward a more minimal lifestyle, I realized that I didn't want to contribute to clutter for anyone else. And as a person who LOVES to give presents, that's been a challenge for me. Here are a couple of strategies I've found to reduce the likelihood of giving someone something that will just end up taking up space:

Time: Give yourself time to plan what each person gets so that it can be really tailored to their interests. I like to make a list of everyone we're giving gifts to, and put my ideas down next to them to make sure I've thought it all through. If they're young, ask a parent what they'd really love (or what the parent would love them to get). If they're middle-aged or older, consider offering to give them actual time to help with whatever project they want around the house. We've given gardening help and painting help, and both have been very well recieved.

Be strategic with presents: Give the gift of experiences or consumables! Neither will end up as clutter, and studies show that people get more joy out of experiences than they do out of things. Feel like it's less exciting without a "thing" to unwrap? Package the tickets with a small, consumable article that references the gift (chocolate is always a good bet). Need ideas? All of the following take up minimal physical space but can be fantastic gifts:

    Classes. Music, cooking, dance, art. Check out your local cooking stores or community education postings for creative ideas.
    Memberships. Zoo, science museum, art museum, history museum, children’s museum, etc.
    Subscriptions. It's fun to get things in the mail- just make sure it's something they're interested in, so that you're not creating more clutter.
    Events. Tickets to a movie, art exhibit, play, concert or sports event.
    Activities. Mini golf, apple picking, bowling, wine tasting, skating rink, etc.
    Gift Cards. The ultimate in consumable, choose a store that they love and can access easily (or has a strong web-presence).
    E-reader. Are they a voracious reader? Get them the e-reader they've been requesting and help them set up an account with their local library.
    Snacks or Food. Something special that they wouldn't buy for themselves. We've done specialty cheeses, fancy spice sets (Penzey's spice sets are fantastic) and lots of interesting chocolates.

Wrapping Supplies: Most of us have a stockpile of lightly used gift bags. Put them to use! Don't worry about running out, or if the bag is pretty enough. If it's not good enough to use now, it should get tossed.

If you've managed to sort your way through the assortment, buy neutral colored wrapping paper or bags, and colorful ribbon. You can use the same white, silver or kraft colored paper or bags for weddings, baby showers, birthdays and holidays- just change out your accent ribbon and they're appropriate. No need to keep an assortment of papers and bags around- a box of ribbons will take up much less space!