Comments on: The Balancing Act: Clutter Free vs The Holidays

By: One Frugal Girl

One Frugal Girl — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 01:14:28 +0000

In reply to Ellen K..

I love the comments about you and your husband. My husband and I are very similar. Except in my case my husband’s family has hundreds of knick-knacks, ornaments and decorations and my family had the ornaments on the tree (a small tree) and one nativity scene. That was about it at our house.

Actually you bring up a good point about children. Not only do you have less time to decorate, but since my son is so small I’ll also have to be careful about the decorations and ornaments we leave out this year. I’m sure his little hands will be tugging and pulling at everything!

Thanks for the comment!

By: One Frugal Girl

One Frugal Girl — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 01:11:43 +0000

In reply to Andy. Thanks Andy. A lot of the ornaments don't feel special to me. They are just items we received as gifts from people who thought we'd like them. I like your idea of paring down items now, to make room for ornaments and decorations (like those my son will make) that actually mean something!

By: One Frugal Girl

One Frugal Girl — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 01:09:20 +0000

In reply to April. I love the idea of color coding them and buying items that can work for multiple holidays. That's my thought too. Buy a bunch of solid colored items that can multi-task. Thanks for the comment!

By: Ellen K.

Ellen K. — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 14:03:20 +0000

This past January we donated two big boxes of ornaments that I had received over the years (I come from a family of H.allmark junkies) but weren’t meaningful or were too heavy to hang on a real tree. We also donated a huge box of decorations that really aren’t my style — too countrified or too cutesy. My parents’ tree is huge and very cluttered; my in-laws’ tree is sparse with lots of greenery showing. So I came into our marriage with at least seven boxes of holiday decorations, and my husband brought a small instrument case. : ) We have to find a happy medium and find our own style. Also, we don’t entertain a lot, and with twin preschoolers in a not-so-big house, I’ve chosen to keep things simple and easy — I don’t have days to take down decorations!

By: Andy

Andy — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 23:11:11 +0000

My husband’s mother is a minimalist at christmas…my family has a Christmas closet…..a large one. .my husband limits my Christmas items to three plastic tubs (we live in an apartment) It may not matter to him but I have so many fond memories of decorating with my family and the stories that go along with the items that I want to create those same feelings in our family. Your son will probably make 1000 christmas items in school etc. So purging some now to make room for that may not be bad idea and does not make you a Scrooge!

By: April

April — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 04:45:03 +0000

I “double up” on my holiday decorations to save on space. I have a rubbermade tote for each holiday in the basement. Some are color coded-such as Christmas (its red) and Easter (its pastel yellow) and a small green one for St Pattys and the rest are clear so I can see what is in them. Many of the clear ones are containing items of a specific color of items–such as red–I can use red candles, tableclothes and napkins for Valentines, July 4, Memorial Day, and Christmas. Same with green items–they can be used at Christmas or St Patricks Day. In all, I think I have 9 totes, with Christmas being the largest one. I have shelves built downstairs out of lumber and concrete blocks and they are stored on the floor under them, as if they get wet, the contents will stay dry.

I do tend to decorate for the holidays and seasons as I do part time childcare from home and the kids like to help me decorate.