Un-decorating The House

My clutter journey has begun! Today's project is un-decorating the house with boughs of holly. Fa,La,la,la,la,la,la,la,la!

I was raring to get going on this, but kids sure have a way of throwing a monkey wrench in the plans. My five-year old boy is sick today: he has a cough and a fever, but says nothing else is bothering him. I can tell it in his eyes that he doesn’t feel well.

Because this project is being done in whatever spare time I have for it, I needed to make sure I did my usual morning chores so the family or the rest of the housework doesn't suffer. I also made sure that my sick boy wasn't needing anything and the baby was happy (meaning that I fed, changed, & loved on him).

Here are the pictures of the Christmas decorations. It really should be easy to take everything down because I kept things very simple.







I only have to put away the wreath, the garland on the door, and the Christmas tree. Once I get the stuff back in the storage containers, I'll take them to the place in the basement where they are stored.

I will update this post later today with the after pictures.

AFTER

My method for un-decorating the house in previous years was taking the decorations from wherever they were displayed and then piling it all in one place to put away later. Not a very good method – a pain in the behind, actually. It took me a lot of time and caused a lot of frustration when I was ready to put it away.

However, this year I was smart about it. As I took the garland off the door, I wound it around a piece of cardboard and put it in the storage container along with the tree skirt and the tree topper. The decorations went into their storage container as they came off the tree. I carefully took off the tree lights and put them away, as well.

I decided, during one of my previous attempts at de-cluttering, that I would limit my Christmas decorations to three containers. These storage containers hold all the Christmas decorations I use.



The tree itself (it's an artificial one) comes apart quickly and stores fairly well (all except the stand & base) in the two big storage totes I bought for it last year. The wreath hangs from a nail on the basement wall when its not on display.

You can see the spot where the tree stood is pretty bare right now, except for the baby's bassinet. The kids' computer desk was moved from this spot to make room for the Christmas tree. I'm not sure if I should put it back there because the kids' computer isn't working.



In reviewing my day, I am pleased that I managed to get all this done. If all my days' project are this much work on top of my usual day to day stuff then I may have to break them down even further to avoid being overwhelmed.