Christmas is right around the corner. ‘Tis the season for gifting! As fun as it is to give and receive gifts this time of year, receiving gifts can actually add to feelings of overwhelm. These feelings come when extra stuff gets added to our homes that already have a lot of stuff.
I find I get most overwhelmed by gifts my kids receive. At their ages (7, 4 and 1), they receive mostly toys for Christmas…which they love, of course! It is fun to see how excited they get over their new, fun items. But it isn’t so fun to pile more toys into their already overflowing toy boxes.
My husband and I don’t get nearly as many Christmas gifts as the kids do, but even gifts we receive can add to our “stuff” problem. However, we are always grateful for gifts our loved ones give to us and our kids. I’ve found that it helps us to make way for new items in our house by getting rid of old ones before Christmas. That’s why I created the “Twenty-four Out the Door” Challenge.
Since there are twenty-four days in December leading up to Christmas, this is designed as a Christmas countdown challenge. It begins on December first and ends on the twenty-fourth. The challenge is to choose one item each day to send “out the door” of your home. By the time you reach Christmas Eve, you will have gotten rid of twenty-four items!
I encourage each person in a family to contribute twenty-four of their own things to this challenge (that’s 120 items for a family of five!!!). However, it can be done together as a family, where the total number of items out the door equals twenty-four. Whichever way you choose to do it, just do it! I promise it will be rewarding and it will probably even be fun!
There are so many different items that will qualify for your “twenty-four.” Some ideas are:
Whatever you choose each day, make sure that its absence will make a difference in your home. Decide to get rid of things that have taken up residence in your space but no longer serve a significant purpose. Take time to think about which items will make the biggest positive impact in your home once you no longer have them.
Let’s talk now about the things that will not qualify as your “twenty-four.”
Once you have chosen the items to get rid of each day, you’ll need to decide what to do with them. There are five main options – give away, donate, recycle, sell, trash. Let’s take a closer look at each one of these so you can make the best decision for your stuff.
The point of this challenge is to get rid of extra stuff in your home before more stuff comes in during the Christmas season. However, the point is not to feel like you have to replace every item with something new. Our family of five will be getting rid of 120 items during this challenge and we do not intend to bring 120 new items into our home. In fact, there are many great gift ideas that do not take up space and are not material at all. As a mom, I actually really enjoy non-toy gifts for my kids, such as:
Each day in December, take a few minutes to choose one thing (either per person or per family) to send out the door of your home. The things you get rid of could be of great use to someone else. Or maybe most of the things you say good bye to will be recycled or trashed. This Christmas season, instead of adding more stuff to your already cluttered space, remove things you no longer need to reduce feelings of overwhelm in your home. Christmas isn’t about “things” anyway. My prayer for you is that you feel God’s love, hope and peace as we countdown to Christmas together.
Please let me know in the comments about the things you are getting rid of during this challenge. Do you have great ideas for experiences or non-toy gifts for kids? Let me know below, I love hearing from you!
Have a Merry Christmas!
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Jacquelyn | 29th Nov 20
Great idea! I love the idea that each family member contributes to this too!