Christmas Gifts to help you on your Declutter Journey!
With Christmas coming up, gift guides are all the rage. Everyone wants to share the top 10 things or 30 things to buy. In the world of “decluttering” and “minimalism” there are tons of clutter-free gift guides filled with consumables and experiences. I’m all for those clutter-free guides. It’s the consumeristic, obligation-gifting, buying-just-to-buy type lists – I’m less of a fan of those. Sometimes, however, you just want an item to OPEN and touch and have. I get that. So, here’s my list of 5 physical gifts that will help you with your decluttering journey with one bonus idea at the end!
1. Nice Hangers
I really like the flocked hangers in my closet. They keep everything from sliding off and ending up on the floor. Wood hangers can be just as great and keep items from having the dreaded “shoulder nipple.” The benefit of nice hangers in the closet is far greater than that, however. It doesn’t just look good, it really can help with your decluttering journey. Here’s why…
When you buy nice hangers, they’re not cheap. But if you buy them all at once, you can determine a number that makes sense for you in your closet and replace all of the hangers in your closet with the new ones. Then commit to not buying new ones and keeping everything uniform. It will force you to stick with the one in, one out rule. This means, that every time you bring an item into your closet, you are intentionally replacing something else. If you don’t have something that needs to be replaced, then you don’t have a need for a new item. However, when you use the hangers from the stores, or you buy the cheap plastic ones, it’s so easy to just add and add to your closet. Pretty hangers make for a pretty closet, and help maintain the hard closet-decluttering you’ve accomplished.
You can find them on Amazon for around $20 HERE.
2. Drawer Dividers
Taking large drawers and dividing them for the items that will be stored in them makes so much sense. Most of us find big homes for our big items. But often times we forget to find tiny homes for tiny things, medium homes for medium things….you get the idea.
The home where we put something needs to fit the size of the item. Junk drawers, sock drawers, bedside table drawers. These things get overwhelming and overrun because we have tiny things, going in a big drawer. Without dividing the drawer up, theres nearly no chance that we will keep it neat. However, with the right size bins and dividers, those drawers can be kept with much more order.
Additionally, something you may not have thought of, is the fact that the dividers and bins take up space, meaning after you place them in the drawer you actually have less space. You might say, “But Erin! That’s counterproductive – what I want is more space – not less!” I wont argue that storage space is nice. And homes that are short on it have a bigger challenge in organizing. However, by reducing and dividing the space, you’ll be FORCED to make decisions about which items deserve a spot in the space, and when it’s time to let some go. As Dawn from the Minimal Mom says, every item you own is inventory that you have to manage! If you’re looking to make your home easier to manage, you’ve got to reduce the inventory.
Bins for desk, bathroom and junk drawers HERE
Dividers for kitchen, clothing (if folded), and desk drawers HERE
Utensil Drawer Organizer HERE
Drawer organizers for clothing items HERE
Sock and underwear drawer organizers HERE
3. Beautiful Bins
When I’m helping a client declutter and organize their house I always tell them to hold off on buying bins until their decluttering is complete. That still holds true here, too – If you have not decluttered your home yet, DO NOT BUY BINS (or ask for them for Christmas). This is for a few reasons. First, they will become a new form of clutter. You’ll find yourself overwhelmed by the task of organizing your clutter (who wouldn’t be!?!) and the bins will clutter your space further. Second, It’s a waste of money. Buying bins for your clutter means buying many more bins than you actually need. And third, it’s hard to know exactly what size and shape bins you’ll need when you haven’t evaluated your items. You must hard work of decluttering first.
But for those of you who have decluttered, asking for beautiful bins for Christmas can be the icing on the cake. You can replace the old, plastic, mismatched colored bins, for beautiful, aesthetic bins that are gentle on your surfaces and on your eyes. Creating a beautiful space is not necessary for organization, but it can help you stay motivated to keep it that way!
You can find a wide variety of beautiful bins at SortJoy.Com. Make sure you use our code SISTERHOMESYSTEMS to receive 10% off your ENTIRE order!
4. Robot vacuum
I ADORE my Eufy robot vacuum. Obviously, I love that it vacuums my floors every day while my family and I are gone at work and school. But more than that, I love the habits that it has helped to create in our home.
When we first got a robot vacuum, we would run it occasionally, but it would often get stuck on some random item. I had done quite a bit of decluttering by that time, so it wasn’t entirely terrible. But it seemed like there was always a shoe left out and the vacuum would suck up the shoelace and drag the shoe around the house. Having the robot vacuum was the thing that kicked up our decluttering a notch to the point where we now leave the main floor perfectly picked up with chairs and stools up (like at the end of the day in a restaurant) just so we can have the peace of mind that the vacuum can run unencumbered.
For those of you who think daily vacuuming is unnecessary – you should see the dirt this thing picks up EVERY DAY. With 3 kids, a husband who often wears his shoes in the house (grr!!), a dog, cooking every day, eating every day, there’s always something for it to pick up. So, while getting a robot vacuum will not declutter your house for you, it might be just the motivator you need to take the extra step each day to tidy. Once you’re in the habit of daily tidying, it only takes 3-4 minutes/day!
You can check out EUFY’s robot vacuums HERE.
Plus, If you use code bfeufy24 between 11/21/24 and 12/5/24 you can enjoy Black Friday deals even after Black Friday is over and Save up to $500 on MOST eufy Security Cameras and RoboVac, including some top sellers!
5. Hearth Display
This is a luxury item, for sure. But when I think about the amount of money we spend to have our dogs groomed, our kids involved in sports, taking everyone to their doctor and dentist appointments, it feels like a drop in the bucket to have a system to keep it all straight.
For years my husband tried to have me track of my calendar on my phone. He would tell me it would be better for both of us because then he could know what’s going on, and take some of the mental load and responsibility. He was convinced my phone calendar would help us be on the same page.I agreed, in theory, but I’m a visual person. I felt like I needed to see my full calendar all at once.
Every month I had a system for erasing and re-making our family’s white board calendar. What I needed, and still do need, is to see everything we have going on in a glance. I felt like it gave me a pulse on whether our week was getting too crazy or if we could fit one more thing in. Additionally, it was great for my kids without phones to see what was going on and take some responsibility for their own schedules.
However, I started missing appointments. Things started to pile up. I’d be at a doctor’s office and they’d be looking to schedule a next appointment, but I couldn’t without my calendar in front of me. Then, I’d get home and forget to call. Same with the dog groomer. I was drowning and I started looking for a digital version,
Enter: The Hearth Display.
The Hearth Display has everything our family needs and serves as a hub. Anyone can add whatever they need to add. There’s even space to add a note (like whether or not we need a gift, what the address is, and if we are carpooling, etc). Everyone can clearly see what we have going on. The backlight can be turned off, so we can prevent visitors from seeing the full extent of our crazy calendar.
The best part is that the App on my phone updates in real time. So I can be out running errands and one of my teenage daughters can add something to the calendar at home and I’ll see it and be able to schedule around it. Likewise, if I’m scheduling something while out and about, it is immediately available for anyone at home to see. I didn’t even touch on all the other features including grocery lists, to-do lists, routines, chores, etc. It’s an investment piece, for sure, but so far it’s been a great investment for our family and it’s the perfect thing to ask for for Christmas!!
Hearth Display is currently offering $200 off their original price! This sale is the best of the year and for a limited time so be sure check out Hearth Display HERE!
Bonus Gift Idea: Sister Home Systems Gift Certificate
Have you been wanting your home professionally decluttered, organized, or cleaned? Perhaps you’ve considered it many times but just couldn’t justify the cost. How about suggesting a Sister Home Systems gift certificate to your friends and family members who need gift ideas for you!? You can direct them HERE!
To wrap this up (pun intended)… we hope these suggestions get you inspired and excited about your decluttering journey and the holiday season! Gifts can be had and goals can be accomplished! It’s a real win-win!
