It might seem early for a holiday decluttering guide but if you want to avoid holiday stress and overwhelm, the time is now. We don’t have to wait until after halloween or until after the election or until after anything else. We can choose to be mindful about the holiday season today. No matter what you celebrate, the last two months of the year can tend to sweep us up when we don’t have a plan.

One word that often comes to mind when thinking about the holidays is more. There is more giving, more getting, more doing, spending, falling behind, catching up, and getting run down. Thankfully, there is also more opportunity for comfort and joy (but only if we make room for it). Take time now to do some intentional decluttering, so the more of the holidays doesn’t turn into too much. Use this holiday decluttering guide to make room for more of the good stuff … peace, love, light, comfort and joy during the holidays and anytime at all.

Your Essential Holiday Decluttering Guide

Welcome the holiday season by making room for it. If you want to enjoy your favorite recipes, movies, gatherings and other traditions, you can’t just add them on top of everything else. We all know how piling more things (even good things) on top of our current things ends up. We feel overextended, we try to balance everything and then we can’t enjoy anything.

1. Declutter your home.

A pre-holiday decluttering sweep will make room for holiday decor, winter boots, and other seasonal stuff. Put the ornaments and other holiday stuff you decorate with through a decluttering filter too. Just because you’ve saved something for decades doesn’t mean you are obligated to keep it forever. If you aren’t displaying it, or don’t like it, then donate it. If you want more decluttering direction try this:

2. Declutter your holiday schedule.

How do you really want to spend the holiday season? If silent nights sound more inviting than party hopping, be socially selective. You aren’t required to say yes to every invitation. Look at your regular calendar too. Build in time to take care of yourself, and don’t over-schedule. Leave room for holiday magic. Built in margin in November and December = magic.

If you are used to a jam packed calendar, pushing through from one thing to the next, consider this. Use the holidays to practice setting boundaries on your time. Spend your holiday time the way you want to spend your holiday time. You really are allowed to do that.

3. Declutter your heart.

The holidays can trigger , and put a spotlight on struggling relationships. If your heart already feels heavy, seek ways to lighten it up. Journaling, daily walks, meditating, engaging in difficult conversations and working with a therapist may all be part of the treatment plan. My dear friend and Mind-Body Therapist, Rachel Shanken recommends the following exercise to feed your heart a little light:

Set a timer for 3 minutes. Sit tall. Close your eyes and bring your hands to your heart. Start by noticing the sensation of your hands against your chest. Take a big breath right into the spot underneath where your hands are, feeling the breath inflate your chest. As you continue to breathe, visualize a warm white light surrounding your heart and radiating out into your hands. With each inhale imagine the soft white light expanding around your heart and shining throughout your whole chest. With each exhale visualize that same soft light radiating from your heart back into your hands. When the timer rings, notice what has shifted inside you. 

You’ll also love Rachel’s 15 Body-Mind Fast Facts, Fixes,and Tricks to make your life better. Some take less than 3 minutes.

4. Declutter your mind.

If your mind starts to spin with visions of sugar plums and all the things you have to make, bake, ship, buy, and do, take a big deep breath. A consistent mindfulness practice will help you put things in perspective. Create a daily practice of writing down all of the things spinning around up there and then sitting quietly for a few moments. The writing/meditation combination will help you rid your mind of clutter.

Who knew a holiday decluttering guide would include your mind? When life gets busy, complicated, and overwhelming, it’s easy to disconnect from yourself, but you can find your way back. Keep coming back because every time you do, you’ll know what matters and what doesn’t, what makes you smile and what doesn’t. You’ll know what’s real and what isn’t. Sometimes remembering only lasts for a day or two so you have to keep coming back. If you feel disconnected, sit down, close your eyes, breathe and put your hands on your heart. Then, repeat forever.

5. Respect your holiday budget.

There is so much pressure to overspend during the holidays but resist. Don’t give out of obligation, comparison, or fear about what people will think. Respect your budget when you give and spend over the holidays and beyond.

Even if you’ve already started (or finished) holiday gift shopping, it’s not too late to budget your dollars for holiday spending. This starts by having a better understanding of how much money comes in and goes out each month. Sometimes we ignore the facts and hope that everything goes ok, but seeing the real numbers will be a relief. Even if it’s not what you expected or had hoped for, you can act with the facts instead of being fearful about your money situation.

Once you have a good picture of your current financial situation, create your holiday budget. List all the extras you spend money on this time of year. Include gifts, entertainment, travel, donations, decor, extra shopping or beauty appointments, and anything else that comes to mind. Estimate how much each thing will cost. Include what you’ve already spent.

Add it all up, look at the total number and ask these two questions:

1. Can I afford it?
2. Is this how I want to spend my money?

If the answer to either of those questions is no, go back to your list of holiday spending and list the items in order of what’s most important to you. Then begin eliminating from the bottom up until you can answer yes to both questions.

6. Declutter your digital life.

Set some boundaries around your digital engagement. If you check email and social media every day, try every other day. Assign digital-free zones in your home and on your calendar.

Turn your phone off or turn on a do not disturb function. If you feel nervous about missing a call, set a timer for 5 minutes and see how it feels to disconnect from your phone for a few minutes. If you are worried you might miss something, remember this. When you are ready, try longer periods of time. Eventually, consider setting regular phone free times and zones so you can be less overwhelmed by information overload and more present for what you really care about.

The holiday is a great time to practice a 24-hour digital break each week. Unplug all of it for a full day and notice how much slower time passes and how present you are.

7. Consider your traditions and obligations.

This may a be a more challenging Holiday Decluttering Guide recommendation. Hold onto the traditions that warm your heart and let go of the others, especially the ones you resent or find exhausting. Just ask yourself, “Does this fill my heart or empty it?” Give yourself permission to engage in the holidays in ways that fill your heart and soul.

8. The holiday decluttering guide includes stress too.

Just because everything is chaotic around you, doesn’t mean everything has to be chaotic within you. Try a few of these stress-less strategies. One quote that often reminds me of this truth is from Pema Chödrön, “You are the sky. Everything else – it’s just the weather.” Give yourself a simple pleasure. Take care of yourself. It’s the best gift you can give yourself and everyone you love.

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