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Gifting
and Receiving
The holiday season
involves many activities on top of your “regular”
tasks. In addition to attending parties and planning family
gatherings, the hustle and bustle of the season includes
getting gifts for people and receiving gifts from people.
Thoughts of shopping for presents may increase
your stress level exponentially. Considering
where you will put your new acquisitions may cause an
equal amount of tension. Let’s
reduce this anxiety by organizing your gift giving and
gift receiving.
Gifting
Gifts equal shopping, which usually equals Things.
Sometimes we are able to choose just the right gift for
a person. Sometimes, despite
our best intentions, we choose a gift that the person
doesn’t want or need. From an organizing
standpoint, gifts often translate into Things
that someone has to find a place for. This often leads
to clutter, because the recipient may place the Thing
in a temporary space because they are busy or don’t
have a home for the Thing. Then
the Thing blends
in with other Things
and eventually becomes a Thing
pile that gets in the way.
To avoid potential
Thing piles, consider
giving a non-Thing
gift. Here are a few suggestions of consumable
gift certificates that you may not have considered:
•
Gas and carwash
• Movie rental and popcorn
• Manicure or pedicure
• Picture development—for
film or digital cameras
• Massage
• Hot air balloon ride
• Facial
• Car rental for a week—convertible,
sports car, other desired vehicle type
• Specialty grocery
store
Be creative! Your
recipient will be thrilled with your choice because you
are creating a memory rather than creating clutter.
Receiving
Receiving a gift, whether
it is a gift that we like, want, need or not, can lead
to clutter because of the busyness of the season or our
current state of (dis)organization. We
seem to be very good at bringing Things
into our space. In fact sometimes we are convinced that
Things enter our space on their
own! But do we have a way for Things
to leave our space? One recommendation is to
set up the “one in, one out” expectation.
Within a couple of days
of receiving gifts, each household member should take
an inventory of their new Things.
For example, someone might have received one book, one
CD, two shirts, three toys (this includes adult toys!),
and two DVDs. That person then needs to choose the same
number of the same type of item to donate. After
choosing the items to donate, the person needs to select
the recipient and take the items to their location as
soon as possible. Choosing a charity is
be a personal decision. Some people don’t mind where
their items go as long as the items leave their space.
Other people have specific causes to which they
would prefer to see their items go to. Some examples of
charities include women’s shelters, overseas missions,
and homeless shelters, just to name a few.
Families can make
donating into an annual event. Once
everyone has chosen their donation items, the family chooses
their charity and takes the items. Such
a tradition enables all family members to see the value
in having a method for removing Things from their space.
After all, I doubt that anyone wants to perpetuate
clutter habits in the next generation!
Be
Radical!
Consider sending a note to family and friends which says,
“Please make a donation
for <you decide if you want to suggest specific charities
or if you want the giver to choose the recipient>,
instead of giving me a gift. I have enough
stuff and think that it is time to help others who are
less fortunate.”
Final
Thought
The holidays are a wonderful time of the year. Gifting
and receiving are one part of the holiday season. Think
about your gifting and receiving habits so that your holiday
memories don’t include stress resulting from not
knowing where to put your new Things.
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 North
Carolina’s
first
Certified
Professional
Organizer
in
Chronic
Disorganization,
Janice
Russell,
and
her
firm,
Minding
Your
Matters®
Organizing,
have
built
a
reputation
for
helping
business
and
residential
clients
organize
their
space,
items,
documents,
and
time
using
the
flexible
structure
principle™.
Janice’s
workshops
on
topics
such
as
tackling
the
“no
time”
trap,
perishing
paper
piles,
and
stopping
“stuff”
from
being
overwhelming
are
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and
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Minding
Your
Matters®
is
dedicated
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achieve
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and
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lives.
Janice
is
highly
regarded
within
her
industry.
She
is
Education
Chair
for
the
National
Association
of
Professional
Organizers
(NAPO)
and
past
president
of
the
North
Carolina
Chapter
of
NAPO.
Janice
is
the
author
of
Get
Organized
This
Year!
For
more
information,
please
visit
www.mindingyourmatters.com
or
call
919-467-7058.
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Janice
Russell,
CPO-CD
Minding
Your
Matters®
Organizing
Consultants
Past
President,
National
Association
of
Professional
Organizers
(NAPO)
-
North
Carolina
Chapter
Education
Chair,
NAPO
Member,
National
Study
Group
on
Chronic
Disorganization
Adjunct
Professor,
Meredith
College |
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