Have you fallen into the cycle of giftwrap hell? This is how it goes: you receive a gift; keep the wrapping; stash it somewhere; forget where it is; and buy new wrapping paper. See below for 3 steps on how to combat it:
1. Reality Check – although it is good to keep wrapping paper, it does not mean that you need to keep every scrap/ to iron out pieces, etc. Keep pieces that will be easy to reuse, and recycle the rest. This will involve having an honest conversation with yourself about whether or not you’d be embarrassed to re-use the depressingly crushed bow that you have in your stash. Is it worth your time to buff it out or can you let it go and move on with your busy life?
Pull out the giftwrap, gift bags and decorations from the various places throughout the house. Go through what you’ve accumulated and separate it into keep, recycling and trash. Be hard on yourself, will you really use that tiny square of wrapping paper? Really?
2. Storage – Ok, now that you’ve brought your collection down to a reasonable amount (if you felt guilty when you read that, go back and do it again), let’s decide where to put it. If you live in a house, your options are many but if you live in an NYC apartment, I’m going to guess that your best options are under a bed or in a closet.
Make your decision based on ease of access. If you’re rarely grabbing for your supplies, feel free to put it somewhere more difficult to access. If you have a 3 year old and every weekend involves a birthday party, don’t make your life more difficult.
My two favorite options are this hanging gift bag and giftwrap organizer for the closet and a giftwrap storage container for under the bed.
3. Constant Vigilance! – Staying out of the cycle of giftwrap hell is a manageable feat and the best way to make sure your pile doesn’t grow is to monitor closely what comes in. So next time you have a birthday party, go through the wrapping paper and gift bags that day or the day after and decide what is to be kept, then put it away. The longer you wait, the more inclined you’ll be to just shove it all in.
Try my tips above and let me know how it goes! You can email me at tori@toritheorganizer.com and follow me on Instagram @toritheorganizer.
Comments