Tag Archives: gifts

The Christmas Gift Dilemma

By Claire Posted in Clutter, Personal, Simpler Living Tagged , , , ,

It’s that time of year again: decision-making time regarding Christmas gifts. When I was a child, opening gifts was high excitement. I want to recreate that for my grandkids.

But there are a few problems with this idea. Their folks aren’t looking for lots of new toys to trip over. One of my kids is a minimalist; two are moving next year. So they don’t want us to give their kids lots of stuff.

I understand, and if our grandkids were older, I’d have no problem giving them gift cards. But I really enjoy watching the littles open their gifts, and seeing how excited they get. I know from experience that there are only so many years that they show that excitement. Before long they reach the teen years, when you can’t even get them out of bed on Christmas morning.

So I’m torn. To complicate things, many popular toys are in short supply this year. Apparently an awful lot of them are sitting in shipping containers in the waters just west of California. I don’t want to buy my grandkids just any old thing so they can open something. I want it to be something they will love. I don’t want to clutter up my kids’ homes, but it’s more important to me to make my grandkids happy.

I suspect I’m not the only person grappling with this dilemma.

Gifts for the Grands

By Claire Posted in Clutter, Personal, Simpler Living, Small-House Living Tagged , , , ,

It’s that time of year when many of us begin shopping for Christmas gifts for friends and family. But it’s not as simple as it used to be. Not everyone wants a physical gift anymore.

This is particularly true of some of my adult kids. I’m sure their children like opening gifts, but they don’t want more clutter in their homes. One of them suggested that I buy experiences instead of physical gifts for my grandchildren.

Of course, my mind immediately went back to when I was a child, and how much I loved finding my gifts under the Christmas tree. And it also brought back memories of how much my children enjoyed opening their many gifts each year on Christmas morning.

But my kids were at home all day and had plenty of time to play with all of their toys. Some of my grandchildren spend long days in daycare or school and afterschool care, and come home in time to have dinner and go to bed again. They have plenty of toys and no time to play with them.

The days of a child having only one or two treasured toys are long gone. Kids today have more toys than they know what to do with; sometimes they’re so busy playing games and watching movies on their parents’ phones that they don’t even think about their toys.

This is hard for me to accept but I think it’s a fact: it would be wiser for me to give them experiences instead of stuff. Their parents would prefer it, and they might actually get some enjoyment out of museum passes, zoo passes, show tickets or something similar. Their folks don’t have a money tree, so providing a gift like this for the kids is also a gift for their parents. They can enjoy a fun outing with their children without having to pay for it.

So I’ve begun to research this concept. If you have grandchildren or young nieces and nephews or all of the above, you might also want to think about doing this. Here are some examples to get you started:

Play passes

Movie passes

Museum passes (some offer the bonus benefit of getting into other museums for discounted or free admission)

Zoo and aquarium passes

Farm visits

YMCA or gym memberships

Kid-friendly restaurant gift certificates

Decluttering Mom for Mother’s Day

By Claire Posted in Clutter, Personal, Simpler Living Tagged , , ,

Mother’s Day is this Sunday in the U.S., and though it’s been a tradition for years to inundate Mom with all sorts of gifts, from perfume to clothes to housewares to stationery……don’t do it!

If your mom lives with lots of clutter, the last thing she needs is more of it. And if she doesn’t live with clutter, it’s logical that she probably doesn’t want to clutter up her place with things she doesn’t need but feels she should keep because they’re from her kids.

So what should you give your mom for Mother’s Day?

Speaking as the mom of several adults, I think I vouch for most moms when I say we’d just like to hear from you. Seeing you would be even better! You don’t have to give us lace hankies, or cutesy dishtowels with clever sayings on them. We prefer your presence over your presents.

But if you can’t be with us on Mother’s Day, and you feel you must give us a gift, consider the options that are either temporary or experiences:

  • Cut flowers are beautiful. We can enjoy them for a few weeks until they wilt. We’ll always remember that they came from you.
  • Flowering annual plants are wonderful; they are so pretty and last all summer, making our porches and balconies look lovely.
  • A sweet treat is always appreciated; there are many sugar-free and gluten-free goodies available if your mom is diabetic or has specific dietary requirements.
  • Gift cards are always nice, and the gift of an experience is even better, like tickets to a concert, or a few hours at a spa.

The very best gift, of course, would be an experience with you. No clutter, just joy!

It’s OK to Give Up Birthday and Christmas Gifts

By Claire Posted in Clutter, downsizing, My Books, Simpler Living, Small-House Living Tagged , , , , , , ,

Often, after a birthday, or the holidays, we’re left with more goodies than we really need. That’s why we need to go through the gifts we received, deciding which are keepers and which need to be moved along, so we can remain clutter-free, or at least somewhat clutter-free.

Of course, some gifts are absolute keepers: the scarf your daughter knitted for you, a book you’ve been wanting to read, a bottle of your favorite wine. But what of those gifts of a more generic variety? Items like:

  • A shower kit with a cheap plastic “loofa” and bubble-gum scented shower gel,
  • A box of cheese and sausage snacks from someone who isn’t close enough to you to know you’re vegetarian, or
  • A sweater (with no gift receipt or tags) in a color combo that hasn’t been popular since the 1980s.

These gifts are easy to pass along to someone who you know will want them, or to simply donate to a thrift store or charity that takes items to resell. Make the time to do that now, rather than move them around for the next few months before you finally become fed up and do something with them.

Then there are the wonderful gifts which replace something you already owned. For instance, someone once gave me a lovely pair of woolen slippers. They were sturdy, practical and quite expensive, I later learned. So why did it take me months to start wearing them and to throw out my old, ratty slippers? Emotional attachment is the best explanation, I suppose. But I tripped over the box containing the new pair for ages before I finally made myself do the trade and pitch the old pair.

Duplicate gifts are a bit easier to deal with. If you received two of something, and it’s not consumable, share one with someone else you know who might need it, or pass it along. Why try to make space for it when you already have one?

As you go through your gifts and decide which are keepers and which need to go, let the momentum that builds up carry you along so that you take anything else you happen to see that’s no longer useful to you and move it along, too. You’ll be surprised how that momentum works.

If you need help making the tough decisions about which gifts to keep and which gifts to get rid of, see my book, The Sentimental Person’s Guide to Decluttering for tips on moving along a variety of gifts, including heirlooms and expensive gifts.