Clarify Your Christmas - declutter and keep it simple

The run-up to Christmas can be a sure-fire recipe for stress, especially in tough economic times when we have less money as well as time to spend on presents, preparation and entertaining. 


Lots of us have a grand old clear-out in the New Year, but decluttering BEFORE Christmas to make space for all your gifts, goodies and guests over the festive season can go a long way to creating a welcome sense of peace and goodwill. And remember that the true spirit of Christmas ISN'T all about splashing the cash so why not make yours a simpler celebration this year?

Here are my tips to streamline and simplify your Christmas planning to help you save time and money, make your home feel calmer and more spacious, and you feel more in control in the run-up to the festive season.

Make space BEFORE you go Christmas shopping 
This sounds obvious but have you ever come home from a marathon gift-buying session for the family then wondered where you’ll ever find space to hide all their presents till the big day? Better to clear the decks before you deck the halls and spend all your lolly. The bonus of a big pre-Christmas clearout  is that those secret corners may hide unwanted or forgotten items that could either make more presents or be sold to give you more Christmas spending money. 

While you're at this early stage make time to draw up a master checklist of ALL your seasonal tasks and deadlines – menus, food shopping lists, who you need to get presents for, etc. It beats trying to keep too much in your head, it will almost certainly save you money by avoiding panic-buying in crowded shops – and don’t under-estimate the satisfaction of ticking things off as you get them done!

Reduce the toy mountain

If you’ve got children, they’ll get loads of toys and games for Christmas. Chances are you are struggling to store the ones they’ve already got so enlist their help in making room for what Santa will bring.  Either hold a car boot or garage sale and let the kids have the proceeds to buy their own Christmas presents, or give them to charity – children can be very generous if you explain that some other youngsters aren’t as lucky as them, or that their unwanted toys can help animal charities.

Cut the paper trail 

Christmas means wrapping paper. Lots of it. But before you rush out and buy rolls and rolls of it, are you sure you haven’t got leftovers from last year sitting around somewhere waiting to be used up? One tip is to buy gold, silver or coloured foil wrapping paper that doesn’t have obvious Christmas decorations or greetings on it – then it can be used for wrapping gifts for birthdays and more throughout the year.

Avoid decoration distractions
Christmas decorations are the set-dressing that helps create a magical backdrop to the celebrations, but there’s no need to splash out on a new look every year just to fit fashion’s whims.

A vase of decorated twigs is simple but elegant

This autumn Mother Nature has given us a fantastic bounty of fruit and berries so why not take a countryside walk and turn hunter-gatherer to harvest some natural decorations that won't cost you a penny? 

A jug of berried boughs - it doesn't have to be holly - will make a lovely traditional red and green table or mantelpiece arrangement. A bowl of polished red apples or platter of pinecones with a few baubles added for sparkle looks wonderfully festive. 

And who says you must have a Christmas tree? Why not ring the festive changes this year by hanging decorations on a bunch of interesting twigs in a tall vase and adding a string of simple white fairy lights? If you like you can spraypaint the twigs white, silver or gold to look extra Christmassy - or a different colour to compliment your baubles and living room colour scheme. The internet is a great source for more simple and inexpensive decorating ideas.

If you do find decorations you don’t need or like while decking your halls, box them up and give them away to brighten up someone else’s home or a perhaps a local charity’s Christmas event.

Thoughtful giving
Instead of rushing around spending more than you can afford on presents, how about giving those important people in your life the gift that money can't buy instead?  As Rick Warren, American philantropist and author puts it: "Time is your most precious gift because you only have a set amount of it. You can make more money, but you can't make more time. When you give someone your time, you are giving them a portion of your life that you'll never get back. That is why the greatest gift you can give someone is your time."

So how can you package up and gift-wrap your time? With some creative thinking about how your time and skills can provide a tailor-made treat for a loved one or special friend, the possibilities are almost endless. You could give them a 'gift voucher' that's valid for a day's gardening or decorating, or a few hours' sewing, or a special occasion cake you will make when they want it. A busy mum might really appreciate a day off with you taking the children off her hands more than yet another collection of bath oil. An elderly friend would probably love being taken for an afternoon out in the car far more than given a box of chocolates. 

The best-received present I have given this year was to a male friend who is mad about the comic book character Iron Man. I couldn't think what to buy him and then hit on this idea: I searched out and printed a range of Iron Man images from the internet (cost: nothing apart from printer paper), cut them out and arranged into a collage (cost: two hours of my time), then displayed it in an unused box frame I found in a cupboard (cost: nothing). Result? A unique personalised artwork that has pride of place on his wall and he was so chuffed with that it made ME feel like a super-hero!  

Clarify your wardrobe
If your wardrobe and drawers are already full to bursting, where will you put new party glad-rags or clothing gifts? Have a proper sort-out  and give a Christmas bonus to the charity shop of your choice by donating all your unwanted clothing and shoes. The best way is to get EVERYTHING out of your wardrobe and go through every item – if you haven’t worn it in the past year, let it go. Do the same with your drawers and shoe and coat cupboards.

Quality items could earn you some welcome festive dosh on eBay or through a local dress agency. Another fun way to recycle festive fashion items is to organise a 'swishing party' where you can swap good quality clothes, shoes and bags with your female friends. That little black dress that’s just TOO little these days could be exactly what a slimmer pal is looking for, while the heels and bag she wore last Christmas might be just the thing to jazz up your 2013 party wear. Find out more at swishing.com

Clear out the kitchen 

Christmas means lots of extra food to store, so why not save on the food budget for a week or so by making store-cupboard meals to use up all those tins and jars that have been sitting around waiting to be used. You’ll save money so you have more to spend on delicious festive fare and it’s an opportunity to clean and reorganise the cupboards ready for Christmas. And when it's time to stock up again remember to stick to your festive food shopping list. It's oh, so easy to be tempted by all those seasonal special treats and offers in the supermarket - but remember how much uneaten food you probably ended up throwing out after LAST Christmas?

Flush out the fridge and freezer
Have a proper clear-out of the fridge and freezer – throw out all those leftovers you are never REALLY going to use, and use up the food that’s in there so there will be plenty of space for storing all the Christmas necessities as well as room for some pre-cooked meals to ease the festive cooking burden over the holiday period.

Have a bathroom blitz
As with the kitchen, so with the bathroom. Some body and bath products are almost bound to be in everyone’s Christmas stocking, so make way for them by clearing the bathroom of all the half-empty or unused products that are cluttering the shelves and cupboards.  Sort the best of the used products  into  men’s and women’s and  offer them as free job lots on recycling sites such as Freecycle and Freegle if there’s a group near you - less well-off families will be very grateful for them.   
Unused bathroom products can also be donated to your local domestic violence service for use in their refuges, see womensaid.org.uk
Animal charities will often take towels, tea towels, and bedding.  Check first before donating.

On your (book) marks!
Are your shelves groaning with books you’ve read and will never read again? Or even never read? You know what to do .. donate them to a charity shop or Christmas bazaar or recycle the unread ones as gifts.  The same goes for CDs and DVDs. There are also community conservation initiatives in many areas to save books and household items from landfill. Healthy Planet  has Books For Free Centres across the UK which distribute books that would otherwise be pulped to individuals, libraries, charities and schools. Healthy Planet also organises regular Stuff For Free events, a community re-use initiative to redistribute good quality furniture, clothing, toys, household items and sports equipment to new homes.

Gadget giveaway
Sort out those gadgets and gizmos that were ‘must-haves’ when you got them.  If they’ve been gathering dust, or superseded by a better, newer model, are you REALLY going to use them again? If the answer’s no, they’ve gotta go.  This applies just as much to unused kitchen ‘essentials’ (when did you last use that fondue set or cappuccino frother?) as ‘boy’s toys’.  Flog 'em on eBay or give them to a charity shop and you could make someone else’s  Christmas.

Make space for your guests
Is your spare room a depository for all the stuff that won’t fit anywhere else in your house? Then it’s sure time to declutter if you’ve got guests coming for Christmas. If you don’t have the time or the task feels too overwhelming why not treat yourself a practical pre-Christmas present?  The Association of Professional Declutterers and Organisers has friendly experts based all over the UK who can help turn a spare room clutter mountain into a welcoming bedroom in just a few hours. 

Make space for your new gifts
Decluttering can be a pretty good Christmas present in its own right, but let’s hope Santa will bring you something nice too.  Homes can feel pretty crowded at Christmas time so it makes sense to encourage everyone in the family to make a space ready to store their gifts so they are not cluttering up the living room once opened.

Recycle and get ready for a clutter-free New Year
Once Christmas is over,  clear the house of all the festive clutter as soon as possible – wrapping paper, cards, tree and bottles can all be recycled.  And as for those unwanted presents?  There’s someone out there who would LOVE them – so let them go and make someone else happy, whether you sell them or donate to charity.

If you would like help with decorating your home for Christmas or decluttering before or after the festive season, get in touch with Clarify Interiors - the clue's in our name! See www.clarifyinteriors.co.uk, telephone me on 01865 594955 or 07917 716004 or email clare@clarifyinteriors.co.uk

Winning ways to tame the teen bedroom battleground

Working as a home stager, interior stylist and professional organiser/declutterer means that I often get asked by parents  - and this question is usually asked with a heavy sigh and raised eyebrows -  “I really don’t know what to do about (insert name of teenager)’s room …”

Does this look familiar?

A common battleground between parents and teens is the young person trying to assert their growing independence from Mum and Dad. And very often the theatre of war where this battle is most bitterly fought is in the place that is their personal space, the bedroom.  

So shouting matches ensue when teens hide the walls with posters and the floor under piles of discarded clothes, unwashed mugs and plates, and parents trespass on their offspring’s sacred space in desperate guerrilla raids to clean up the muddle. In fact the untidy teenager phenomenon's so common that the word 'floordrobe' has recently become an official Collins dictionary definition on the basis of public submissions! 

It’s true that teenager’s bedrooms can be the most challenging to deal with, either when  you are trying to get your house looking its best to sell, or when you want to get the family on board to declutter and get the home more organised. I often find myself in the middle, with a teen intent on self-expression digging their heels in on one side and a frustrated parent on the other. 

An independent second opinion can be helpful in breaking the deadlock and finding a way forward that works for everyone, which is why I now offer family decluttering sessions (these can be very illuminating, and empowering for younger members, when it's pointed out that yes, Dad's out-of-hand 'piles of books in every room' library collection and Mum's overstuffed wardrobe are just as much clutter as a teen's treasures). Along the way I have learned ways to get younger members of the family on board with home organisation and makeovers as well as the business of staging your property for sale - which can get especially sticky when moving means leaving the home they've grown up in.   

So here are a few suggestions which I hope will help defuse teen room hostilities if you feel like a family at war ...

Don't impose when you can involve

Allow your teen to be involved in decisions about organising and decorating their space. You may not be particularly keen if they want to paint their room black or purple or in their football team’s colours but they may have other creative ideas that you haven’t thought about.  And negotiation is good – you could be persuaded to let them have one dark or vivid feature wall but point out that all-over black/purple/red/fuchsia pink can be overpowering and will make their room feel smaller and darker.

If Blu-tacked or sticky-taped posters are damaging paint or wallpaper, putting them in inexpensive clip frames and hanging them properly will also protect the posters from tearing or curling at the edges. 

Making a wall feature of a giant pinboard is another way to allow your teens to display their stuff without ruining the decor. Here's one way to make one from Amber Interiors  or you could hang several smaller pin boards together to make a larger display space.

Moves to help motivate a move

However if you’re planning to move, pale and neutral wall colours are always best to show your home - and that includes teen bedrooms - to its best advantage when you put it on the market. In this case you could have neutral walls and incorporate your teen’s interests and favourite colours in new accessories instead (that can go with them to your new home). Then the room won't be quite so over-powering for prospective buyers. 

Tidying the 'floordrobe' and toning down teen
decor pays off when selling. Incentives can
help if they are resistant to change! 

When getting ready to move, previous clients with teenagers have found that my suggestion of an incentive scheme (OK, yes, it's a bribe in other words) will persuade their offspring to 'buy in' to changing their rooms to help the sale. It takes the form of a promise of a special treat or outing - or even a cash payment - once the house is sold. Music or match tickets can be a powerful inducement to get kids on side to tone down a loud colour scheme or take down some of their, er, very personal taste in wall posters! 

If YOU need an incentive to go down this route because you anticipate resistance (opposing your parents is the very essence of teenage rebellion, after all) it pays - literally! - to remember this: prospective buyers will look out for things they would need to change as excuses to make a reduced offer. Too many 'red flags' will make them pass over a property altogether for one they can move into and not have to do anything straight away. In one recent case de-personalising a dark and cluttered teen bedroom was the only redecoration needed to clinch a sale for over £13,000 above the previous best offer. That more than paid for a fabulous family holiday to celebrate once the family had moved, and all for the minimal investment of a few hours' effort and a couple of cans of paint! 

Another time-and-stress saving tip when preparing your property for sale is to have special 'staging bedding' (lightweight quilts and pillows dressed in clean pillowcases and quilt covers in plain and simple white or a pale neutral shade) ready to put over the top of the bedding your children are sleeping in when there are viewings. This saves (often unproductive) nagging to make the bed and a nicely dressed bed means at least the main focal point of the room will look clean and tidy to prospective buyers. 

Storage that works

Recognise that it’s important for your teen to have a haven they can call and make their own.  If they don’t like hanging up their clothes, no amount of nagging is going to make them do it. But putting up some (temporary) shelves in the wardrobe with storage crates to fit provides a quick and easy way to scoop the piles off the floor and out of sight. So what if their clothes are crumpled? Other than school uniform is it really so important? Anyway, they’ll need to learn how to use an iron sometime …

And so to bed ...

One inexorable sign that your 'baby' is growing up is when they want a double bed. OK, the boyfriend/girlfriend sleepover dilemma may yet be a way off, but they ARE growing up in size and they DO spend a lot of time in bed so it may simply be a more comfortable option. It doesn't necessarily mean they are planning on having sex the moment you're out of the house (and frankly, we all know you don't need a double bed for that anyway!)

A loft bed can be built in as here or
free-standing 

If your teen needs a new bed and you do go for a double I'd recommend avoiding divans with built-in drawers (in my experience they'll never put anything in them). Instead choose a simple frame bed which not only looks less bulky in a small bedroom but offers storage space underneath that you can make good use of with lidded storage crates (semi-transparent so it's easy to see what's in them without having to turn everything out.

If you have rooms with high enough ceilings a loft bed will almost double your teen's personal space, giving them a cosy sleeping platform-cum-relaxing reading/listening to music area and plenty of room below for storage, study and entertaining friends. 

And another big plus-point of a 'high sleeper' bed for a teenager who's not naturally tidy is that it's not immediately obvious if the bed's not been made! 

Clear-up incentives

If your teen’s room is bursting at the seams with stuff they no longer need or use, it can be hard to persuade them to part with it by just chucking it out. But teenagers always need money, so why not help them sell it at a car boot or garage sale or on eBay with the promise that they can keep the profits?   

Lots of teens are environmentally aware too, so show them that saving the planet can start at home by recycling their old stuff, either by donating to a charity shop or giving it away via sites like Freegle  or Freecycle  or the Books For Free initiative run by Healthy Planet 

This approach can be particularly persuasive in getting your offspring to have a clear-out close to birthdays or Christmas when you can stress that they’ll be giving a gift to help others less fortunate than themselves (and not just doing YOU a favour!)

Finally, remember that your offspring are not teenagers for ever. And when they leave home and you're an empty-nester, you may even find yourself missing their noise and mess. Strange but true. I know I did!

Clare Parrack, owner, Clarify Interiors