Organization Is the Key to a Thrifty Christmas

I used to buy things on clearance and hit the after Christmas sales hard. Three years later, I’d be organizing an area and…stocking stuffers! I knew I had more stuff. After awhile, I got really tired of buying stuff I already had just because I couldn’t find it. That’s when I came up with my secret weapon – the sun room. For some reason, probably because it is actually the darkest room in the house, no one uses the sun room. (I keep threatening to rename it the shade room if someone doesn’t put in that wall of windows soon.) I cleared a lot of stuff out that needed to be donated or put on Craigslist and bought a few inexpensive cabinets. Then, I installed a counter height cabinet below them.

Now, I have a holiday wrapping area, a gift storage area and a decoration storage area all in the same place. Any gifts go immediately in the cabinets when I buy them. So, no more "Size 10 Spiderman pajamas? When did I buy these?" moments in my house!

I’m still not done, but it made Halloween downright simple. As you can see from the Halloween shelf, I plan to have bins so I can keep things neat. Bins also make it easy for me to pull down the contents of a shelf and sort through them.

The present center is currently packed, but it will be much emptier shortly. I have the majority of the upcoming year’s birthday toys and all of this year’s Christmas gifts in it. Here’s a glimpse of what’s inside. The bag is holding stuffed toys for a baby shower I’m collecting gifts for. I should switch it for one of those clear zip up bags you buy bed linens in, huh?

Photos by me