By the time you read this post, the Christmas holiday should be just about over. It has been a good run, but now you have to return the house to normal. That means taking down and storing away all the Christmas decorations that have made your house so festive since late November.
Unfortunately, many of us tend to view what began as a joyous season as bordering on drudgery now. Sure, we all love Christmas. But the thought of ‘un-decorating’ once it is all over doesn’t necessarily qualify as a pleasant one.
Unfortunately, we cannot do anything about how you feel. However, what we can do is offer you four different strategies for taking down and packing away those Christmas decorations:
Strategy #1: All or Nothing
The first strategy is the all-or-nothing strategy. It is a strategy that says you are going to do everything all at once or not at all. This is not necessarily the best strategy if you have a strong tendency to procrastinate, as your Christmas decorations could still be up on Valentine’s Day. It might be the perfect strategy if you are a classic go-getter.
Making this strategy work is a matter of selecting a day and then making plans to do nothing but attack the Christmas decorations. Maybe the Saturday after New Year’s works well for you. Perhaps you don’t want to wait that long, so you choose the second or third. Either way, pick a date and go all-in. Start first thing in the morning and then reward yourself with a pizza for dinner.
Strategy #2: A Little Bit for Everyone
Our second strategy is a variation of the first with a couple of twists. First, everyone in your family is assigned certain tasks so that everyone shares the load. Second, you do not necessarily have to pick a single day. Pick a deadline date instead.
This strategy means less work for everyone and less stress than going all-or-nothing on a single day. The only downside is the risk of having to go after certain family members who seem reluctant to follow through on their responsibilities.
Strategy #3: A Little Bit Every Day
The ‘little bit every day’ strategy is one we have found works very well for seniors. You choose a day to start, let’s say January 2, and you do a little bit every day until you’re finished. Spend maybe 15 to 30 minutes at a time. Unless you have thousands of decorations scattered around your house, you should be able to finish things up inside a week.
If there is a downside to this strategy it is the fact that some people feel like doing a little bit every day drags the job out for too long. If you like to see more immediate results, you might want to try one of the other strategies.
Strategy #4: Whenever It Feels Right
Our last strategy is ideal for people who don’t like hard and fast rules. They clean up the Christmas decorations whenever it feels right. If that means the first week of January this year but early February next year, it’s no big deal. They will get to it when they get to it.
This strategy obviously has one glaring downside: the very real risk that your Christmas decorations will still be up in July. But perhaps that wouldn’t be so bad. You could always do a ‘Christmas in July’ gig before repeating the whole process again. Guess where that would lead? Your decorations would still be up next November.
We wish you well in your endeavors to get back to normalcy after a busy Christmas season. In the meantime, we would also like to wish you all the happiness, health, and prosperity the new year has to offer.