Wrapping paper - episode 3
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[00:00:00] Welcome to Less Messin Minutes. I'm Jenny, your gentle guide to Tiny Doable Decluttering. Each episode we tackle one small thing together, a drawer, a shelf, a bag, and I walk you through what I'm doing in real time. No pressure, no perfection. Just a few minutes that help your home feel lighter. So grab something to tidy or just listen along and let's make a little progress together.
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Christmas is just days away and I started wrapping gifts last night and when I opened up the gift wrap container, the thing that holds all the paper and the tissue paper, the boxes and things, um, I realized that this would be a really good project to tackle. Um, for the podcast because my goodness, this is a mess.
And I have way too much stuff and stuff that I know I won't use. And also because I'm switching [00:01:00] from like an underbed storage container, like a plastic container to one that, I don't wanna say it's fabric, but it's, um, it's not nearly as big and it's, it's not plastic. I don't know. I don't really know what it's made of, but I think that it's gonna be a little bit easier to deal with, but it also means that I'm gonna have less space, less room.
So I can't keep as much stuff as I've had, but that's okay because I don't need all of this. So I am gonna start this project off by just taking everything out of the plastic container, and I am going to group it by type. So I'm putting all my. Wrapping paper together, all of the tissue paper together. I always have way too much tissue paper.
I just like, it seems like every, every holiday or every event that I may [00:02:00] need to do some wrapping, I will pick up more tissue paper. So I can't imagine that I really need all this, but I'm gonna wait to make that decision until I see just how much I have.
So pulling out all the tissue paper now, um, I've got some gift bags.
Most of the gift bags are ones that they're not. Like brand new. There are things that somebody from this house got a gift in and we saved the gift bag. Now there are some that are, that are new, like little ones that sometimes they would use for gift bags for schools, um, things like that. I have some Easter grass.
I didn't know that was in there. And then I have a bag of bows and ribbons, which is kind of funny because I don't usually use, um, bows or ribbons. So I'm not sure. I guess, I guess at one point I thought I was gonna be a bow and ribbon person, [00:03:00] and, uh, and I bought some.
I don't know about you, but I tend to keep a lot of paper scraps too. Like I just don't wanna throw away wrapping paper, but it's, I can't imagine that, um, some of the gifts would have to be really, really tiny. That I was gonna wrap, wrap up because the paper is really small. Oh. I also have some gift tags.
Boy, some of these gift bags are really tiny. They're cute, but they're tiny.
Okay, so the first part is done. So I emptied the under bed plastic storage container, and I've got a pile of gift bags. Um, the Ziploc, the gallon size, Ziploc bag of Bose and ribbons. The Ziploc bag of gift tags a huge stack of tissue paper. And then I've got, um, wrapping [00:04:00] paper and most of this wrapping paper, honestly, it, it is just scraps.
I've got, looks like two things that are actually, um, paper on a roll. And then for this Christmas, I did buy three rolls of paper, actually four, but one is gonna be way too long. To fit in this new container that I have. Oh, and then there's the Easter grass. Um, okay, so now that I have everything sorted by type and grouped together, I'm just going to look at each gift bag and decide if I really wanna keep it.
And I'm gonna be a little ruthless here because. Um, I always feel an obligation to keep them, but rarely do I reuse them. So a few years ago I went through and got rid of a ton that we had kept and I am more, I typically will wrap presents rather than stick something in a bag. [00:05:00] And if I need a bag, I'll typically just run to the dollar store and grab one.
So I don't know that I really need to keep any, although it might not be bad to have a couple. I kind of do like the idea of keeping some of these small ones. I don't, I don't know why, just for a, I don't know, like if I needed one for, I don't even know what I would need it for. See, I'm trying to make an excuse to keep it.
I just don't know that I need to, okay, so let me start with the bigger bags first. So the first one I look at is completely ripped on the bottom. So that's an easy decision because it won't hold anything and it can go. okay. Then I have one that just says Happy birthday, and then I have two that are a decent size and for Christmas.
All right. So I mean, that's not like an abundance. I may keep all of those, but I'm gonna put 'em to the side and I'll [00:06:00] keep thinking about that. And then I've got these really small ones, which probably would fit like a gift card and some Hershey kisses or little candies, things like that. Or maybe an ornament.
Um, but again. if I needed something for like an ornament exchange, or like a gift card, I might just buy, I might just go buy a bag.
Looks like these come in, like sets of three or four, probably three. Okay. So I have. Two sets of three that are like holiday themed. Oh. And then a set of two that just doesn't really look like me. Um, you know how you kind of know what your style is? Um, I'm kind of like, for wrapping paper and bags, I'm kind of like bright and fun and these are kind of more muted, so I might put those to the side.
And then I've got some just like [00:07:00] craft bags that are, they're just, I guess they're from Target 'cause it's that brand, but looks like a recycled paper. Treat bags and it's a six count and just all different colors. Again, I'm not gonna part with those just yet. I'm gonna, I'm gonna consider that. Okay. Next.
I am going to. Look at the gift tags, and I have these stored in a, um, Ziploc baggie. They're still on the sheets, but I just have all the, the sheets are loose, and so I just have them in a baggie. And a lot of these are either used, like, you know, there's one or two on the sheet. or they're not even like the gift tags that you would write on, like one says, open this one first.
Warm wishes. They're just like, stickers more. So [00:08:00] Merry Christmas, Christmas time. This is the best gift. Things like that. And, I did buy. Some new gift tags this year, they were like $3 at target. some of these are, some of these pages are pretty crinkled up too.
Okay. So I am going to put a lot of these in the recycle and get rid of those.
Okay. And then I have some, like, there are a couple full sheets, in one of these packages that it looked like it was gonna be empty. So I'm just gonna rip the, the pages out that are empty
and then we'll still have the others.
Well, maybe I'm not, because they don't really rip out, so I'll get the scissors and take care of that.
All right. So again, any that I'm not keeping, I'm just putting off to the side.
And then I have one that's like a whole, [00:09:00] um, a whole container of one, not a container. It's like a little booklet. Looks like it's 50 peel and stick gift tags, and it looks like it is brand new. So I will hold onto that.
And then that other one, I'm gonna have to cut some of the pages out, which is fine.
Oh, and then I didn't realize this, but in that bag, that baggie of gift tags, there were some loose ones that like weren't on a page of gift tags.
Okay. I'm not gonna keep any of those. I'm just gonna put those in my get rid of pile.
Okay, so next up I'm gonna look through the actual gift wrap itself or the wrapping paper itself.
So much of this, like I said, it's just scraps and I don't even know that I'd be able to wrap anything with it.
And some is torn. Some the cat has taken a bite outta.
So for anything that's [00:10:00] too small, too crinkled or that I just know, I'm not gonna use, I'm just putting to the side.
I must have had really good intentions with holding onto these. These little scraps.
Okay, so I've sorted through the gift wrap and I put the small scraps and the things that I'm not gonna use off to the side.
Now I'm gonna give the gift boxes the once over. Now these are the boxes that like you would get at a store. Like I've got some from Macy's, I've got some just like plain white ones that I probably picked up at Target or the Dollar Store, a lot of the boxes that I use are just from other packaging, like, oh, I bought an electric pencil sharpener and it was a nice box.
And, I don't know. In our family, we just think it's fun to use those boxes. And then when somebody unwraps it, it's like, oh, you got a pencil sharpener, yay. Um, just silly. But, so I use a, those type boxes a lot, but the ones from stores come [00:11:00] in handy too. Kind of, uh, a little bit of a bummer is that some of these nicer Macy's boxes I think are gonna be too big for this new.
Container that I bought. So I might try to use those up this year, since I won't necessarily have a good place to store them, or I'll put 'em in my container of other type boxes like the pencil sharpener box and things like that. But each of these boxes, so I have one just like regular garment type box or.
Shirt box, and then I've got 1, 2, 3 of the Macy's boxes and I'm gonna hold on to all of those for now.
Okay, so at this point I've gone through everything minus the Easter grass, which I don't really need to go through, but I don't think I'm gonna keep it in this wrapping paper container. 'cause it doesn't really, doesn't really fit there. Doesn't belong there. Um, so now the last thing I need to go [00:12:00] through is the tissue paper.
So I've got some tissue paper that is just plain white, and then I've got some. That is more, um, I've got some pastels. I've got some red and greens. Um, I've got some that have designs on them. Looks like my cat took a bite out of some, oh, maybe not. Maybe that's just the outside. So little scraps that I cut to, like maybe I didn't need the whole piece of tissue paper. I'm not gonna keep those little scraps. So I'm gonna put those with my, um, wrapping paper scraps.
I'm going to just try to tidy it up a little bit. Some of this paper is, I don't know, it's like it's been jumbled.
I thought I had more of the pastel paper, but I only have two sheets and it's kind of crumpled up, so I'm not gonna keep either of those.
One thing I didn't go through is paper that I bought this year. So as I [00:13:00] mentioned, I bought three or four, four rolls for this season, and I'm still kinda using that, so I don't need to get rid of any of that stuff just yet, but I'm gonna make sure that I do a better job of being realistic with myself and not keeping these small scraps that.
I know that I'm really not going to use. So, um, we'll see what gets used this Christmas season. And then I, like I said, I just won't hold on to anything that, is just scraps.
Okay. So in the end I've got, a stack or a pile of plain white tissue paper. I've got tissue paper that is more holiday themed, red and green, and with some patterns. Um, I've got the wrapping paper from this year. Some old wrapping paper. I've got two [00:14:00] things, uh, like birthday paper, one that's kind of just a generic paper that probably could be used for anything.
I'm keeping one Happy birthday, gift bag two, well, like one kind of, I don't know, I guess they're kind of both medium sized Christmas type bags and then I'm keeping the craft bags. The two sets of the small, um, gift bags that would be used like for gift cards. Oh, you know what? I did not go through the Bose and ribbons.
So let me do that. And then I'm also keeping the two, um, one book that's completely new of gift tags and then one that I'm gonna cut a few pages out of because there's a lot of new ones. Like full sheets on the other. Okay, so I'm gonna open up this bag of [00:15:00] ribbons and bows. And like I said, I'm not really a ribbons and bows person, so I'm kind of surprised that I have these.
Okay, so I have, um, some hemp cord. I don't even know what I would use that for. I'm not sure why I even bought that, but it is a brand new, it's a completely brand new package. So I'm gonna donate that.
These other, um, bows and like the plastic bows and stuff. They are, they're not in a package. I mean, they've been open 'cause they're in the Ziploc bag. This one is completely smooshed. I don't even know that I could make that look new again, we're not gonna keep that.
Yeah, some of these are in really, really bad shape. Okay, so out of [00:16:00] this Ziploc baggie that had the bows in it, the plastic bows, um, let's see. There were,
looks like there were 12 and a lot of them are not any good. And so I think what I'm gonna do is just put the ones that aren't good to the side, and then I'm keeping 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Okay? So I'm gonna keep seven of the plastic bows, and here's what I'm gonna do. I'm just gonna use them. I don't usually put bows on things, but I'm going to put it on the gifts.
This year. I'll just find seven gifts that I'm gonna bestow with bows. And um, and then that's done.
I'm gonna get rid of these other ribbons. I've got one that says Hoho ho on it. It's 12, 12 feet of Hoho ho ribbon that I'm not gonna keep 'cause I'm not gonna use it. And then I've got some ribbon that's like pastel colors, also not [00:17:00] gonna use and I don't need to keep it. And then here's a brand new ribbon that I think I used it. I don't know what I used it for. I thought I had an idea, but I think I had bought multiple packages. But um, I'm gonna donate that 'cause that's brand new and I think somebody would use that.
And then there's this great big. Fabric bow. That's kind of wild. yeah, I'll use that too. I'll find a gift to put that on.
So all in all, not too bad. Got rid of lots of old gift tags like that either weren't gonna be used or that, um, it was mainly just stickers that I wasn't gonna put on gifts. The, the big gift bag that's ripped, um, quite a few pieces of tissue paper that we don't need. Um, and like some of the outer wrapping for the tissue paper.
And then I have a plan to use the bows. [00:18:00] I've got some ribbon that I'm gonna donate. I'm gonna throw away the, the smooshed, um, plastic bows so we can get rid of those. And then going forward, I'm going to plan to not save so many scraps of paper because I just, I don't need them. Um, so yeah, I'm pretty happy with this task.
And, um, I think what I'll do, I'm gonna see if everything that I'm keeping. Is gonna fit in this new container because if it's not, then I'm gonna need to, um, scale back a little bit more.
So I did have the paper that I bought for this year, it was in there, so I have to take it out.
My cat jumped in it last night when I was wrapping presents and started biting some of the paper and having a good old time.
I started to put the wrapping paper on the [00:19:00] bottom, but I think it makes more sense to put the tissue paper on the bottom since it's heavier. paper rolls are really light.
Okay. So everything fit with the exception of those Macy's gift boxes, but that's okay because I'm gonna try to use those up this year. And like I said, if they, if I don't end up using them, I'll just put them with the other, like, you know, other type boxes that I have here. Um. This little container even has a zipper pouch and then a Velcro pouch.
And so in the zipper pouch I put the gift tags, and then in the Velcro pouch I put the smallest of the gift bags. So really happy with how this turned out. If you decluttered something today, whether it was gift wrap or something else, I'd love to hear about it. You can email me at Jenny JEN [00:20:00] [email protected].
Thanks for joining me for today's small declutter. If you enjoyed our time together, I would love for you to follow the podcast so you never miss a little momentum boost. And if you'd like to learn more about me, you can check out my website, savvy spaces organizing.com. Until next time, my friend, take a breath, take a small step, and take good care of yourself.
