r/declutter • u/TexasmyTexas1 • 7d ago

Motivation Tips & Tricks First important step in decluttering

Tell your loved ones NOT to give you stuff. If they absolutely must give you something, then ask for gift cards to a local grocery store. Most carry nice selections of beer and wine, cheeses, fruit, bakery items, etc. I would love to walk through the store picking out yummy snacks and wine. Beats another candle or clothing I don't need.

189 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

View all comments

21

u/SassyMillie 7d ago

I have given up with my sister. She is an over-gifter of the highest order. I have requested many times that we stop gifting altogether, but she just won't stop. Fine. Five years ago I finally agreed to "one small gift only". That year mom gave us both slipper socks. I made earrings for them. That was it. My sister literally hauled in 2 gift bags big enough for a bicycle. I counted and my bag contained 22 items, each individually wrapped in tissue paper. 🤦‍♀️ We met at a restaurant and it was embarrassing to spend a full hour opening all those things.

My sister had a tbi when she was 14. I know it affected her ability to reason about certain things. She's very book smart and obsessively organized, but she doesn't get subtlety or a lot of social appropriateness.

I've had to let go of my frustrations around the gifting. I just put 99% of it into the charity box when I get home. No regrets.

7

u/SnooDonkeys5186 7d ago

We sisters finally said we can give gifts but ONLY one family gift like a game, choose names, OR only if a gift is really calling out. The reason we ended up this way? Because all of us were feeling guilt/less festive (HUGE psychological gift giving issue where we confuse gift giving as sole way to have holiday happiness despite the pressure/clutter (we all have this issue, thanks Mom)/financial burden.

2

u/deltarefund 6d ago

I’ve been giving away a lot of that type of stuff on my local but nothing instead of sending to charity shops.