5 Gifts That Become Clutter

Christmas is such a beautiful time of year and can be one of the most expensive. Gift giving is supposed to be a thoughtful gesture of kindness, love and goodwill. However, for most of us there are at least a few people who we are simply obligated to get something, anything for. This is usually when we buy some generic gift just to cross that person off our christmas list. This article is here to highlight some very common gifts that I see soooo many clients get for gifts and which just end up becoming clutter, therefore, end up at Goodwill.

Don’t waste your money on these clutter contributors:

1.) Body products but more specifically seasonally scented things very often become clutter. This means things like the christmas scented lotions, hand soaps, body butters, etc. I think the reason is most often because season items only have a certain time frame of being relevant and it takes awhile to actually use up a whole thing of lotion or body butter or sometimes even soap. If you’re going to buy these body items try to steer clear of seasonal items which are cute but not overly specific to a certain time of year.

2.) Cheese Knives & Platters. Some people love to host and so this gift may make sense, but often times if they love to host they will already have one of these. Also having a platter and knife that are specifically for cheese limits it usage. Rather it is better to buy a plain platter that could be used for many thing not just cheese.

3.) “Spa” kits such as those rock stone massage kits, manicure/pedicure kits, feng shui kits, aromatherapy kits, etc. seem fun but I can tell you from my professional experience, people often times don’t even open them.

4.) Knick knacks such as paper weights,(like seriously, how often does our freaking paper blow away? What is the purpose of a paper weight!? It kills me!(rant over). Tiny containers/bowls/dishes that only can hold keys or candy (simply not practical!) pen holders, globes, book ends, vases, and all the other little decorative do dads that clutter shelves all across America. Stop it, just stop it.

5.) Clothes - People almost always already have too much clothes so they don’t often need more. It’s also really hard to know a person’s correct size in different brands never mind their personal style. Even if you are thinking “Oh well that’s why I get a gift receipt if it doesn’t fit or they don’t like it” but then you’re just adding something on to their to do list which (sucks) and also takes up their time or more likely, they never get around to and it adds to the clutter.

INSTEAD OF THOSE GIFTS TRY THESE ONES!

1.) Gift Cards - People love gift cards most times because it allows them to get exactly what they want. Others say it’s not personal but I disagree. If you know someone is an avid book reader but don’t know what they would want to read, Barnes & Noble gift card. Done. If they’re really into sports, Dicks Sporting Goods gift card; if they’re into crafting, Michaels Craft store; etc. Almost any business will have a gift certificate option so it’s about identifying any kind of interest of theirs and finding some kind of gift certificate for them related to it. And if all else fails movie theaters and restaurants are pretty universal wins.

2.) Framed photo - It’s so simple and meaningful to print out a good photo of say... you and that person, or them and their family, or some nice memory that person would enjoy and put it in a nice frame. You can keep this super cheap or get real fancy with it. Honestly, almost everyone loves a framed photo, especially when so many times our photos are just in our phones or files on our computers.

3.) Food - Cookies, brownies, chocolates, caramel popcorn, jellies and marmalade sets, etc are all great little gifts you can give or make people. The reason this is so great is food is pretty universal, everyone’s gotta eat and then it gets consumed so it doesn’t create clutter. Voila!

4.) Groupons - So this is pretty close to gift certificates/gift cards but I’m putting it in its own category because this gift centers around gifting an experience rather than letting them go shop for their own physical retail item. Groupons are also awesome because they offer deals and discounts but you have to be careful of fine prints with these. You can also just get gift certificates to places like those escape room games are pretty ‘in’ right now, spa services, sports tickets, pretty much anything. Just as with gift cards try to find something you think they would like. Another cool thing of gifting an experience is that even if it’s something totally random like exploring caves, people usually get excited to have an opportunity to try something new so these gifts are pretty awesome.

I know I wrote top five things not to get people so I feel like I should balance that with 5 things that are better to get but I can’t come up with a 5th thing so it is what it is ya’ll! (Unless if you can think of something else that’s awesome write it in the comments I’d love to know!) So I hope this article helped shed some light on some common gift giving mistakes and gave you some better ideas so that you don’t have to contribute to your loved ones clutter!