The “Twenty-Four Out the Door” Christmas Countdown Challenge

Christmas is right around the corner. ‘Tis the season for gifting! As fun as it is to give and receive gifts this time of year, receiving gifts can actually add to feelings of overwhelm. These feelings come when extra stuff gets added to our homes that already have a lot of stuff.

I find I get most overwhelmed by gifts my kids receive. At their ages (7, 4 and 1), they receive mostly toys for Christmas…which they love, of course! It is fun to see how excited they get over their new, fun items. But it isn’t so fun to pile more toys into their already overflowing toy boxes.

My husband and I don’t get nearly as many Christmas gifts as the kids do, but even gifts we receive can add to our “stuff” problem. However, we are always grateful for gifts our loved ones give to us and our kids. I’ve found that it helps us to make way for new items in our house by getting rid of old ones before Christmas. That’s why I created the “Twenty-four Out the Door” Challenge.

The Challenge

Since there are twenty-four days in December leading up to Christmas, this is designed as a Christmas countdown challenge. It begins on December first and ends on the twenty-fourth. The challenge is to choose one item each day to send “out the door” of your home. By the time you reach Christmas Eve, you will have gotten rid of twenty-four items!

I encourage each person in a family to contribute twenty-four of their own things to this challenge (that’s 120 items for a family of five!!!). However, it can be done together as a family, where the total number of items out the door equals twenty-four. Whichever way you choose to do it, just do it! I promise it will be rewarding and it will probably even be fun!

What Do I Send “Out the Door?”

There are so many different items that will qualify for your “twenty-four.” Some ideas are:

• Clothes and shoes that don’t fit or haven’t been worn in two years or more
• Toys that are no longer played with
• Household items that do not get used
• Broken or unusable items
• Things sitting around that need to be thrown away
• Items you have waaaaay too many of (blankets, books, mugs, collectibles, etc.)

Whatever you choose each day, make sure that its absence will make a difference in your home. Decide to get rid of things that have taken up residence in your space but no longer serve a significant purpose. Take time to think about which items will make the biggest positive impact in your home once you no longer have them.

Disqualified Items

Let’s talk now about the things that will not qualify as your “twenty-four.”

• Anything that comes into your house once the challenge has started
  • The point is to get rid of things you already have
• Gifts for people outside your home
  • Yes, these things are technically going out the door, but they were going to be leaving your home even without doing the challenge
• You cannot count each item in a set as separate items
  • For instance, a twenty-four piece puzzle is counted as one, not twenty-four
    • Darn it! You thought you had me there, didn’t you 😉
• If each person in a family is doing the challenge separately, each person can only count items that belong to them
  • I can just see a big brother trying to get rid of little sister’s things and count them as his, ha
• Material items only
  • Sending “negativity” out the door is great, but not relevant to this challenge (same goes for digital items like pictures or emails)
• Anything that makes you feel like you’re taking the easy way out
  • Trust me, you will get more out of this challenge if you don’t cut corners

What Do I Do With The Stuff?

Once you have chosen the items to get rid of each day, you’ll need to decide what to do with them. There are five main options – give away, donate, recycle, sell, trash. Let’s take a closer look at each one of these so you can make the best decision for your stuff.

1. Give away – Find someone who can use what you have then give it to them for free. This could be a friend, family member, neighbor or someone you don’t even know. If your item(s) is in good shape and could be easily reused by someone else, then giving it away is a great option. Something you no longer use or want could be a great blessing to someone else. You can even do a contact-free porch drop off/pick up. You could advertise your free item(s) on social media or send a quick text to a group of friends.
2. Donate – Donation centers are a great place to get rid of many items all at once. However, be considerate of the kinds of things accepted by centers like these. When in doubt, call before you go to make sure the items you have fit their donation guidelines. Shelters and community closets seem to always be in need of in-season clothes and apparel. These can be great places to donate coats and other winter clothing items.
3. Recycle – Anything you have that cannot be reused should be recycled, if possible. Look into the kinds of items your local recycling center will take. Aside from the common cardboard, glass and plastic, did you know that many textiles can be recycled as well? If you have clothes, shoes, blankets, towels, etc. that are stained, ripped or can’t be used by someone else, look into recycling rather than tossing them in the trash. Most household textiles can be recycled! There are usually specific places (not necessarily recycling centers) that recycle textiles. A quick internet search can help you find these places in your area.
4. Sell – It’s always nice to have some extra cash at Christmas time, right? If you have items that may be worth some money, you can try to sell them to get them out your door. I have had success listing things on social media and selling sites/apps. I’ve also sold like-new clothing and shoes to local shops that re-sell those kinds of things. Consignment sales are great, especially for kid and baby toys, gear, clothes and shoes. Some jewelry stores will buy gold, silver and gemstones. You can check local antique/vintage shops if you have items to sell that fall into that category. Lastly, a typical garage sale or an online one can be a good way to sell a large number of items.
5. Trash – Finally, if the stuff you’re sending out the door doesn’t fall into the four categories above, then throw it out!

Alternative Gift Ideas

The point of this challenge is to get rid of extra stuff in your home before more stuff comes in during the Christmas season. However, the point is not to feel like you have to replace every item with something new. Our family of five will be getting rid of 120 items during this challenge and we do not intend to bring 120 new items into our home. In fact, there are many great gift ideas that do not take up space and are not material at all. As a mom, I actually really enjoy non-toy gifts for my kids, such as:

• Experience gifts like movie tickets, zoo passes, swimming lessons and date nights are all a lot of fun and don’t add to the “stuff” problem.
• Instead of several small toys, buy a larger, more useful gift instead. Some ideas would be a high chair for a baby, a car seat or stroller for a toddler, a backpack, shoes or sports equipment for older kids.
• Putting aside money in a savings account or savings bonds is a great gift for a child’s future. The child might not find it fun now, but they will be thankful several years down the road.

Let’s Do This!

Each day in December, take a few minutes to choose one thing (either per person or per family) to send out the door of your home. The things you get rid of could be of great use to someone else. Or maybe most of the things you say good bye to will be recycled or trashed. This Christmas season, instead of adding more stuff to your already cluttered space, remove things you no longer need to reduce feelings of overwhelm in your home. Christmas isn’t about “things” anyway. My prayer for you is that you feel God’s love, hope and peace as we countdown to Christmas together.

Please let me know in the comments about the things you are getting rid of during this challenge. Do you have great ideas for experiences or non-toy gifts for kids? Let me know below, I love hearing from you!

Have a Merry Christmas!