Day 29 - Wrapping Paper & Gift Bags

Do you save gift bags & wrapping paper or do you throw it out and only buy supplies when you need them? There are obvious benefits to both options.  I am all about reusing gift bags & tissue paper. We have been married for 5 1/2 years and I have yet to purchase a gift bag for a wedding gift! I didn’t save all of the gift bags we received but I did keep several. For us it makes the most sense to keep and store bags and tissue paper we can reuse. It is definitely a money saver.

The key is not keeping more than you need.  

Take a before picture!

1. GATHER

   • Collect all of your gift wrapping supplies and lay them out in one area.

   • It’s important to look at all of it at once to determine how much you need to get rid of.

2. PURGE

   • Trash or recycle  items that are:

     1. Torn

     2. Outdated

     3. Wrinkled 

     4. Scraps that are too small for actually wrapping anything

     5. No longer appealing to you

   • Donate excess items.

   • Be realistic about how much is reasonable to save.

3. SORT

   • Sort bags by size, color, occasion,

   • Sort gift wrap by size, texture, occasion, 

   • Sort tissue paper by size, color, occasion, 

4. ORGANIZE & STORE

   • There are a lot of gift wrapping storage options out there. Use what you have or do a quick online search to see what fits your needs best. 

   • After you’ve determined the best place to store gift wrapping supplies, do not keep more than will neatly fit in that space. You may need to revisit the purging steps.

   • I use some pretty unconventional storage idea to organize my gift wrapping supplies. I keep gift bags in acrylic file holders and I mount kitchen wrap organizers on the wall to store wrapping paper! I like to keep both of these items off of the floor and they intentionally don’t hold much. I keep tags, scissors, tape, markers, and ribbon in a small storage bin.

5. MAINTAIN

   1. Do not keep items that are torn, not your style, odd sizes, etc. If you don’t think you’ll use it, don’t keep it.

   2. When you take gift wrapping supplies out, be careful not to mess up the storage space.

   3. Put things away neatly each time you use the supplies.

Don’t forget to take an after picture!

Hold on to your before and after pictures for a few more days.

You’ll need them to enter the giveaway at the end of January!