How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

As we are coming up on the holidays I have this feeling of dread.

Why, you ask?

Because my family, mostly MIL, feels the need to buy us cr@p.

Stocking stuffers, "extra" gifts, "just saw this in the dollar store and thought it would look cute in your basement under a pile of other crap" gifts, etc.

It's all QUANTITY no quality.

We are seriously running out of room in our house and I know it's going to be 10x worse this year being DS's first Christmas.

How do I politely tell them that I would rather them NOT get us all those little filler gifts?

Or do I just suck it up and deal?

Re: How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

Suck it up and throw it out.

That's what I do with all of it.

Re: How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

suck it up and deal with it. I have a FIL who is the same way. You risk alienating them otherwise.

Re: How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

My MIL shops like that too. She actually told me that 100 $1 items are a better gift than one $100 item. We just suck it up and donate most of it to my church thrift shop or Goodwill. That way they can turn around and sell it and use the money to help others in the community.

Re: How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

Suggest a Kris Kringle instead of everyone buying gifts for everyone. You get ONE gift, set a spending limit, and leave it at that.

Re: How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

Re: How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

I don't think you can really say anything directly about it.

What you CAN do to get around it though is something like... "DH and are saving to buy [insert expensive thing here] so any gift cards towards that store would be so great. That's really all we want. "

Something along those lines...

Re: How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

My MIL is like that too she goes crazy for the holidays she buys me knick knacks and things I don't want. But after a while she figured it out I think my DH did the talking lol. Now she buys me gift cards thats fine with me.

Re: How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

Message edited 11/13/2011 12:17:34 PM.

Re: How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

Yea, there's only so much singing dogs and other novelty crap I can take...

Re: How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

goodwill

Re: How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

with a loving heart, smile and accept the "stuff." you don't want hurt feelings over giving.

goodwill is a wonderful way to clean out your basement.

i also liked the idea of hinting for gift cards.

Re: How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

Thats what we go through. MIL is queen of the dollar store. I just usually throw the stuff out... but months later since I feel guilty throwing out gifts.

And I don't think goodwill could even use the stuff we get sometimes.

Message edited 10/15/2007 1:50:33 PM.

Re: How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

I would tell them, I have told my parents and IL's that I don't want stuffed animals for Julia anymore for any holiday, they are dust collectors and I just end of getting rid of them, they all understood. You know what you need and don't need in your home, I wouldn't feel bad about telling family not to go over board with gifts.

Re: How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

OMG--do you know my MIL....My SIL (Curliegirl) and I always say this. I used to always accept and say thank you....now i am comfortable enough to say "sorry,,, our tiny apt can not hold this"

I know they mean well...but I dont like clutter!!

Re: How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

Can you maybe lightly bring up the suggestion that you ALL (this way you're not pinpointing them) should make a donation to XYZ charity instead of all the "extras" this year? And maybe say you'd like to only exchange one or 2 gifts each?

Re: How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

I would bring it to work and leave it on the lunch table... one man's junk is another man's treasure.

Re: How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

wow, my mil is the same way. for my bridal shower I got a bucket of crap, all dollar store stuff that I really could have done without. So it sits in the bucket in the crawl space in our apt.

There is no polite way I could tell her thanks, but no thanks. So I just deal and throw it out later.

Re: How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

Ugh - I HATE this !! -

If it's your MIL or Mom, I think you can just flat out tell them you don't want it anyomre. - You don't have anywhere to put it, don't have the time to clean it etc. -
I finally just asked my Mom not to buy me stuff for the house b/c I wanted to pick out my own things to decorate with - She was a little offended at first, but I told her, SHE gets to decorate HER house the way she wants to - and while I love her house, it's a reflection of HER - mine should be a reflection of ME, not my mother (or MIL, or anyone else) .........we just have very different tastes. -

Worst case scenario, save it for a year, put it out when they come over, and then get rid of it. -

I know, I'm evil - but really ?? Why should I have to live in my own home looking at (and dusting) a bunch of junk I don't like ???

Re: How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

Posted by imthekevinofcindyandkevin

Politely accept the filler gifts then re-gift them to someone else.
From what you are saying you could probably do all your Christmas shopping in your basement.

Re: How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

REGIFT!!!!

Also, you can casually mention -

" oh my GOD - I spent all day Saturday throwing away a whole bunch of stuff from the basement - we received so many things in the past years that we never go to to use, I'm going to tell everyone not to buy us _____ anymore... it would be great if we could use it, it's such a shame, but it would just be a waste for them... "

(maybe they'll get the hint that they buy stuff like that too?)

Re: How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

Re: How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

My mom, I can tell her "enough!". And I have... I collected Snowbabies for awhile but have no where to put them. So I told her until I have space, stop buying them for me (plus I just don't want to collect them anymore).

But MIL?? I don't think we could tell her to stop. We'd get the Jewish mothers guilt for YEARS! She doesn't let things go.

Re: How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

HA HA HA.. SIL brought up Christmas the other day and DH flat out told her PLEASE do no get Jaime anything Christmas realted, we have NO room, especially being we'll have a new baby this year. She looked shocked, and said Oh, I thought she liked those things. Yeah, one thing is nice but when all my gifts are Christmas realted (and I don't get them til the week after Christmas anyway), seriously, the fiber optic snowman head and tarnished snowman platter were enough last year to last me a lifetime. And I go out and buy them beautiful, useful things and DH and I always get junk in return.

Re: How do you politely tell someone "No more STUFF!"

My mom does this, I told her I would rather have one gift that cost $100 than 100 gifts that cost $1 (my sister actually said that) I have told her its a lovely thought when she buys me stuff like this, but I am running out of room and to be honest, the toys for my son from the dollar store fall apart and some of them just aren't safe! Does she listen? No.