The Lazy Genius Podcast - #340 - What’s Saving My Gift-Wrapping Life

Episode Date: November 13, 2023

In this episode, I’m going to share ten things, and these things make gift wrapping easier, more enjoyable, more fun, and in some ways more meaningful than if I didn’t have these things. So if you love wrapping, hate wrapping, or are somewhere in between, I think this list will offer some good help wherever you are.   Helpful Companion Links Preorder your Lazy Genius Sticker Pack before Nov. 15! Get on the list to get the Gift Giving Guide on Friday, Nov. 17 Episode #337: How to Lazy Genius Division of Labor Sign up for the Latest Lazy Listens email. Grab a copy of my book The Lazy Genius Kitchen or The Lazy Genius Way! (Affiliate links) Download a transcript of this episode.   This podcast is hosted by Kendra Adachi and executive produced by Kendra Adachi, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey there, you are listening to the lazy genius podcast. I'm Kendra Adachi and I'm here to help you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. Today is episode 340. What's saving my gift wrapping life? In this episode, I'm going to share 10 things and these things make gift wrapping easier, more enjoyable, more fun, and in some ways more meaningful than if I did not have these things. So if you love wrapping, hate wrapping, or are somewhere in between, I think this list will offer some good help wherever you are. Before we get into the list, but still in the spirit of holiday gifts, we have a fantastic email resource that is going out on Friday for free to anyone who wants it.

You can sign up at the lazy genius collective.com slash gifts, but it is a giving guide, not just a gift guide. I will have gift ideas in there, like things that I've given and I love and have love for a really long time, actually. But more than that, it is a way to think about your gift giving. you're planning, you're shopping, you are deciding, and just a way to make the whole process easier. It's all my best tips and tricks and permission for a season that can feel pretty overwhelming. So if you would like to get that email, the link is in the show notes, or you can go to the lazy genius collective.com slash gifts.

Okay, let's get into what is saving my gift wrapping life. Number one, I watch the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy while I'm wrapping gifts. I do wrap in multiple sessions, which we will get to. But when I wrap gifts, I always watch Lord of the Rings. It has been my personal tradition for maybe 10 years. And I don't really watch those movies any other time of the year. Now, you could do this with Harry Potter or your favorite Christmas movies. I just do love the idea of watching like some kind of trilogy or series because of the fact that you're bringing like one story into the entire wrap.

process. Now, you might be like, hey, Kendra, that trilogy is 17,000 hours long. You are correct? You are? I mean, it's at least 10. It's a lot of hours. Am I wrapping gifts for 10 hours across the board? Probably, yeah. I have many kids. I have a big family. I get gifts for friends and teachers and stuff like that. And I wrap stocking stuffers with paper. I don't just put them in the stocking. And I also always take my time, which we will get to. So it is not a speedy process, but by choice. All that to say, I look forward to wrapping gifts because I'm watching these movies that I love with my whole actual heart. It is a whole experience and the best thing. So maybe you can take that idea and make it your own somehow. I really hope you do. Okay, number two, I have all of my

wrapping stuff together in one place. This is a no-brainer, but it also tripped me up for the longest time for years and years. I had ribbons and tags and stuff spread out amongst a few small containers and I could not remember what was where. And then I was just like, you know, holding all these different containers every time I had to wrap something. I also would only have like one pair of scissors and one container tape. And sometimes I would leave it with the gift wrapping stuff, but then I would need those things to like open a package in the kitchen or something. Or I would keep the scissors in the kitchen like I do throughout the year, but then I would get frustrated after I got settled into, you know, like on the floor with all my stuff. And I did not have everything I needed. I did not have

the very essential tools of scissors and tape because they were in the kitchen. They weren't with my gift wrapping stuff. Now, I have one really big shallow container that lives under my bed that has literally all of the wrapping stuff except for like gift wrap and bags, ribbons, tags, little fun decorations, all of that, and a pair of scissors and plenty of tape that always stay in that container. The paper and the gift bags are in a hall closet that I walk past when I get the under the bed box. So I don't mind that those are in two different places, you know, for the time being. I also kind of like that the paper and bags are visible, which they would not be if they were under my bed.

You know, I can just reach in and grab what I need. All that to say, it saves my life to have everything. but the paper in the bags in one place, including a pair of scissors and tape that are just for wrapping gifts. P.S., someone in the Lacey Genius Facebook group named Sherry Fishermore shared that she uses a hanging garment bag to store all of her wrapping paper, which is such a great idea. I've also seen the idea of putting the tiny things for wrapping in a hanging shoe bag that goes over, you know, like a closet door. Now, you obviously don't have to store either. of those things hanging from a closet door or inside a closet, you could. But you could also

temporarily do that, you know, during the holiday season, or you can just roll those things up for easier storage and tuck them away somewhere. So that's like a little bonus, lazy genius of the week idea right there. Want to go electric without sacrificing fun? That's the Volkswagen ID4. All electric and thoughtfully designed to elevate your modern lifestyle. The Volkswagen ID4 is fun to drive with instant acceleration that makes city streets feel like open roads, plus a refined interior with innovative technology always at your fingertips. The all-electric ID4, you deserve more fun. Visit vw.ca to learn more.

SUVW, German engineered for all. Aw, isn't something we need to travel for. It's something waiting for us in everyday life, whether in a city street or a moment with a work of art. I'm Dr. Keltner, host of the Science of Happiness podcast. Join me for Cities of Aw, a special series on how our public spaces can spark awe, wonder, and enhance the quality of public life. You can find us wherever you listen to your podcasts. Number three, I use the same color palette, like, ish, kind of, every single year.

This is one of the things where I decided once a long time ago, long time ago, that our Christmas color palette would be cream, navy, forest green, and red. Those are our colors. All of my decorations, which are very minimal, are that color palette, except for like kids ornaments and stuff. But, you know, the tree is basically forest green. It doesn't matter what we put on it. And so is my wrapping stuff. They are all in that color palette. So anytime that I need wrapping paper or ribbon or anything, it doesn't matter what the vibe or the pattern is. In fact, I kind of like to mix up the vibe. in the patterns, the only important thing is that they're in the same color family or that they go with that color family, right? So using accents of white or brown from craft paper or even like a

fun pop of orange or gold, it's going to work because those colors go with my baseline palette of cream, navy, forest green, and red. It makes choosing wrapping paper, no matter when I buy it, so much easier because even stuff that's left over from like last year, it will work with whatever I get for this year. I don't have to check because it all matches one thing because I decided once on my color palette. It's pretty great. Okay. Number four, this is one of my favorite ones. This is one of the things that saves my gift wrapping life so much because it's like so precious. It's vintage ribbons or even just fabric ribbons. Now listen, I will never shame like those. old school gift bows that look like smushed up stars that come 60 to a bag, you know. I will also

never shame the spools of plastic ribbon that you can curl with the side of your scissors. I have two spools in my house. Plastic ribbons are fantastic. And they should be used by anyone who wants to use them. Because of how I want my gifts to look, especially Christmas gifts, how I want them to look, how I want them to feel. And because of how I want to feel when I wrap them, I choose fabric ribbons. I love fabric ribbon so much. And I especially love tiny spools or even just like one strand of vintage ribbon that I might stumble upon at a vintage store or at Goodwill. I keep an eye out in stores like home goods or big lots or Tuesday morning for spools of fabric ribbon. Obviously, you can check craft stores too. Wide, narrow, velvet, thick ribbed cotton. I love them all. I think fabric,

ribbons save my wrapping life because they don't need much except to just exist. They make something I'm already doing look amazing. I'm just tying a bow like I would a plastic one. And they also feel a little extra special. And that matters to me. I want my gifts to feel special. So vintage or fabric ribbons for the win every time. Number five, I invest in high quality wrapping paper.

and by high quality, I don't mean expensive necessarily. But I like a thick paper. I love paper with a grid on the back for easier cutting. I don't love the really thin paper that I used to get at the dollar store. Now, that is good paper for stocking stuffers because like I said, I do wrap those. And I get that cheaper paper, that thinner paper for stocking stuffers because they're usually like weird shapes. You know, so it doesn't matter if they look cute. But for larger regular gifts, I invest in good wrapping paper.

It makes the whole experience feel better, feel more special, and less annoying because the paper is not tearing every two seconds. If you're having trouble telling whether or not the wrapping paper that you're looking at is good, you know, like if it's a high quality paper because, you know, it's wrapped in plastic. You can't really tell how thick it is. I tend to find that matte papers are higher quality than shiny ones. Not always. But matte papers tend to always be like fairly thick. and I personally prefer mat paper anyway, so I tend to choose that regardless, but that could be like a little trick to find out.

No, listen, I would, I would never presume to know your financial situation, and I will not flippantly suggest to you that it's not that much more money and you can totally get high quality paper. I'm not going to do that. If you've been here for even one episode, you know that that's not what we do here. I will, however, encourage you to think about the difference and cost between paper that is more flimsy and perhaps a little more annoying. and paper that is a little sturdier. Chances are the quality roll is maybe three bucks more than

the other roll, maybe five. And when you think about how many gifts you can wrap with one roll of paper, the price per gift that you're paying in ease and enjoyment even, it might totally be worth the difference in cost for you. Sometimes we buy the cheapest thing because we just have always bought the cheapest thing. But if you're doing that without consideration of why and how, how a slightly more expensive, higher quality item, it might actually improve your entire experience. I invite you to shift to that thinking. And honestly, just consider what matters more. It doesn't mean you need to get the expensive paper. I'm just asking you to think about it. And that goes for other things, too, not just wrapping paper. P.S, my favorite places to get wrapping

paper are the aforementioned home goods and Tuesday morning. Sometimes Target, but not unless I'm like in a bind and have to combine errands. But really home goods is where I usually. see it or like craft stores. I just keep my eye out all the time for like a paper in my color palette that I really love and I always have paper around. Okay, number six, I like to add something natural to most wrapped gifts. And I think that makes it feel super thoughtful, special and really beautiful without much effort or without needing to know all kinds of wrapping techniques or being a crafter, you know, because that is not what I am. If you You wrap a box, like a gift, in a solid colored paper, okay, especially a matte paper, tied up

with a fabric ribbon, and then you stick like a little branch of rosemary or just a stick from your yard or a piece of evergreen from the tree outside. That gift will look and feel so special and cozy. And it required no crafting or serious skills from you. Like literally, you just tuck the branch under the knot of the ribbon. you could secure it with a little bit of tape and just be done, right? For the record, I do not do this for my kids' gifts, by the way. They do not care about sticks or nature. But if I'm wrapping something for my mom or my mother-in-law or my sister or honestly anyone who is not my kids, I love to think about

adding something natural. Now, what's great is that fabric ribbon, which I already use, it already does that because fabric ribbon is made of things like cotton or burlap or something woven that feels like it comes from the earth and not from a machine. Now, that might not be the aesthetic or the priority that you're going for, and that's totally great. But it is for me, which is why this is what matters and saves my own gift wrapping life. An easy way that I can make my gifts feel special and have fun wrapping them without working too hard. That's always a win. And I get that from adding something natural to most of my gifts. Number seven, I do all the wrapping myself, including for my in-laws, and I chose a long time ago not to resent that. Now, I love wrapping gifts. Like, I really do.

I'm in my own little Lord of the Rings world. You know, I get to be creative in a low-risk way. It's coordinated. It's color-coordinated. So it's like fun to see the different combinations that show up with all the things I've collected. Like, I'm fine. I really, really love it. But for a few years, even though I did love it, and even though I was having fun while doing it, I still resented my husband, cause, for not helping me. Now, he is smart.

He's a very smart person, and he also knows me better than anybody. He knew I was having fun. And even when he would ask if he could help, which he always asks if he can help. Like anytime I'm doing something, he's like, how can I help? That's his favorite thing to ask. I would tell him no. Okay, well, why would he keep asking? If I'm going to tell him no and he knows that I'm enjoying myself, he's not going to keep asking, that I still held onto the resentment that I was the one doing all of it. And I have let that go. I am not resentful of that anymore. It was misplaced resentment. I think it came from feeling frustrated that I did everything for the holidays without being thanked. If you remember from the Division of Labor episode a couple of weeks ago, sometimes you just want to be thanked. You don't necessarily need someone to do the thing for you. You just want acknowledgement that you did it, right? I actually love being the one in charge of the holidays. Really and truly. I love it. I'm good at it. And we have a great time in December as a family.

But that does not give me free license for resentment. If I want to be thanked, I can ask my husband to acknowledge that I did it all and say thank you. Like, honestly, I just want it to be noticed. But even still, I just kind of. to let that resentment go because that is my part of the division of labor. That is what we've chosen. And that's okay. So I will say wrapping gifts is so much better without resentment, y'all. The eighth thing that always saves my gift drafting life is that I wrap in multiple sessions. I do not do it all at once because I cannot finish it all at once, you know? Like, why even try? This is stupid. Why not plan? Instead, maybe three evenings where I take my time. I give myself low expectations of how much I'm going to finish, give myself plenty of space,

and I just enjoy myself. If you hate gift wrapping, chances are good that you just power through and you try to get it done all at once. I totally get that. And I'm not telling you to stop doing that. If it's working for you, I think you should keep doing it. I'm just offering the thought that maybe slowing down and expecting to wrap in a couple of sessions could be a new baseline, not an indication that you can't move fast enough

or that you're lazy or whatever. I mean, sometimes we just want to do things that we don't like really quickly to get them done. But you might, might, might like it a little bit more if you're not just powering through. Also, wrapping all your gifts at once, it could be painful, which leads me to number nine. Number nine is to stand up. Wrap standing up. I mean, wrap however you want, but I learned years ago that wrapping standing up is so much better for my back.

I used to get like all cozy in front of the couch. and then I would be in pain in like 30 minutes and I would get annoyed. So instead, what I do now is I clear off the kitchen table. I move all the chairs out of the way. I put some of the wrapping stuff on those chairs. You know, I get the big bin. It's under my bed and the wrapping paper and stuff. I put it on those chairs and then I wrap.

It does not hurt as much, at least for me, to wrap standing up. The other thing that saves my life about standing up is that I don't have to get up and down to reach, you know, that gift that's a little further away. or if I need another roll of paper or I need to like take the wrapped presence and move them out of the way so I can have more room to wrap something else. Now I just like stay standing and I get what I need easily without resenting my joints or the mere idea of movement at all. Y'all have done that, right? You're sitting there and you have to get up and then sit back down again. I don't know. Once you get a certain age, doing crisscross apple sauce over and over again is really unpleasant. So standing up

saves my gift wrapping life. And finally, number 10. I take my time. I mentioned this already. I mean, obviously I do it in multiple sessions, but even within the multiple sessions, I take my time. And I think this bears repeating. This is really important. I do not rush through this. I don't worry about getting everything done at once. I don't get mad when I run out of steam sooner than I planned. I like taking my time. I mean, I'm watching these movies. I'm watching the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy while I'm rapping. Like it's a long, it's a long series. It takes a little while to get through it. Sometimes I want to watch a scene.

When Airborne comes up over the hill to defend the hobbits, are you kidding me? I'm not going to be taping a package at that point. I like to take my time. Now, if you wish that you could take your time, but you are now realizing that you can't, because you usually don't have your gifts purchased or at home until really close to the holiday. Or maybe you work full time and you do not have like days off until Christmas Eve, you know, You literally do not have time. I just want to acknowledge you and say that is okay.

Everyone gets to make different decisions, right? And sometimes we have decisions made for us based on what our schedule is. So you can keep doing whatever is working for you based on the season that you're in. Now, if you are waiting or you are feeling rushed and you feel like those are not working for you and you wonder if you could change them, consider if you can get more of your gift shop being done a little earlier, you know, like think about, man, why, why do I feel so rushed? And what is a something I can do? What's a start small that I can do to kind of back this up a little bit so that I'm not rushed all the time? Start brainstorming gift ideas early. Talk to family members now about what y'all

are going to do this year, if you're going to gift exchange or whatever, start small. Start small. And be kind to yourself if how you wrap and when you wrap and how you feel about it is in process. most things are. And those are the 10 things saving my gift wrapping life. I watch Lord of the Rings trilogy. I have all my wrapping stuff altogether, including a pair of scissors that is just for gift wrapping and stays in the bin. I have the same color palette pretty much every year. So it just makes shopping and putting things together so much easier. Vintage slash fabric ribbons all day, every day. I invest in high quality paper. I add something natural to my gifts. I do it myself and I don't resent it. I do it in a few batches. So my back does not hurt. I stand up and I take my time.

All right. Before we go, let's celebrate the lazy genius of the week. This week, it is Amber Anastasi, and I am obsessed with this idea that is very on theme with this episode. Amber writes this. Every December, we would put the tree up, and it would look sad and bare underneath. Last year, I was organizing a closet, and I decided to put all the old games, toys, and puzzles under the tree. It looks way more festive, and the kids spend the month of December revisiting old favorites or bringing me things that can be donated. It encourages us to appreciate what we have and helps us make sure that what we own is still working for our family. Thanks for all you do. Love your show. Well, Amber, I think you made a majority of these listeners, like moan in happiness,

their jaws are on the floor. There's going to be a lot of games and puzzles under the tree this year. What a beautiful idea this is. Even if you're not doing it from a decluttering standpoint, even if you're just like, we're going to get out fun things because that's like the time of year. We want to be cozy. We want to do these fun things together, like to store your games and your puzzles under the tree for the first half of December. Are you kidding me? I just love this so much. So thank you so much for sharing this idea with us. And congratulations on being the lazy genius of the week. Okay, y'all, that is it for today. Don't forget to sign up for that gift giving guide email that'll go out on Friday of this week on November 17th. If you resonated with any of the energy from this episode of feeling permission and ease and tight spaces, even around things like gift wrapping, that email will really help you feel that way again, but by a factor of like 25.

There's so much goodness in that email. So go to the lazy genius collective.com slash gift. to sign up. Also, just a quick reminder that you have three more days to order your lazy genius sticker pack from our little sticker pop-up that we're doing. Pre-orders for those sticker backs, they close on Wednesday, November 15th. And once the pre-order window closes, that's it, because we literally are ordering what you guys want, like how many you want. So don't miss that window. Head to the lazy genius collective.com slash sticker. to order your sticker pack. These stickers are too much.

They are too much. They are the most fun, and I hope you love them. All right, thank you so much for listening. And until next time, be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. I'm Kendra. I'll see you next week. Have you ever felt like you were living just a B or B plus life?

It's so dangerous to live that. More dangerous than a B minus or a C plus life? Because when you're living a B or B plus life, you don't change it. You think it's good enough. Is it? I'm Susie Welch. I host a podcast called Becoming You. People think, okay, an A-plus life is not available to me, but there is a way.

We are all in the process of becoming ourselves. Listen to Becoming You wherever you get your podcasts.