After the holidays, if your home is anything like mine, it's a cluttered mess from all the Christmas decorations, a hectic schedule with holiday celebrations and activities, and all the Christmas gifts that have yet to find a home. These 6 tips will help you organize your Christmas decorations to banish the chaos, and you can start with a clean slate in the new year.
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1. Sorting
As you're going through Christmas decorations in the take-down process, its the perfect time to sort items that are longer needed or doesn't work. Don't save that light strand that doesn't work and tell yourself you'll fix it next year. We both know you won't!
2. Labeling
When I'm sorting, I like to make a box for donations, and a box for discarding. Then with what is left, label, label, label. Whether you're using plastic tubs, or boxes, accurately labeling will save you so much frustration down the road. If you decorate with themes, or specific color palettes, I would separate these by color or theme and label the boxes accordingly. By sorting and discarding as you go, this will help with storage space later. But definitely keep anything with sentimental value-regardless if its broken or old.
3. Rolling String Lights
String lights are the most beautiful AND arguably the most frustrating part of Christmas decorating in my opinion! Light storage reels that roll up strands and eliminate tangles are the BEST. A budget-friendly tip that works in a pinch, is to wrap the light strands around a piece of cardboard. This keeps them separated and easy to unwind the next use. For the teeny strings of fairy light (they're usually shorter strands), just wind them around the cardboard roll from paper towels.
4. Packing Fragile Ornaments
For the delicate ornaments, the simplest solution is an ornament storage box. They have built-in dividers, and layering system. Plus, some of these hold an enormous amount of ornaments which is handy that they can all fit in one container. Zip em up, and you're done.
I also like to use dividers to separate them inside a plastic storage tub. I'll link them below. Before adding another layer of ornaments in the tub, I use paper, bubble wrap, or cardboard to separate and prevent breaks.
5. Storing Wreaths and Trees
Wreath and tree storage couldn't be easier. For wreaths, simply pop in a wreath container or hang them on a large hook. And the easiest solution for Christmas trees, is to use a tree bag. In my experience, putting them back in the tree box never works. It's nearly impossible to get it in compactly enough to close the box. That's why I love tree bags. They slip on easily, and save you the trouble of taking the tree apart into pieces.
6. Wrapping Supplies
A place to organize and store wrapping paper and accessories is a must. If you're like me and the jumble of ribbon, unrolled Christmas paper drives you bonkers, you'll LOVE one of these organizers. Keep your Christmas cards, name tags, tape, ribbons, markers, and all the trimmings in one, organized container.
Pro tip: End of year sales are the best time to stock up on Christmas storage containers for next year.
