Organizing your holiday decorations is something none of us wants to do. It is so much easier to throw them back in the plastic bins, lug them up into the attic, and curse the existence of light strands come November next year when you drag them back out to decorate again. Some simple forethought will help save your sanity and your family’s come the following holiday season.

If you plan on keeping some decorations in the attic, some in the garage, or some under the house, make sure you have the appropriate containers. And don’t forget that some decorations shouldn’t go in the attic due to the temperature fluctuations. Candles and chocolates melt in extreme heat, as well as some of the clay or homemade ornaments. Glues also weaken if left in the attic for years on end, so when you finally go to use those ornate greeting cards you bought on clearance four years ago… chances are they might fall apart.

Once you decide which containers will hold what, look in them when you open them. Chances are you have some decorations you never use, or were given to you and you never quite liked them. Don’t keep them. This is the perfect time to purge out things you don’t use, or don’t go with a new theme you have decided to go with. When you buy new decorations on sale after Christmas day, throw away an older version of what you have. If you bought a new tablecloth… liberate the old one. Another option is donation… there are usually people who will find those strange mismatched decorations perfect.

Make sure you wrap the things that really matter the most carefully. Even those handmade decorations made with Popsicle sticks and macaroni deserve special treatment if you really want them to last. Never trust the container to protect the items properly.

Labeling the containers will save tons of time. Be specific with it, just saying “Christmas” isn’t good enough. Specify “outside decorations,” “mantle,” “tree,” etc. This will keep you from having to empty every box at once, and allow you to decorate the next year in a more orderly fashion. Generally this also allows you to know where to store the containers as well, as “outside” can go in the garage or under the house, while “mantle” can go in the attic.

Do a final walk through before you pack the boxes away. Otherwise the soap dispenser with Santa on it will never make in back into the “guest bathroom” box you probably didn’t make. And don’t forget to grab the wreath on the door you don’t use.

Posted by:  Jennifer McClarney

If you can read this, you don't use a typical webbrowser that plays nice with CSS.
Please do not fill in anything here!

Leave a Reply