Organizing Your Holiday Decorations!

Well, the holidays are upon us and my guess is that by now you’ve hauled out all of your boxes and bags full of ornaments, lawn decor, lights, wrapping paper and more! How did that go for you?

Are you dealing with tangled lights, broken ornaments, crumpled wrapping paper? Were the cardboard boxes falling apart and the bags ripped? Was everything scattered about in different locations?

Six tips for organizing your holiday decorations!

Use these tips to avoid this mess the next time the holidays come around:

1. Purge, purge, purge. As you are pulling out your decor and setting it up, think long and hard about the items that you don’t use. Perhaps you are just over using a red and gold theme. Or what was cute when the kids were little isn’t so appealing any more. You have random collections, odd pieces out, weird white elephant exchange gifts, those pieces you just don’t really enjoy looking at or have no real meaning to your family. Those need to go. And right now is a great time to donate because those who may absolutely love these items are shopping RIGHT NOW for them at your local thrift stores.

In Williamson County, TN I recommend donating to Our Thrift Store or Graceworks, both local charities that do good work. Thriftsmart & Goodwill are always good choices as well.

2. Group like items. This can take one of two formats, in my opinion. Either a. Group by what the items are or b. Group by collections.

a. Group by what the items are means put all of the ornaments together, the wreaths together, the lights together…you get the point.  This means if you are looking for an ornament, you know exactly where to go.

b. Group by the collection means that if you tend to decorate using a theme such as color or style, then grouping this way makes a lot of sense. All of the blue and silver items go together, all of the Mardi Gras theme is together. So you can pull out just what you need when you decide to go that route. Plus you can see at a glance how much and what you have in that category. And if you decide you don’t want to use the *insert football team of your choice* decor any more, it’s pretty easy to pack it up and donate it quickly.

3. Inventory what you have.

Lay it all out and evaluate your collection of decor. Once you’ve purged and determined how you are going to group, then get a clear idea of how much you really have.

Do a rough count of ornaments, see how many flocked lighted reindeer you have, count your menorahs, etc. Do this before you purchase any new storage so you can determine exactly how many bins or boxes you need, and what sizes.

Organizing holiday decorations isn’t just about storing the stuff you have, it’s more about how you use it and how easily you can find what you need.

Tip: This is a good time to do another round of purging.

4. Shop now for specialized storage. I usually recommend waiting for sales or using what you have but when it comes to holiday decor, you really are better off investing in some specialized storage such as ornament holders, wreath holders, wrapping paper storage and containers that use a single color (red, green, blue…whatever signifies the holiday season to you).  This way when you go to put everything away, it all has a place, stacks and coordinates. Perhaps purchase a few key pieces that are just not available the rest of the year (ornament & wreath holders, fake tree containers, etc.) and pick up extras when the sales hit.

Container Store, Bed, Bath & Beyond, and Target are usually your best bets for these items though places like Home Goods or Big Lots often have good items.

Tip: Be mindful of the size of the containers – be sure that you can actually lift the bins or boxes or bags when they are full. 

5. Carefully store your decor in your new (or repurposed) bins and then….LABEL! Labeling is key. You can use a label maker, or go with a DIY method using index cards and packing tape. If you want a detailed list, type it up, print it out and place it in a Ziploc bag that you packing tape to the outside of the box.

6. Finally, designate one specific location to store all of your holiday decor.

A guest room closet, an attic space (you can lay down plywood to create a landing perhaps?), that oddly shaped closet in the bonus room, etc. As these are things you only pull out a few times a year (this can also be storage for other holidays), the level of access doesn’t need to be prime real estate.

So when the holidays are over, get your holiday decor stored and organized so next year all you have to do is enjoy and have fun!

Happy holidays to all! Have a burning holiday organizing question? Message me or connect with me on social media…always happy to share what I know.