Holidays, TV Appearances

Before you start taking down your holiday decorations this year, you may want to consider some tips that will determine the level of simplicity and stress when decorating next year. To make decorating as simple and stress-free as possible, your decorations should be organized in a way that a friend, relative, or even a hired person can easily decorate without you there next year. If it is that easy for someone else to decorate for you, imagine how easy it will be for you to decorate! Watch our TV Segment

To achieve simplicity, this year BEFORE you take down the decorations, take a picture of each grouping of decorations, such as a photo of the fireplace mantel, a windowsill, the front door, the Christmas tree, etc. Next, place the decorations for each specific area in the same box(es). All the mantel decorations should be in one box, the windowsill decorations in another, and so on.

Print out the photos you take. Place each photo inside the corresponding box.  With a picture in-hand next year, anyone can decorate for you or you don’t have to reply on your memory of how you arranged items last year.

Next, label both sides of the box clearing identify what is in the box. If the outside of the box is non-identifiable as Christmas, the label should read “Christmas” on the top line, and “Front Door” on the second line. If your box is decorated on the outside with Christmas colors or designs, the label only needs to read “Front Door.”

If you discover that some decorations will only fit a particular way in a box, take a picture of the arrangement, print it out on an 8 ½ x 11” sheet of paper, and place the picture in the box. This will eliminate wasting time again next year trying to figure out how to fit the contents.

To be even more organized, consider creating an computer document to list your holiday decorations. This way you can easily see what you have and easily send someone else to retrieve the specific boxes you want. Create the file in a program like Microsoft Word. Insert a 3-column table with the headings: Label, Description, and Photos. In the “Label” column record what is written on the label of the box. In the “Description” column, enter a description of the contents of the box, and if needed, the location of the box. In the “Photos” column, enter the photo(s) of the decorations before they were taken down.

Wondering what type of boxes or containers you should store your holiday decorations in? If in your storage area there are bugs, mice, or dampness, use plastic . If you will be stacking boxes or containers, consider strong containers with strong lids and only stack the same size boxes with each other. This will help to prevent the lids from caving in when stacking. If you don’t have to worry about bugs, mice, stacking, or dampness, cardboard boxes are work well since they are lighter to carry.

To give keep ornaments safe, use a box or container with egg-crate dividers, or keep the ornaments in the original box such as Hallmark ornaments.

To keep string lights tangle-free, purchase a box or container that has inserts to wrap the strings of lights around. If you have breakable decorations, consider storing the decorations in the original box.

Happy holiday organizing and cheers to a simplified next year of decorating!
Diane