Revolutionize Holiday Storage and Make Next Year Stress-Free!

It’s the New Year, and if you haven’t yet, it’s time to put those holiday decorations away until later this year. For many of us, this is a real chore, and we are too tired to put them away or throw things together quickly to finish the job. But that makes decorating for the holidays in 2023 a lot more problematic.
However, I have a solution that, if you implement just one step, it will make your set-up and tear-down of décor extremely easy:

Pack One Room at a time.

When you unpack your decorations, do you retrieve all your boxes from storage at once? Do you need to unpack two to three boxes to find the items you want to decorate a specific area of your house? Do you become anxious about all the clutter that inhabits your home for the time it takes to decorate?

My room-by-room system is beneficial because setting it up one time will prevent you from taking out all your décor at once, help you find a specific item you need, and prevent chaos from taking over your house.

To make your holidays in 2023 easier and stress-free, set up this room-by-room system now as you take down your decorations.

Have your supplies.

Prepare your storage supplies. Avoid cardboard boxes, especially if items are stored in an attic or basement.

• Use large plastic bins, and have enough of them. I purchased green bins from Target, which helps set them apart in our storage area.
• Get large plastic zip bags and packing paper. I always buy extra tissue on sale after Christmas for enough to rewrap breakables. Plastic zip bags are handy for keeping things separate and storing small items and anything with glitter.

Pick a room.

• Take photos first. If you love how things turned out this year, how you redid your tree, or how that front entrance table looked, take pictures so it is easy to replicate next year.
• Combine like-things together. For example, I use one of the wreath bags for all my fireplace decorations. (They are bigger than you think!) In mine, I put my large wreath, the garland from the mantle, and a few other things that are in that area:

I made a tag as a reminder of what is in the bag. (More on this later.) You can see that I even added the electrical cord I used for the lights and the pinecones that were in the garland.

 

This coming November, I can pull out this bag, decorate my fireplace and have everything I need. That area is finished, and I can move to the next. Taking it down, it’s literally a five-minute job.

File it.

This may sound outdated, but I promise you it’s better than trying to save a document or note on your phone. Make a list for each bin to remember what is in that bin.

• Use notecards (or similar) to list all the items that will be stored in that bin. Then attach it to the bin lid. This is an example of one of my bins with all my Christmas tree items.

• Write reminders for the following year on what needs to be purchased or fixed. In this example, I highlighted “ornament hooks.” When the bin came from storage, I saw the reminder and added that item to my shopping list.
• Next year, if required, it is only necessary to add new items or cross off old ones.

Packing up.

What about miscellaneous items that don’t have a room or area bin?

• Have a stopping place. As I go room by room, I create one area, usually the kitchen table, where I can put the miscellaneous items. These items include candles, plug-ins, or dishes not stored in our attic.

However, some decorations don’t necessarily have a room or area bin. To solve that problem, designate one bin for those items scattered in different areas of the home, such as on bookshelves or bathroom shelves.

• Keep soft items together. Items such as linens and pillows are best stored in a sealed bag or shrink bag to keep them clean and bug-free.

I store all my Christmas linens, pillow, towels, and stockings in shrink bags. As I wash these holiday-themed items, I add them to the bag. If you don’t have a system like mine (above), you can purchase smaller bags and add them to one bin.

I love this system because as I tear down decorations and go room by room, I can do a quick clean and sweep, and that room is livable. Those bins get moved to the garage, and I move to the next area to pack. I wait a week or so before putting back my everyday décor.

Let me know in the comments if you try my system, already do a similar system,
or what other tips you have for packing and storing holiday decorations!