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Getting your holiday decorations organized

‘Tis the season to be jolly! Unless, of course, you’re in a panic trying to remember where you put all of your holiday decorations last year. To organize your decorations and make your holiday less stressful, follow these helpful tips.

First, designate a specific spot in your home for all of your holiday decorations (i.e., one corner in your attic; a shelving unit in your basement). If you decorate for a variety of holidays, divide that designated area into sub-sections such as Christmas, Halloween, Valentine’s Day. But, be warned — if your decorations include such things as candles and items made of soft plastic (i.e., moveable decorations), the extreme temperature variations of attic and basement may cause damage. You may want to store these items in the body of your home and leave yourself a reminder note in one of the totes.

Large plastic totes with lids are great for storing a variety of decorations. You can segregate different types of decorations into different bins so you can find what you’re looking for easily. Additionally, if you separate your ornaments from interior and exterior house decorations, it isn’t necessary to remove and sort through all of the totes. Another storage hint to consider is to pack your decorations based upon what room they are displayed in (i.e., a tote for the living room; another tote for the dining room; etc.) You can just pull out the bin for the particular decorating project you are doing that day.

If you have lots of glass balls, or other fragile ornaments, consider purchasing ornament boxes. These containers, which have divided sections to help prevent breakage, are readily available at mass merchandisers like K-Mart or Target, as well as The Container Store. Metal popcorn tins, prevalent at this time of year, are also good, protective devices for ornament storage. You can place heavy ornaments on the bottom, and the lighter ones on top. You can recycle the tissue paper from the gifts you receive and use it to wrap your ornaments before placing them in the tin.

Keep an empty plastic tote on hand for any decorations that may be new this season. You can also put anything you purchase at day-after-Christmas sales in this tote.

Extra-large Zip-lock® bags are great for storing lights. You can roll individual strands of lights and put them in separate bags. On the contents square you can indicate whether the lights are for interior or outdoor use. Another option for lights is to roll up newspaper in a 3-inch diameter and hold the shape with masking tape. Then you can wind the lights around that newspaper tube and place them in a plastic tote. Also include in the tote any special fasteners used to attach the lights. Twist ties are another way to maintain order for strands of lights.

If you have artificial wreaths, you want to avoid having them get squashed and dusty. Large, clear plastic garbage bags keep the wreath dust-free, but allow you to see what’s inside the bag. A long nail hammered into the wall in your attic or basement is an easy way to keep your wreath off the ground so it retains its shape and doesn’t get crushed. Wreath boxes can also be purchased.

Isolate your holiday gift wrap and keep it in a large wrap-n-craft tote. Keeping your everyday wrapping paper separate means less sorting when you need to wrap a birthday gift, and it also keeps your holiday paper tidy.

Taking a little time this year to sort and organize as you put your decorations away after the holiday will reduce your stress next December.