It’s time to pack up the garlands and lights now that the hustle and bustle of the holidays is behind us.
It’s important to fight the urge to jam everything into boxes and bins and keep the momentum of the holidays in motion. A little extra time spent on organization now will save you hours next year.
Following are my top tips for transforming the headache of tangled lights into perfectly stored and labeled bins.
Evaluate
When you pull your holiday bins back out to put things away, take a look inside and assess the decorations you didn’t use. Ask yourself:
• Did I run out of room?
• Did I change my holiday theme this year?
• Do I not love these decorations anymore?
Don’t store what you don’t need. I always apply my square-footage rule when clients are on the fence about keeping something. Homes in Silicon Valley sell upward of $1,400 per square foot, so every inch counts. Have a donation box on hand and fill it with decorations that you don’t love or you just don’t have room for anymore. Letting go can be liberating.
Stay in the zone
Work in zones to pack things up and keep related items together. Use your dining room table or a folding table as a staging area to place similar items from each zone before things go into bins.
Take the time to purge decorations that you don’t think you’ll use next year, and assess the size of the bins you’ll need to store what you love.
Common zones are:
• Outdoor lights and decorations
• Mantel decorations
• Christmas tree garlands and ornaments
• Giftwrap
• Linens and holiday dishes
Supplies
Take advantage of post-holiday sales to stock up on bins and storage supplies. Always shop with a list and take measurements so that the products will fit into your storage space.
Here are my favorite storage product tips:
• Keep it simple. There is no need to purchase a custom bin for every wreath and ornament. Slotted ornament boxes are worth splurging on. They protect the most fragile bulbs and can easily fit inside a larger bin for extra protection.
• Matching bins make storage a cinch. They stack easily, and when you go the color-coordinated route, you can easily quantify and find what you have for next season. I have green and red bins that store all of our Christmas decorations – I love how simple it is to ask my husband to bring them in from the garage, knowing that he won’t have to dig for them.
• Try hacks like using a toilet paper roll to organize extension cords or the top of a shoe box to keep holiday lights from tangling by wrapping them around for storage.
• Pick your battles. Some- times it’s easier to start fresh each year, so don’t feel guilty about purging extra wrapping paper and garlands.
• Try to go as fresh as possible. By using live garlands and trees, you can avoid the pileup of storage bins, making the holidays easier on the environment.
Storage
It’s important to go the extra mile and store things neatly where they belong. Holiday decorations are only accessed once a year, so they should be stored in low-priority areas like the attic, the garage or a storage room in your basement.
• Take time to properly label your bins.
• Make a list of items you need to replace or add next season.
• Drop off your donation bin at your favorite local charity.
Following through on this will prevent those decorations from creeping back into your valuable storage space.
Amanda Kuzak is a Los Altos-based professional organizer and estate liquidator. For more information, visit kuzakscloset.com.
