Tips on Storing Christmas Decorations

Decorating for Christmas can be a big job every year. It can be much easier to decorate when everything is properly stored and organized. It does require an initial investment of storage boxes, labels, and time. This time is well spent and lets you save time in years to come.

Start with plastic storage boxes. To determine how many you need, take a look at how many boxes you have and buy about that many. You can always use them for something else or return them to the store. It is best to get all the same brand and size and the medium sizes 18 gallon sized are easy to carry and easy to find a place to store.

If you have a lot of Christmas ornaments that belong in boxes you may want to keep the boxes for sentimental or resale value. However, this does not mean you must store the ornaments in those boxes every year. Take the ornaments out of their boxes and then matching them back up to their boxes can take hours each year. The boxes can be placed in a labeled plastic storage bin and stored with your Christmas decorations or with long term storage. If you can find storage boxes with ornament dividers it makes it easier, but otherwise you can wrap each ornament in thick paper towels or bubble wrap. For ornaments that have damaged boxes or boxes that will not help the resale value you can recycle the boxes to have less to store. Clearly label the ornament boxes on the top and at least two sides and don't put anything else in with the ornaments.

For all other tree trimming related items such as garland, the star, ribbon or beads place them in a separate box. Even if you don't fill this box only have tree trimming items in there. In coming years when you want to decorate the tree but nothing else, you can grab just those boxes.

Label one box for lights. Place all indoor lights in that box. Depending on how many outdoor lights you have, you can put those in the box too. This is a good place to put your extra bulbs, light strand tester, bulb tester, and any hooks you have for lights.

If you decorate by the room then sort your other decorations by the room. If you have another system, by all means use that. Organize by how you decorate and your own personal style. If there are things you do not use every year store them separately and if you do not use them the next year you can donate them. Family heirlooms that are not displayed every year can also be stored separately. Then they will not be handled excessively risking damage.

The following year decorating will be must less stressful because you do not have to haul every box into your main living area to find what you need. You can take your time and decorate just the tree or just the kitchen. You will know where every item is and when you find a stray Christmas item you know exactly where it needs to be placed for storage.