Decorating your home for the holidays isn’t much fun when ornaments are broken and light strands are tangled. What to do? The best way to ensure that it will go smoothly next year is to take care when “un-decorating” your home this year.
Replace worn-out storage boxes
Sturdy, well-designed containers for ornaments, lights, and other decorations are available from home improvement stores, as well as online retailers like ornamentsafe.com, ultimatechristmas.com and ornamentbox.com. For a terrific wreath container, go to thehomemarketplace.com. Store items that don’t fit easily into ornament storage boxes in a plastic bag or cardboard box.
Containerstore.com carries a good assortment of wrapping-paper organizers that can hang, stand, roll, or slide under your bed. You may want to invest in two organizers—one for holiday paper and one for everything else.
Label every container
The label should be as specific as possible. For example, instead of several boxes labeled “decorations,” you might have one for “glass ornaments,” another for “handmade ornaments,” another for “lights,” and so on.
Sort through decorations before storing them
If something no longer suits your taste or brings you joy, discard it. Ditto for items that are broken. Hold on to anything that has sentimental value.
Create a written plan for next year
Get out your 2006 planner, and indicate the date on which you intend to decorate your home—and the date on which the decorations will come down.
