It happens every year, yet the holiday season still seems to sneak up on us! Unfortunately, they’re over as quickly as they come and after the excitement and cheer are past, there’s always a big task looming — organizing holiday decorations.
This year, follow this 4-step guide to organize your holiday decorations and make next year so much easier! With a bit of planning, you can set yourself up for success.
Gather Your Supplies
When you’re armed and ready to organize, you’re more likely to finish with a job well done! Grab your supplies before you begin taking down your holiday decorations.
- Boxes
- Sticky Notes/Notepad & Pen
- Permanent Marker
- Containers (Don’t buy anything new yet!)
- Label Maker (If you have one)
Now, let’s dive in!
Declutter Holiday Decor as You Go
A common misunderstanding is that professional organizers make you get rid of everything. In reality, we just ask you to consider how much you have and whether you truly want to keep things. It’s always up to you!
Declutter Holiday Decorations Now
With everything fresh in your mind, think seriously about how much holiday decor you want to keep for next year.
As you’re following our suggestions to get your holiday decorations organized, remember to ask yourself if you truly love an item. Was it a physical challenge to bring it out of storage and display the item? Be honest and realistic with yourself. Does it bring enough cheer to justify storing it for a year? Or is it functional? And again — functional enough to store for 365 days?
If so, great! We’ll be sorting the things you’re keeping in the next stage. If not, grab one of your empty boxes and write DONATE in a big permanent marker across the side. Collect donation items as you go.
Sorting Holiday Decor
When you’re sorting your holiday decorations, use boxes to group them into categories like DONATE, TRASH (anything broken), and KEEP.
Here are a couple of options for organizing the KEEP category.
Organizing Based on Location
Now that you’ve decluttered your holiday decorations, it’s time to sort them into categories based on where you use them around your home. This makes things so much easier for next year because you’ll have everything grouped together based on where they belong.
Organizing Based on Category
You may prefer to organize your holiday decorations based on category instead. This means all lights together, all greenery together, etc. If this feels right to you, then go for it! Just remember to label things based on location as you put them away so you’ll know where they go when you pull them out next year.
Storing Holiday Decor
“Fit your container to your items, rather than your items to the container!”
What do we mean? The most common mistake professional organizers see people make is when they buy all their storage containers before they assess how much they have.
After you’ve sorted your holiday decorations into categories, it’s time to see what types of containers you need. That’s why we say to fit your container to your items — otherwise, you may be trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. And we all know how that ends!
We love to help you reuse containers you already have, so we suggest you shop your home first. Collect the containers you have available and then see which ones work for your different categories.
Clear containers are our favorite because you can see what’s inside. But cardboard boxes work as a budget-friendly option — just be sure to clearly label the box on the top and at least one side.
Once you’ve contained your holiday decorations, be sure to label the containers so you can easily find things next year! Choose a location in your home to keep all containers together and store them with the labels facing out for quick reference.
Final Thoughts
Remember, organizing after the holidays is not only about putting things away but it’s also an opportunity to start the new year with a tidy and organized space. Take your time, involve family members if possible, and turn the process into a positive and productive experience so you can feel great in your home.
If you’re overwhelmed just reading this post, remember that we have holiday decluttering and organizing services. We can even do it all for you! Contact us to learn how it works.