When it comes to home storage solutions, I am not particularly gifted. Desperation and a desire to be clutter-free tend to guide my thinking. It is in the spirit of seasonal desperation, otherwise known as “where did that important family ornament go … and oh dear, I just stepped on it!” that I bring you these tips for putting away the Christmas ornaments.
We used to store our ornaments in boxes. We’d surround them with tissue paper and nestle them away. This still works, but it does make it challenging to find ornaments.
Before you pack your ornaments away, discard or repair items that are not working. This prevents disappointments next year. Make sure that anything that goes into the “keep” pile is not edible. While candy cane reindeer and dog biscuit Santas look cute, they are rather perishable. Throw away the perishable parts so that your entire box is not overrun by small creatures over the course of the year.
I love the idea of placing our ornaments into a smaller container like an egg carton. Whoever invented egg cartons certainly created a sturdy ornament container. These cartons are ideal for small ornaments.
Larger ornaments can be nestled in a large box of shredded paper. You probably have this on hand already. One word of caution: if you use paper products as storage materials, make sure that your storage area is very dry. You don’t want the ink to bleed onto the ornaments.
When you store your lights, cut lines into a piece of corrugated cardboard and place each cord into a line. Then wind the rest of the lights as tightly as you can, and place an elastic band around them. This will prevent The Great Light Mess of 2012.
Label your boxes. If you have big storage boxes for Christmas ornaments, label them. And don’t just label them “Christmas”. Label them with a list of just what objects they contain, and store like objects together. Place indoor Christmas lights in one box, and put outdoor ones in another. Place tree ornaments in one box, and other household decorations in another. While this takes a few extra minutes, you will be so, so glad that you did it when you’re crawling through the basement boxes or the crawl space next year.
Image Credit: kristja