Packing up Christmas always makes me feel a little sad. (Also a little tired, there is a lot to pack up.)
I have been asked how it is possible to change my color scheme every year… it’s all about color coding and organization, baby!
It’s so simple, it’s kinda stupid. Store the decor by color. I put all the red decorations and ornaments in one bin… all the gold in another…
I don’t really even bother with all of the little cardboard dividers anymore if I am just storing the regular ball ornaments. There are thousands of them, so if there are a few casualties each year, so be it.
By the way, that baggie on the left that says “Decoration Only – Do Not Eat”…? It’s full of peppermint sticks and candy canes. I store them for years. No one at my house likes to eat them, but I love to put them in jars and use them as part of my Christmas decor for years when I use red.
It seems wasteful to throw them away. So I save them. (Make sure you add a packet of silica gel…)
While there are literally thousands of ornaments that I just sort by color and store in bulk, I definitely have treasured ornaments, and they receive First Class Storage treatment…
I also keep the ornaments for the kids’ tree separate as well.
Lights can be a problem, so we avoid this:
…by simply putting each strand of lights in a plastic grocery bag, then putting them all in a bin.
Clearly labeling boxes helps Handsome Hubby each year as he is putting things away. Anything that is marked with Every Year is stored where he can easily grab it for next season.
Every Year includes the boxes with the Christmas toys, music and DVDs, as well as my fake garlands and wreaths.
Also? The color coding also helps HH know which boxes he doesn’t need to pull out each year. I have already decided on my color scheme for next year, so as he’s putting the red and gold boxes away, he will be sure to move the white, silver, blue and green ornaments towards the front.
So between the boxes sorted by color and the clear labeling, corralling all of my Christmas decor is much, much easier.
Now where is my Valentine’s Day stuff….
Hi I'm Shannon says
January 3, 2012 at 8:05 PMIt’s smart to rotate them to the back and pull next years to the front. I use some candy stuff over too, I’ll have to remember to add the don’t eat while packing away! I love the idea of the every year sticker. Brill, will have to steal that =)
Happy Valentines day… 😉
Eclectically Vintage says
January 3, 2012 at 8:12 PMUp to my eyeballs in ornaments now! Great ideas!
Kelly
Sassy says
January 3, 2012 at 8:24 PMI love your helpful ideas…after all these years of storing decorations….I think you have helped me a ton…..barely getting to it today!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!
Kelli says
January 3, 2012 at 8:50 PMDo not eat…I love it! This is one area where I’m fairly organized. I do want to get one more container for the stuff that I don’t put out every year and maybe get separate containers for each kids’ ornaments so they each have a container to open with only his/her stuff.
Becca @ R We There Yet Mom? says
January 3, 2012 at 9:19 PMI love it – the queen of Christmas organization!!!
~Becca
The Southern Product Queen says
January 3, 2012 at 10:25 PMIt’s linky party time again! This post would be great at it if you wanna share it! Here is the link! http://www.thesouthernproductqueen.com/one-stop-shoppe-linky-party
Stacey says
January 3, 2012 at 10:43 PMWish I had seen this BEFORE I put my decorations away. lol I took all the decorations off the tree, but I stood it up in a corner of the basement. No need to pull it out of the box next year and fluff it all back up. hehe…
Myya says
January 3, 2012 at 10:44 PMI can totally hear your voice when I read Organization baby! 🙂
Impulsive Addict says
January 3, 2012 at 11:34 PMOrganization makes me happy. i love how organized you are. I will be trying for colors in the very near future. I don’t have enough of any one or two colors right now (since I just started putting up decorations and a tree last year). I’ll get there eventually!
xoxo
Anonymous says
January 4, 2012 at 12:38 AMHa! This reminded me of the time I also decided to store candy canes with the rest of the decorations. The following year, I went to get the boxes out of the nice, carpeted walk-in closet underneath the staircase off the living room, and all that was left of the candy canes were the hollow wrappers! Huh??? How could that be? I scratched my head for a few days over that one. Then it occurred to me – the ants must have eaten them because there was a tiny pinhole in each wrapper, which was nearly invisible. I don’t know if you ever have ants at your house, Vivienne, but we live in SoCal also, and they can be a problem! In the ten years we lived in that house, I never saw any ants in that closet, though.
~Cynthia
Michelle says
January 4, 2012 at 1:11 AMamazing skills!
Pam@OurAdventuresInHomeImprovement says
January 4, 2012 at 2:18 AMI am a complete organization geek and love what you’ve done!
Great job.
Pam
At The Picket Fence says
January 4, 2012 at 2:35 AMGreat tips Vivienne! I just got back from our trip and have to start taking down the rest of my Christmas decor this week…ugh. But seeing this post motivated me to try some new things this year and hopefully have it all more organized for next year. Thanks so much for the hints!
Vanessa
Richella says
January 4, 2012 at 2:49 AMLove this, Viv. A good example of the KISS principle, huh?
I such a traditionalist. I have to try hard not to be boring. Or maybe I just am boring; I’m not sure. (Would I know if I were boring? There’s food for thought.) Anyway, I don’t organize by color, but at least I do organize by room and category. There are some decorations I know I’m always going to want in my dining room, so those go into the bin marked “Dining Room.” All the nativity sets, no matter where they’re displayed, go into the bin marked “Nativity Sets.” Okay, I AM boring. 🙂
Lori E says
January 4, 2012 at 4:06 AMLast year was the first time I put all the Christmas balls in one big bin and I only had one casualty in that bin.
Organization is key to stress free decorating.
chrome letters says
January 4, 2012 at 12:17 PMDamn I should have read this before!! Nice ideas though, gonna list them out for next year 🙂
SueAnn says
January 4, 2012 at 1:58 PMThat is what I am looking for!! Valentines!! Ha!
Great organizational tips. Must do some of this
Sigh
Hugs
SueAnn
Connie says
January 4, 2012 at 4:50 PMI’ve said this before…..
You are a genius!!
stefanie says
January 4, 2012 at 5:31 PMok, you make me feel bad….hahaha, I just throw mine in a box, shame on me!!!
MiMi says
January 4, 2012 at 8:57 PMYou should be on that show on TLC or whatever…where they have a paid organizer come in?? Yeah.
Vicki V @ blestnest.blogspot.com says
January 5, 2012 at 3:20 AMI like the idea of storing stuff by color! I, too, use grocery bags for the lights. I’ve thought that I should save styrofoam egg cartons to store some of the smaller, more delicate ornaments, because wrapping them all in tissue gets old.
Kimberly says
January 5, 2012 at 4:52 AMI am a new follower andhave loved so many of your ideas and pintrested tons of them. But now I have a tip for you. You know the light storage you do? I must say I like mine better. We took a large board and cut out the letter “H” then we simply wind the lights up hooking each strand together as we go. Never a tangle or broken light.
Katie says
January 10, 2012 at 1:33 PMGreat job on staying organized! This is something I wanted to do more of this year… including making a spreadsheet and inventorying all my halloween goods (including numbering the bins)!