39: Top Tips for Holiday Organization
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Welcome to episode 39 and Permission to be Messy. I'm your host, JoAnn Krall. And today I'm sharing my top 11 holiday storage tips. This is the third in a series of three podcast episodes that I've been doing about holiday organization. You can go back and listen to the prior two
Okay. Number one. It's best to use clear bins, but if you already have a bunch of bins that aren't clear, do not go out and buy clear bins. This is only if you don't have stuff already. But if you do have bins that aren't clear, just be sure to label them clearly and make sure that those labels won't fall off and that they're easy to see because sometimes what we'll do is we'll label the top of a bin. But when you're visually looking at them in a storage area, it's hard to see what's in them.
So make sure whatever is visible to you in the storage area is the part that you label.
And number two, while I'm talking about labeling this really, isn't a storage thing, but number two is labeling those homemade items. So anything that was made by somebody. So for example, my mother made a bunch of ceramics back in the late sixties, early seventies. We have a Santa, we have one of those beautiful ceramic trees. That's white with gold on it. And so I literally wrote on the bottom of each of those items. Who made it? My mother, I wrote. I wrote her name and then I put the decade, cause I wasn't sure exactly when she made it, but just so that, years down the road, when somebody is looking at it, Maybe my grandchildren, because my children already know that it was made by their grandmother, but somebody can look at it and say, oh wow, that's really cool. This was made back in the sixties or seventies.
And I do the same thing with my kids, things that they made over the year, my kids used to make the little plaster things and the ones that we've kept, we make sure that we note on them. Exactly who made them. And when.
Okay. My third tip is to place a disposable bag under your real tree before you set it on the stand. There's those bags that you can use that are environmentally friendly, that, help you bring the tree out. when the whole season time is end. If you're obviously, if you're celebrating Christmas, but that will help you because usually the trees are dry by the time we pulled them out, it'll help minimize the amount of needles that you will have in your house.
Number four. If you have an artificial tree. Don't try to cram it back into the original box, get one of those specific storage bags for trees so that at least you don't have to squish everything back down. You're going to have to squish it a little bit, but not as much as you would if you had to put it back in a box. And also sometimes they come on wheels. So if you have a really big tree, that can be helpful when you're going to move it.
Number five is for wreath storage. most holidays, there's some sort of wreath that gets used, even if we're not even talking about, the winter holidays. People put up wreaths all year long and they make specific bags for those. They're really helpful and, I find that I have one bag that I can fit maybe four or five wreaths in without damaging them, which is really awesome.
Okay. So now we're talking small items, little figurines, and if you do use a tree, any ornaments, they make specific boxes for these and I love them. These are things that I feel are worth purchasing because you can fit so much in them. You don't really have to worry about wrapping every little thing and making sure it's safe something. Sure. but most things will fit in there. And if you handle those boxes with care, nothing will get broken.
If you don't want to purchase something, you can also use egg cartons. They work really well for storing small items.
And then you can put those all into one bin or box. And be sure to label them.
My seventh tip is, do not toss any of those scraps of wrapping paper that you have. There's usually scraps leftover that are too small for a gift, but they can be really useful for wrapping up things and protecting them. So that's one thing that you can do to save on having to use a bunch of tissue paper, save any wrapping paper that you think might be able to use to wrap up small delicate items.
Number eight is to be sure to save the original packaging for those larger fragile items. What first comes to mind for me is those, Christmas villages. if you purchase those ceramic villages, those usually come in packages that have really good styrofoam in them and they protect them. But anything that you've purchased that comes in protective packaging, save the packaging.
Okay. Number nine. Take out batteries before storing items, because it will extend the life of those batteries. if they're not in the item and also it'll prevent corrosion, the last thing you want is to bring out your holiday decorations and find out that the batteries have leaked and ruined everything that you have. So take those batteries out.
Number 10. If you typically store items in an attic or an area that gets hot in the summer. Do not store your candles in there. I had this happen to me. I had a favorite candle that I would pull out every year. I never burned it. It was just really cute. So it was more of a decoration. And it melted. And so this goes for anything that you're storing. If you're storing things in a really hot area, make sure that they can withstand temperatures.
And number 11, and this one is super, super important. Take photos of things, how things are packed. So when you pack up at the end of the season and you've got everything organized in a really good form, take photos of that, because then it'll be a lot easier for you when you're going to repack the next year, Most of the same items are going to go in the same spot. Now, if you've acquired new items and you've let go of some items, things will change, but you'll have a general idea of where things go.
This is a bonus tip for lights. Cause you're probably thinking, what do I do with my lights? They always get tangled up. If you go to my Pinterest, it's under my name, JoAnn Krall. And you go to my holiday organization,
there is a photo on there. This was my husband. I got to give my husband credit for this. He took a. wire spool thing. It's a big thing that you can buy to that you couldn't wrap wire around and he put our Christmas lights on that and I will tell you it is ingenious. They never get tangled and they are always ready for us to use. This is really good for outdoor lights, because that tends to be more, but think about things that you can wrap lights around. Don't just throw your lights in a big heap. I know often we get to the, end we're just like, I'm just going to throw the lights and really think about how you put them in. Wrap them around something so that it's easier to unwrap them.
So this is the last in the series of holiday, getting ready for the holidays and thinking about organization. I may do a specific one on gifts. I haven't thought about when I'm going to do that, because I believe I may have a guest next week. I'm going to try and record something this week and it may be ready for next week. but I hope that this helps. And if you have any questions about other things that I haven't mentioned, reach out to me, because I would love to address them. When I talk about holiday organization, I can only go based on what I've experienced and what I've experienced with some of my clients, but there's always somebody that brings me something new. So definitely reach out and let me know. And, of course I'll respond and give you an answer, but I may put that into another episode of things that I didn't address previously.
So that's what I have for you today. And as always, I'm wishing you much progress, peace, purpose, and the permission to be messy. Thanks for listening.
