Post-Holiday Organization with Great Day Connecticut: How To Store Your Holiday Decor
Week 1 of our Post-Holiday Organizing Series, as seen on WFSB-TV’s Great Day Connecticut.
This segment is the first of a three-week series exploring post-holiday organization. In addition to tackling general clutter and refreshing your home for a fresh start in the new year, post-holiday organization involves storing and putting away holiday decor (Week 1), incorporating new gifts that were received over the holidays (Week 2), and cleaning out and re-setting the refrigerator (Week 3).
Post-Holiday Decor Declutter
Before you put your holiday decor away for the season, we first recommend decluttering it. After you've decorated for the holiday season, you'll have a clear idea of what items you actually like showcasing—and what sits in storage; and because of this, it’s the perfect time to to edit and consolidate your collection. As you go through and sort your holiday decor for decluttering, everything will fall into one of three categories: Keep, Donate, and Discard. As you go through this process, remember to surround yourself with the things you love and are useful to you, and give yourself permission to get rid of what you no longer want or use.
Christmas is a particularly sentimental and personal time of year, so it may be challenging to sort through and make decisions on items. But there are questions you can ask yourself to help with the decision-making process:
Chances are, if your initial gut feeling tells you you don’t want it, don’t like it or don’t use it, then that’s telling. However the item could be useful to and loved by someone else, and there are meaningful ways to make that happen.
Discards, Donates & Keeps
Discards- if there are damaged or broken things that cannot be fixed or mended (or done so easily), that makes the decision somewhat easy and they should be thrown away. These are not things that should become someone else’s problem, so these items shouldn’t go into the donate pile.
Donates- You can bring items to donation centers like Goodwill which is a quick and easy way to facilitate those donations. You can also get creative and make donating more meaningful with these three alternative options:
Offer specific items to family or friends. For example, if you have any children who recently bought a home and haven’t collected much holiday decor, you can offer specific items to them that you think they would like. Just be sure not to push anything onto to someone with the expectation that they have to take it.
Post items on your local town or “Buy Nothing” Facebook group for free. To make things as streamlined as possible, post a grouping of items where the recipient has to take everything (instead of listing and coordinating pickup one item at a time which will end up taking up a lot of your time).
Host a holiday decor swap! Invite your family and/or friends to a swap at your home. Chances are, they have items they would like to part with too, and this gives them the perfect opportunity to do so. There aren’t any rules or formalities aside from that every attendee must bring items that they wish to give away. Everything is typically set up on a table (or multiples), and categorized by type of decor. Once it’s set up, everyone begins taking things that they like— it’s fun and casual. You'll be surprised at how much gets scooped up and brought to their new happy homes. Any leftover items can then be brought to a donation center.
Keeps- We’re sharing how to best store your holiday decor below!
Holiday Decor Storage Checklist
Organized Storage is the gift that keeps on giving. Your cherished holiday decor deserves more than being shoved into a cardboard box. From keeping your ornaments safe to making sure your wreaths aren’t crushed, we have solutions to keep things clean and organized for every holiday season.
How To Store Your Holiday Decor
Ornaments
It's best to keep ornaments protected in a bin with separate compartments. The removable compartments can also accommodate larger decor items (like tree toppers or figurines etc) if necessary. We prefer a sturdy box made out of hard plastic over a fabric bag. The hard plastic tends to be more durable and pest proof, which is especially important if you’re storing your Christmas treasures in a basement, attic or garage (which is where most people do). Fabric bags tend to work best if you have a dedicated storage room within the interior of your home.
Lights
We know how tempting it can be to throw your lights in a bin and make it next year's problem, but save yourself the stress. Instead, use light reels to keep them tangle-free and store them in a protected bin.
Trees
If you have a real tree, call your local Boy Scouts Pack for a pickup with a small donation, or call a Local Farm to see if they’ll take your tree– many farm animals will eat your Christmas trees. Just make sure that everything is removed from the tree, including every last strand of tinsel. If your artificial tree came in a cardboard box, upgrade its storage to a bag. The best type of tree storage bags come with wheels for easy transport and handles for potential wall storage if you have the space.
Wreaths and Garland
To avoid crushed wreaths, store each piece separately in proper wreath containers that stack on a shelf or can be hung on a wall hook. Store garland in a dedicated bin.
Stockings, Tree Skirts and Fabric Decor
Whether it’s stockings, tree skirts, or other holiday decor made of fabric material, we use those handy sturdy plastic boxes too, but a little bonus tip though is to also use vacuum bags, especially with bulky items. This will maximize space within the bins, and will keep fabric items fresh and clean.
Use the same bins for all of your holiday storage and be sure to label everything
Using uniform bins will make it easy to find each year. Just because you access these items once a year doesn't mean you should skip labeling. In fact, it's even more of a reason to label because you're more likely to forget what's there.
Shop Holiday Decor Storage
Thank you to Story Reporter Renee DeNino, Photographer Chris, In-Studio Anchors Scot Haney and Caitlin Francis, Executive Producer Becky McCabe, and the entire Great Day at 9A team!