Christmas decoration storage

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Decorating your house for the holiday season is a fun activity for all families, but if you’re not organised when packing the decorations back up again, it can feel more of a chore to sort through all the mess the following year. Here are some of my favourite ways to organise Christmas decoration storage at home.

Christmas decoration storage for ornaments

Ornaments come in all shapes and sizes, so there are many options for storage. Throwing all your ornaments in a one compartment box can cause damage and can possibly destroy some precious childhood memories. Many baubles and ornaments are made of glass or ceramic, these ornaments would benefit from being wrapped in tissue paper or kitchen roll to protect each one before storage.

Kitchen Boxes with dividers are useful for organising colours and styles of ornaments so you’re ready to choose your colour scheme or theme each year. For the small ornaments, use recycled egg cartons for storage as they keep each ornament from knocking together. Recycled pringle tins are also useful for collating a few precious ornaments.

If you’ve kept the original boxes that you bought your ornaments in, that’s a bonus.

Christmas decoration storage for a wreath

A Christmas wreath can be delicate. Squishing it in a box will not protect its finer details. Tie your wreath onto a sturdy coat hanger and slip it into a garment bag to hang in your wardrobe for storage.

Christmas decoration storage for lights

Who doesn’t love the Lobethal Lights at Christmas time? We can only imagine how long it would take over 700 homes and businesses to set up a house and garden full of Christmas lights. Back to basics though, everyone needs at least one set of lights for the Christmas tree. To save yourself a tangled mess, wrap your Christmas lights around a coat hanger. Another option could be to cut out a decent sized rectangle from a used 2ply cardboard box and wrap your lights around. For added protection, wrap some butchers paper or kitchen roll around the lights for padding.

Christmas wrapping paper storage

Keep all your wrapping paper together for every occasion. This means you don’t buy more each year when you don’t need to. Get another trusty coat hanger and garment bag and place all your wrapping paper inside hanging next to your Christmas wreath.

Declutter Christmas decorations before storage

If you find yourself running out of storage room, take some time to declutter when the time comes to take down your Christmas tree and pack up all your decorations. If you’ve got any broken Christmas lights, odd unused baubles or ratty tinsel just get rid of it. It will make a fun activity for the family to get some fresh Christmas decorations next year.

Need any boxes?

Head over to our Box Shop for kitchen boxes with dividers, storage boxes, butchers paper, bubble wrap and more. Perfect to help you organise Christmas decorations this year.

Tips to declutter clothing storage

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Why wait until Spring to declutter clothing storage?

Winter is almost over so it’s a great time to declutter clothing storage and make more room by putting your bulky winter items away for next year.

It may not be a one-day job, or even a one-person job, but imagine how much better you will feel looking at your immaculate wardrobe every day and on no occasion wasting time finding your favourite outfit.

Here are some top tips:

Remove everything out of storage and cupboards

It’s easier to start with a clean canvas and you’ll see how much storage space you’ve got in your wardrobe. Sort through each piece of clothing. Ask yourself, do you wear it anymore? Does it make you feel good? Is it just wasting space?
Neatly, fold all your loved items and put them back in their rightful place. If you are unsure about a piece of clothing, make another pile – you can always come back to it.

Take any of your partners, your kids or your winter warmers like coats or thick knitted cardigans that you won’t need anymore and store them in a suitcase for safe keeping until next winter. Keep a few cardigan’s handy just in case you need an outer layer before Summer arrives.

Handy hint- wash or dry clean your items before storing away as any dirt or stains can cause long term damage to your clothes.

Donate or find self storage!

Start a donation box and go through that “unsure” pile again. Nothing will feel better than donating perfectly wearable clothes to others in need. You won’t feel like you’ve wasted your money if it’s going to someone who will get lots of wear out of it. If it’s not suitable to donate, chuck it!

Organise your storage space

Every item needs a designated storage space. Organisation will help your time management. Keep your work clothes in one space and your t-shirts in another. Hang up your dresses or shirts because no one likes to iron. Keep your shoes together and while you’re there, sort through and let go of any worn out, unwearable pairs. If you’re lucky and have walk in or built in clothing storage, have one side for your partners clothes and one side for yours for extra organisation.

Organising family storage

A woman’s got to do, what a woman’s got to do! If you are decluttering your own clothes, you may as well help your partner or your kids (or both!!) while you’re at it. If your partner is unenthused about decluttering get him to sit down and answer a simple “yes or no” game. Hold up each shirt or pair of jeans in front of him and make quick decisions. Maybe promise him a beer when he’s finished.

As for kids, how many toys do they really need? Have they grown out of anything? Keep a few of your favourite items for sentimental reasons and donate the rest. If you don’t want to part with anything, store it all for when you have grandkids!

Don’t get distracted, stay focused on decluttering

Yes, it’s hard, but stay focused – the more you procrastinate, the more time it will take to achieve your goal and you’ll end up living in more mess than when you started. Make it a family joint effort or if you are working solo, grab a glass of wine and pop on your favourite music!

Take a step back and admire your decluttered clothing storage space.

I hope you found these tips helpful in your experience.

If you want to declutter clothing storage but don’t wish to throw items away, Store Ur Stuff can provide you with self-storage, book now.

Please share your feedback, tips or stories.

Related posts, articles

http://makinglemonadeblog.com/10-steps-decluttering-your-closet-clothing-konmari-method/

Useful uses for rubbish

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Using rubbish to organise your home

Every year the average Australian family produces enough rubbish to fill a three-bedroom house. This fact is not surprising considering most things made today are made to be disposable or short-lived. Consider the amount of packaging items come in, including our food these days. Fruit and vegetable come pre-cut, pre-washed and pre-packaged ready for consumption.[1]

Over the past decade, the total volume of waste generated in Australia has nearly doubled from 22.7 million tonnes in 96-97 to 43.8 million tonnes in 06-07.[2]

Before you throw what you think is rubbish in the bin, have a think to see if you can come up with another use for that item. 

Here are a few I have found while searching the net:

  • Empty light bulb packaging make great photo protectors – simply remove the interior cardboard and flatten the box and insert your photos for safe storage
  • Label your cords by using old plastic bread fasteners
  • Consider using an old shower cap to cover the soles of your shoes before packing them in a suitcase
  • Store plastic bags in empty tissue boxes – it works perfectly to disperse just one bag at a time
  • Use an empty lotion plastic bottle or wet one’s container (not see through) next time you are at the beach to store your keys, phone and money and to keep them hidden and safe
  • Empty plastic bottles make useful funnels – cut the bottom of the bottle off, fill it from that end, remove the lid and pour
  • Plastic bottles can also be used to seal packaging by cutting bottle part off – leaving the nozzle, lid and 10cm of the bottle part – threading the top of the packaging through and folding it over the bottle and reapplying the lid
  • Use an old sock as a coffee sleeve – cut the foot part off the sock and slip the top of the old sock around your cup
  • Old clothes can be used as dust rags around the home
  • Cardboard tubes – like the ones you find at the end of glad-wrap or paper towels – can be used to wrap scarves to prevent them from wrinkling. They also take up less room for storage this way
  • Wine corks make a great pin cushion!
  • Empty egg containers make great drawer dividers and because they are made to keep a fragile egg from breaking they are also the best thing to store Christmas ornaments
  • Empty Pringle cans can be used as spaghetti storage
  • Clear plastic lids can be placed under oil jars in the cupboard or aerosols in the bathroom to prevent oil or rust marks on your shelves