With the holiday season and another year in the rearview, you might find yourself looking around the house and feeling that some decluttering is needed. Hey, no shame here! It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of the season, only to find yourself knee-deep in shipping boxes, decorations, and general wintertime clutter come January.
Here are a few tips to help you tidy up after the holidays and get your home back in order.
Wrap Up Your Christmas Tree
Decorating the Christmas tree is a lot of fun and often a memorable way for families to come together. When it comes to undecorating it though, don’t be surprised if there’s a lack of zeal among your household.
A super simple way to make putting the Christmas tree away a breeze is to just wrap it up. Christmas tree covers allow you to simply throw a specially fitted tarp over your tree, lights and all and put it away for storage. An even cheaper way that reportedly works just as well is wrapping it in saran wrap. If you have fragile ornaments, it’s advised to first remove those.
Smart Storage
When it comes to storing holiday decorations, how you go about it makes all the difference. Fragile tree ornaments can be especially tricky to store. A great way to keep them safe is to buy a large plastic storage bin and store each ornament in its own plastic cup or container for extra protection. Just be sure not to overpack the bin.
Nobody likes untangling a ball of Christmas lights that were haphazardly put away the previous year, so store them smartly. Wrap the smaller lights around tightly rolled-up newspapers, and for the larger jumbo lights, take a few stiff pieces of cardboard and cut out a slot on each end to make a spool.
Combine and Reorganize
If you are the sort of person who likes to have certain decorations in the same spot year after year, then this is one tip you’ll certainly want to utilize. Consider grouping your decorations by room.
What we mean by that is when you put each of your decorations away in storage, don’t simply label the box “Xmas lights” or “holiday table runners”; also label them by room. “Christmas knick-knacks – living room” or “holiday towels, upstairs guest bath” will help make things easy to find and streamline putting those decorations back on display when the holiday season rolls around again.
Declutter
Some holiday decorations are treasured keepsakes that get passed down through generations. Others, however, are lucky if they survive two Christmases. Doing a little bit of decluttering as you put away the decorations will help free up storage space and… (bonus) give you a reason to buy new decorations next year!
Assess each decoration for what you want to keep, what is trash, and what is still in decent condition, but you’d rather not hold onto it and donate instead.
Celebrating the holidays in a home you love makes the season and new year all the more special. If you’re looking to find a new home you can make your own, reach out to the Crosswinds team today.