As most of you know, I went full out with decorating my house for the holidays this year. It’s my first official Christmas in my new house and I’m just a tad bit obsessed with the whole my space thing ya know? I’ve actually always been into decorating for the holidays, but this year I wanted things to be PERFECT. The only bad thing about getting more into every year is that I’ve now ended up with more stuff to have to organize and put away. As I’ve collected more decorations over the years, my organization skills have gotten much worse – I’m constantly losing and breaking things because I don’t have a good system in place right now. There have even been times I’ve completely forgotten I had something and I find it like two months after the holidays are over, ha!

After unpacking my decorations this year and realizing just how unorganized I was (and how much I re-bought only to realize I already owned something), I promised myself that I wouldn’t let things get so bad again – and that I’d actually take time to research and organize everything properly after the holidays. I had mentioned possibly doing a post on decoration organization a couple months ago, and it seemed like y’all had the same problem because lots of people said they wanted to see a post. So here we are! Lisel and I went pretty crazy with not only decorating but ALSO getting storage ideas in advance. Because I didn’t want this year to end up like the rest – a hot mess of boxing up decorations. Here’s how I’ll be stepping up my organization game this year and some ideas for you:

String lights

After I take the strands of lights off my tree, I typically put them all in a bin together in nice little bunches. No matter how I pack them in, I find that they always end up a tangled mess when I go to take them out the following year. I found a really cool idea from Martha Stewart to wrap lights around cutouts of cardboard that are shaped to fit inside plastic storage bins. I really cannot wait to try this since tangled lights are always such a PAIN.

Ornaments

I usually just wrap my ornaments in tissue paper and put them into storage bins, but I’ve noticed that some my fragile ornaments have been breaking with this storage method. This year, I’m going to order a few of these ornament storage boxes, which will give each of my ornaments their own little cubby space. Not only does it seem more secure, I think it’ll also save a ton of time since I won’t have to individually wrap my ornaments. Also, I’m really loving the idea of being able to see all of my ornaments before I start decorating my tree next year (vs. having to unwrap them from tissue paper).

Gift wrap

I’ve had such a hard time thinking of creative ways to store my gift wrap (doesn’t it always get wrinkled or smooshed?!). For me, the biggest struggle is with the wrapping paper, since there aren’t a ton of boxes that can fit them. I found a really cool storage bag that not only fits wrapping paper, but also bags, bows, ribbon, AND tissue paper. YUP. No matter what I’ve tried in the past, I’ve never been able to find a way to store all of this stuff together, which means I forget what I already have and end up buying more of what I don’t need. I can’t wait to have my little gift wrapping station in a bag set and ready to go for next year!

Wreaths

I’m a big believer in mixing it up when it comes to fresh and artificial Christmas foliage. For example, I love hanging a fresh wreath on my door, but when I’m hanging them inside my home on walls or near curtains, I like to use the artificial wreaths to keep things cleaner and looking fresh 24/7 (the heater can wreak havoc on the fresh ones). I’ve been noticing that my fake wreaths end up in pretty bad shape year after year – I guess that’s what I get for storing them in plastic garbage bags, ha. This year, I’m going to try storing them in hard shell plastic bins like this one. I especially love how these storage boxes are clear so that I can see which wreaths they are before I open them up.

Box labeling

Since I go a little decoration crazy (and it just seems to get worse every year), I decided that I’m going to get a little more specific with labeling my boxes so that I don’t forget things when I go to decorate each year. Also, because our garage has SO many of the same boxes, I never know what’s what. This year, I missed an entire box of Christmas pillows and was so sad when I realized I’d gone without them! To help me stay more organized, I’m going to categorize my boxes and number them, like “Christmas pillows (1 of 3).” This way, I’ll know how many boxes I should have and can make sure nothing gets lost in the shuffle. Since I just use clear boxes for storing all of my decor, it’s super easy to slip in a piece of paper with the label on it – doesn’t need to be too fancy!

OK, this actually makes me really excited to pack up all the Xmas stuff afterwards and feel totes organized (but I’m also happy to enjoy the decorations through the next few weeks!).

Do y’all have any tips to add to this list? Y’all usually have such great ideas – can’t wait to hear!