Quick Christmas Storage Tips
Take the hassle out of putting away Christmas lights and decorations with these easy storage tips. Bonus: unpacking next year will be a snap!
Tangle-Free Lights
- Cardboard organizer: Cut 1-inch slits in the sides of a rectangle piece of cardboard, and wind string Christmas lights around, using the slits to hold the wire. Cut slits in the top and bottom to secure both ends.
- Wrapping paper roll: Don’t toss but recycle those used wrapping paper rolls. Wind lights around the roll, and store extra bulbs in a plastic bag placed inside the tube.
- Wire clothes hangers: Up-cycle those extra wire clothes hangers by wrapping lights around them. Turn up each end so the lights don’t slip off. Then hang them in a storage closet, or place them into a storage bin.
Ornament Organizers
- Ornament storage boxes: Buy these ornament storage boxes once, and you’ve solved your ornament storage problem for years. They come in cardboard, plastic, and nylon; small (18 ornaments) or large (some hold 80); with fixed or adjustable dividers.
- Recycle gift boxes: Give clothing gift boxes a second life as ornament storage. Reuse the tissue paper to wrap each ornament. Fruit gift boxes often have dividers that are perfect for ornaments.
- Stocking stuffers: Put your Christmas stockings to use all year by storing your most precious and oddly shaped ornaments inside them.
Keep Holiday Paper Under Wraps
- Garment bags: Clothes bags are great ways to store all your gift wrapping paper and tools. Wrapping paper rolls will stand up straight. You can thread spools of ribbon on a pants hanger, which you’ll hook onto the closet rod. Place tape, scissors, and bows in plastic bags, and store in the bottom of the garment bag.
- Spice racks: Install spice racks on the back of a closet or tall cabinet door to keep ribbon and rolls snug.