Fall is upon us and we are ready to get into the spirit of the season.  Many people enjoy doing so by decorating their homes for the many upcoming holidays.  Halloween is right around the corner followed by Thanksgiving and Christmas and that means your assortment of decorations can easily become cluttered and disorganized.  You don’t have to solve this problem by throwing out some of your favorite holiday décor.  Instead, follow these simple tips to turn that decoration clutter into a well-organized collection. 

Sort Through Your Decorations

If you have a large collection of holiday decorations, the first step in decluttering the mess is to sort through all of your pieces.  Start by separating everything by holiday or season: Spring, Easter, 4^th of July, Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas.  Christmas decorations certainly don’t belong in the same box as the Easter decorations.  You will need to go through your closets, attic, and garage to gather all of your holiday decorations so you can easily see what you have. 

Discard Old or Broken Items

Once your items have been sorted it is a good time to look through all of your decorations and carefully inspect them to see which items you really want to keep.  Chances are you have quite a few decorations that you don’t even use.  Now is the time to discard all of those old or worn out decorations or donate them.  You should also discard any broken items.  You will want to check all light strands and throw out the ones that no longer work. 

Wrap and Protect Your Decorations

Many of those holiday decorations are breakable and proper precautions need to be taken to ensure they don’t get broken or damaged while in storage.  Purchase some bubble wrap and packing paper so that you can wrap any fragile items.  The way you wrap your items is important because it will provide protection against breakage, water damage, mold, and mildew. Take a little time to individually wrap ornaments, figurines, picture frames, pottery, and any other breakable items. 

Place them in Storage Boxes or Containers

Cardboard boxes aren’t ideal for storing holiday decorations because they are too flimsy and they are not airtight.  Your decorations are going to remain in storage for an entire year, so you want to make sure they are in proper containers that will protect them from moisture, bugs, and fluctuating temperatures.  Plastic bins work well because they have airtight lids, their rigidity provides added protection, and they stack well.  Decorations should be placed in storage bins according to the holiday or season.  This will keep everything neatly separated so you can easily find your decorations next year.  You might even choose to use color coordinating boxes to make things even easier to find.

Label Your Boxes

Now that your decorations are sorted, wrapped, and boxed up, it’s time to label each of those boxes.  It’s not the best idea to write directly on the boxes, as the contents might change from year to year as you add or remove decorations.  Instead, type a list of the items inside the box and save the list on your computer.  That way you can quickly make edits if needed.  Place the list in a plastic sheet protector and tape it to the box.  In addition to labeling the contents, it can also be helpful to take pictures of your home while it is decorated and place the photos in the coordinating boxes.  The next year, you can refer to the photo to remember exactly how you decorated.  You will be amazed at how much time this will save you!