'Tis that time of year when the Holiday cheer is dispersed throughout the home. But how does one keep an organized space with all the holiday decorations?
Gather the family around, spend the evenings decorating the Christmas tree, and spruce up the home with holiday spirit. That time of the year when you want to walk around in joggers, fuzzy socks, and have pine-scented candles fill the air.
All the stores have Christmas decor in stock, even Trader Joe's, with their Peppermint treats! You fill up your cart with more than enough and make your way back to the house to spread the holiday
spirit. The Christmas boxes stored up in the rafters are ready to come down, and now it's time to decorate!
TIPS & TRICKS FOR HOLIDAY DECORATING
COLLECT THE HOLIDAY DECOR
Bring down the holiday boxes from the past years. Grab everything you own that is a holiday festive decoration and dig through them. You may already have a lot, or maybe not as much as you thought. Either way, the goal is to bring EVERYTHING into one room so you can get a bird's eye view and evaluate the various items you own. If you've added more decor from stores this season, grab those bags and place them into the pile. NOW let's go through what you have, and we can start the process!
KEEP, DONATE, USE
This is a similar process to what you should do with any Organizing project (Holidays or not). We will sort through the pile you've created of all of your holiday decor and separate it into 3 categories:
KEEP, DONATE, and USE.
The "KEEP" pile contains items you want to keep, but not necessarily use for this holiday season. Every year you may want to change your holiday decor; one year, it's a green & red theme. Another year it's only a gold theme. Maybe this year, you want a neutral and earthy theme. That doesn't mean you have to discard the entire Holiday pile if it doesn't go with your current theme. Save what you like for another year. It could be sentimental or a recent purchase, but you won't use it this year.
The "DONATE" pile is fairly self-explanatory. Start getting rid of items you no longer want. No hoarders here! Maybe it's something you've repeatedly used and no longer want. Maybe it's a hand-me-down, and you have no use for it. Or it could be something that is slightly broken. You still used it last year and held on to it...but now it's time to go. This pile should be used to clear out your home so you can bring in new items, without bulking up your space. You may have a limited amount of storage space in the garage or closet, so things must go out to make space for new things.
Lastly, the "USE" pile will be everything you want to use to spruce up and decorate your home! This can be anything that interests your holiday spirit. Let this pile be an exciting category that gets your creative juices flowing!
CREATIVELY DECORATE FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Now that you have your categories - Place all the "KEEP" items back into your storage containers. If those need to be replaced, I highly recommend finding quality containers at Target, Home Goods, TJMaxx, or The Container Store. Put all the "DONATE" items into plastic bags for a later drop-off at a donation center. Now we can begin the decorating fun!
If your home has a "theme" or is decorated by season, then this is an easy move! Gather the fall decor and place it into a storage container. That container will now live next to the other holiday bins. If you don't have a season or theme for
your home decorations, then you can start by adding some of your festive holiday decorations. Be mindful of keeping it light and airy, rather than cluttering your space.
If you have too much decor around the house, that isn't particular to a season, and you want to add to your holiday decorations without creating a cluttered mess, then we have to eliminate items from the space. You can keep these items, but let's place them in a storage container for the time being. Place these items together, so it makes sense as a category, and you can find this bin after the current holiday season.
Once you have removed any off-season items, themes, or random decor...Start by adding to your pile of "USE" items, and have fun with the creativity! Mix it up from the previous year and while you're at it...light some candles, turn on holiday music, and enjoy!!!
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