|
Wouldn't it be nice if you could find your
decorations, costumes, cards and wrapping paper in just seconds and
put them away just as quickly after the holiday? You can with a plan!
Use these steps below for organizing holiday storage and you'll spend
less time on this mundane task and more time celebrating. And don't
wait until the holidays, or worse, after the holidays, to read these
tips. That's too late. Plan ahead. Start now. Start here...
STEP #1: COLOR CODE STORAGE BOXES.
You can buy holiday storage bins, or even ordinary plastic storage
boxes, in different colors. Or buy containers with different color
lids. Or spray paint the exterior of your existing lids appropriate
colors. Use all purple for Halloween ornaments and all green and red
for Christmas items. That way you'll know at a glance which storage
bins to pull for each holiday.
STEP #2: TAKE INVENTORY. List each
item in an individual holiday storage container on a sheet of paper.
Then put that paper in a translucent sheet protector. Tape the sheet
protector to the outside of the bin. You won't have to open each box
now to know what's inside.
STEP #3: MAKE A BLUEPRINT. Have
you ever struggled to repack decorations into boxes only to find what
came out doesn't seem to fit on the return trip? Solve this by mapping
the "location" of the items in the boxes in blueprint drawing fashion.
Of course you'll have to get everything to fit just so in the boxes
the first year. But next year you'll easily be able to duplicate the
repacking process by following your packing blueprint.
STEP #4: USE A CODING SYSTEM on
holiday storage boxes that tells you in what order to open them. Put
the number one on the box that contains the items you'll work with
first. Or write "open first" on certain boxes. For example, at
Christmas you may typically start with your tree stand, tree lights
and/or outdoor lights. Other things you might use first are holiday
cooking related items (e.g. Santa or pumpkin cookie cutters), gift
wrap and gift tags. Keep other boxes closed until you're ready for
those items.
STEP #5: CLUSTER. Two columns of
stackable bins that are all orange (for Halloween) in the back corner
of your garage are easy to spot. Always group storage boxes together
by holiday, even if you can't fit all of the holidays in the same
section of the garage, attic or closet.
STEP #6: KEEP A HOLIDAY PLANNER.
Keep one three-ring notebook with the inventory sheets mentioned
earlier. (This can be in addition to taping the inventory sheets to
the individual storage boxes.) You can put all holiday inventory
sheets in one notebook and separate the different holiday information
with notebook dividers and tabs (sold at office supply stores) labeled
Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.
Keep the notebook on your bookshelf year-round. You also can add
divided sections to this notebook for holiday recipes, holiday
collection lists (so you don't buy duplicate collectibles in a
series), holiday gift ideas and holiday card mailing lists.
It's best to do all of these "printables" on your computer and print
them versus hand-writing them; that makes for easier updating. You can
either put the paper in three-hole punched top-loading translucent
sheet protectors or leave a wide left margin and three hole punch the
paper yourself.
STEP #7: START NOW. Work on your
storage plan through every upcoming holiday so that when year two
arrives, your plan is in place and complete. It's an investment of
time and patience that will benefit you next year and every year
thereafter.
|