How to Organize Holiday Decor | Simple Christmas Decor Storage Ideas

Today I’m excited to share some of the ideas I used to organize holiday decor this year so that it will be easier next year when it’s time to decorate.

Taking down Christmas decorations is something that is as personal as putting them up.

Honestly, it changes for me almost every year depending on how I’m feeling.

This year I feel like really slowing things down and doing a deep and intentional “declutter like you are moving” kind of Christmas cleanup.

Homemaking Transition from Christmas to Winter Video

When you’re ready to figure out how you want to create a cozy winter home head to this post where I share how I decorated this year.

How to Organize Holiday Decor

Purge

This is something that you’d think I have done many times before.

But I only remember doing it once in all the years I’ve had my own place to decorate.

After Christmas, I’m so exhausted.

I just throw everything back into totes and put them back where they go as fast as I can haha!

I don’t even really think.

This year, I realized how unorganized things were while I decorated for Christmas.

I wanted more ribbon and couldn’t find it, and I knew I had more somewhere.

Then, when I got to the Christmas ornament boxes, I found a wadded-up ball of my ribbon.

*Sigh*

This was my sign.

I need to be more intentional this year to make life easier for future Aliya haha!

Questions to ask when decluttering

While I’m getting rid of stuff I’m asking myself a handful of questions:

• Is this sentimental?
• Did I decorate with it this year?/Will I be next year?
• Does it fit my current decorating style?
• Would I buy this today?
• Is it broken/stained?

That being said, don’t be too quick to throw away the broken greenery pieces.

Those are one thing that I like to keep a stash of for adding into different locations to “fluff”.

I add them into stems in vases, wreaths, and garland.

If they are too small and going to be cumbersome to work with I pitch them.

But as long as they have a decent stem, I keep them.

Go slow to organize holiday decor

The urge to throw everything in the totes is strong.

But this is the thing that has caused the most issues for me when it comes to decluttering Christmas decorations.

But, as I mentioned before by doing this I just make a headache for myself later.

Also, I want to be intentional to only keep things that I would use to decorate with next year.

(I had two totes of Christmas decorations that went back into the attic after I FINISHED decorating for Christmas!)

There is no reason to keep that much if I’m not going to use it.

By going slow, I feel like I was able to be purposeful and have a better plan.

Remove Batteries

There is nothing more disappointing than pulling out a Christmas decoration only to find it no longer works because the batteries are corroded.

This happened to me this year with a book my dad made me years and years ago when I was a little girl.

Growing up my dad used to read “The Night Before Christmas” to us every Christmas Eve.

It was our little tradition.

In third grade my parents got divorced.

After the divorce, we didn’t always see Dad on Christmas Eve every year.

So for the years when we weren’t together, he grabbed one of those books that you can record your voice reading the book.

The book was “The Night Before Christmas”.

I’m in the process of getting my Dad to make me another one and this time I won’t forget about the batteries

Organize holiday decor by organizing the Christmas totes

Organize like items together

This is the way I’ve always organized holiday decor in the past.

All garland went in one or two totes.

All greenery picks and ribbon went in another.

This is a great method if you don’t mind working out of all the totes at one time.

But I’ve found that I’m so stressed out having all 7 totes out and open at the same time.

I have to pull different things from multiple totes, just to get one room decorated.

Organize by room

This year, I did something different.

When I put my decorations away I did do it by room.

My reservations:

Since I’m trying to inspire people with their decorations I have this internal pressure to do things differently every year.

Truthfully, as a blogger/Youtuber that’s probably the “right” thing to do.

But here’s the deal: this year, while I was decorating and constantly thinking about the loss of my mother-in-law, I realized something.

When my husband talks about Christmas decorations growing up (which is not very often at all haha) he says things like “Grandma always had this in the basement beside the fireplace.” or “I would walk downstairs and she always had this on the buffet.”

Some things can change and thats okay.

But it’s also okay for some decorations to always go where they always go.

But maybe you would prefer to do things the way I used to do them.

That’s okay.

The goal is for the totes to be organized in such a way that works for you.

Organize holiday decor: label totes

Regardless of how you organize holiday decor totes, always label them.

A simple piece of tape and marker work fine.

If you want to get really detailed you could tape a piece of paper to the tote with more description of whats in the box.

Hang Wreaths

This is something I discovered while I was researching ways to be better organized this year.

I have always taken my wreaths down and crammed them into a wreath box.

Usually with more than one wreath to try to save space in the attic.

This year I decided to have my husband put a large nail in the wall of the attic to hang my wreaths.

Because it is an attic and therefore not clean I put them in a bag first.

I’m hopeful that by doing this when I grab them next year they won’t be smashed beyond recognition haha!

Leave Some Items for Winter Decor (If you like)

This is something that feels fresh to me.

My husband actually told me last week that he was excited to see what I did after Christmas because he was excited for a “fresh start”.

Christmas decor is lovely, but at my house, when it’s time to put Christmas decorations away, it just feels like so much.

Maybe this has nothing to do with the amount of Christmas decorations at all.

Maybe its more closely related to our natural urge for peace and calm when winter is fully upon us.

Thank you so much for stopping by today!

I hope this post on how to organize holiday decor helped you.

How I decorated a cozy home after the holidays

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Have a great week! XoXo

Open Your Doors,
Aliya

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