An Organized Approach to Holiday Decorating
Brought to you by Joan Kosmachuk, Professional Organizer
and Personal Life Coach

Many of us love the holidays and all the trimmings that come with it. However, as much as you might love decorating your home and creating that festive mood, the thought of digging for the decorations in the first place and putting them away afterward may have turned what should be a “fun” activity into another chore to be dreaded. Most of us tell ourselves that we’ll get “organized” for next year, once the current holiday is over, but it never seems to happen. My advice is to decide to organize your holiday decorations NOW.

“Now?” you ask “On the brink of the holiday season? Don’t you have enough to do? Isn’t it sheer madness to add one more chore to the list?” Well, the reality is that if you don’t do it now, you’ll probably find yourself in the same mess next year. So, set aside one afternoon and enlist the help of a friend, family member or professional organizer and follow these 7 easy steps to organize your holiday decorations once and for all.

1. Gather: Go through the entire house (don’t forget the attic, garage, basement, china cabinet, closets) and gather ALL your holiday decorations together in one room. You may be surprised by how much you have.
   
   
2. Sort: Put like with like. You may categorize by holiday, item, or room or any other category that makes sense to you. For example:
   
   Holiday: Thanksgiving, Hanukah, Christmas, New Year’s, Easter and the Fourth of July.
   
   Category: Lights (indoor/outdoor), lawn and garden ornaments, tree ornaments, serving dishes, decorative pillows, table top displays, wreaths, linens etc.
   
   Room: Kitchen, Family Room, Entryway (front/back), Master bath etc.
   
   
3. Separate: Check all your decorations to make sure they are intact and, where applicable, in working order. Separate any items that need repair/replacement parts and set them aside in a box (do not store with decorations in good repair). Make a “fix-it” date in your calendar to attend to these items. Also separate out any ornaments you don't like, have not displayed for several seasons, or that are showing significant signs of wear and tear. These can be trashed, recycled, or, if in good condition, passed on to others.
   
   
4. Quantify: Each new season brings the temptation of adding to our holiday décor. Whether you purchase the decorations yourself or receive them as gifts, it’s inevitable that your collection will grow over time whereas the space to display these treasures may not. Be honest about how many actual surfaces you have to display table top displays (for example) and keep only that number from year to year. Once you’ve reached your capacity, you’ll need to apply the one in, one out rule. For every new item you add to your collection, one “like” item needs to be passed along to a new home.
   
   
5. Containerize: During the holidays is the perfect time to find specialty storage containers for all your holiday décor. Stores like Target, Wal-Mart, Loews will be selling color-coded plastic bins (orange/black for harvest, red/green for Christmas). In addition, The Container store, Rubbermaid, or Stacks n’ Stacks offer on-line shopping for tree and wreath bags/boxes, ornament organizers, gift wrapping organizers and light manager systems. Investing in some proper storage containers will ensure that your decorations will be preserved for many holidays to come. Make sure that your containers are “containerized” as well by selecting a specific storage area such as a closet or shelving unit. If space is limited you might be able to consider overhead storage in the garage or under-the bed storage. If at all possible, keep your holiday decoration containers together in one location or at least all in the same room. This will make the task of retrieving/re-storing a much easier one. It will also help you to quantify the number of decorations you actually have room to store.
   
   
   Wreath Storage by Rubbermaid
   
6. Label: Even when using see-through storage bins/bags it is important to label all of the contents inside. If you have a large number of holiday storage bins you can also number the bins and create a master list of each item and the bin # in which it is located. This is not only helpful in locating your decorations, but it allows you to delegate the task of re-storing the items to other family members or a professional if you don’t have the time to get things put away yourself.
   
   
7. Display: Once you have everything in order, take the current season’s decorations and have fun setting the scene for your celebration. As you do this task, you may find that there’s not room for everything you’ve kept. Be sure to add the “left-overs” to your donate pile. The task of decorating will be enjoyed so much more by knowing that when the holiday is over, you have a space for everything to be stored AND, finding it all next year will be a breeze.

For those of you who don’t enjoy decorating for the holidays (no matter how organized your decorations might be) consider the following ideas to simplify the seasons:

1. Choose one feature item/display for each season. This will allow you to spend your decorating budget on one really special decoration rather than on numerous smaller items. You may choose a spectacular table top display for your entryway or main entertaining area, a collectible village to sit in the front window with characters that change with each holiday, an elaborate wreath for the door to compliment the season, or a decorative pillows or throws for each room of the house. Whatever you choose, make sure its something that makes YOU smile and is prominent enough to give your home the feeling of understated celebration.
   
   
2. Use living or edible items for your decorations. If you don’t have room to store holiday decorations (those living in small apartments are often in this situation) or if the task of unpacking and repacking up your decorations fills you with dread rather than delight, you may want to consider using only live or edible decorations. Whether it’s a lovely floral display or fresh wreath delivered to your front door from your local florist or a pile of pumpkins, a mouthwatering gingerbread house, a giant chocolate bunny or painted eggs picked up while you are at the supermarket, choosing plants or edible items as your sole decoration will allow you to have a new display each holiday/year and when the holiday is over your only chore will be to eat it or carry it to the curb.
   
   
3. Hire someone to set up and dismantle your decorations for you. This is a great plan for those with an illness, new moms, or those with demanding jobs who really long to be surrounded by familiar and beloved decorations but would rather spend what little time and energy they have during the holidays with their family rather than on the chore of decorating. Again, knowing what you have and where it is stored will be necessary if you want to delegate this task to professionals. But once you’ve organized your decorations (and even drawn up a floor map of where you wish them placed) you’ll be free to sit back and enjoy. And when the holidays are over, you can just ask for them to magically disappear.

If you need help with organizing your holiday decorations, decorating your home for the holidays and/or other organizing solutions, consider getting professional input by hiring a professional organizer. To hire the services of Joan Kosmachuk, please email your request to info@simpleeffects.com or call 617-784-0707.

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