The alarm clock wakes me up in a stumble this morning. I sit up on my bed slowly and rub my groggy eyes. I peer through my off-white curtains and catch a glimpse of the rising sun.
Here we are the week after the holidays: REALITY.
Then comes the dreaded part of it all: taking down all your Christmas lights and basically everything that has to do with the holidays. You can leave it up all the way till February (guilty as charged) but a new year calls for a change.
But let's not have let ourselves feel all too blue during this January. With these unbelievable tips, you'll be blessed with the gift of organised holiday decor spirit!
Believe it or not, you don't have to take a drive to the nearest IKEA to purchase compartmentalised boxes to store your used ornaments. And, reusing the boxes your ornaments originally came in actually takes up a lot more space. But then, if you get as excited as I am during the holidays, you would have possibly tossed these boxes in bin thinking Christmas was going to last forever, haha!
You can find inexpensive or be more precise - FREE ways to store your Christmas ornaments.
A CARTON OF ORNAMENTS
Store ornaments prone to breaking in egg cartons! You'll find satisfaction with each little round ornament nestled inside each egg hole. Besides, layers of stacked egg cartons would look so organised on your backroom shelf; and you're practically saving the environment! For extra safety, you can wrap each ornament before placing them inside the carton.
Buying a round of Starbucks for the colleagues? Save your coffee trays to store decorative ornaments! They generally fit regularly sized ornaments.
WRAP THEM AROUND
You can wrap them in two options and I find both fantastic hacks for a clutter-free life after the holidays. Say goodbye to untangling fairy lights! Bid adieu to find out half your fairy light strand work only after you've climbed up and down the ladder wrapping them around some ungodly area.
If you opt to use disposable cardboards to wrap your lights around for storage, you can write a note on the board to remind you what and where these lights belong: e.g. Two bulbs at the end don't work or front porch lights. This will help you take your festive game up the following year.
You can also try winding unwieldy strings of lights around coffee cans, Milo tins or paint cans. Andrew McCaul of Goodhouse Keeping says, "Cut an X in the plastic top and stick the plug through. Label each string with masking tape and a marker to remind you which lights go on the tree and which go around the door." Alternatively, if your can happens to have metal cover instead, you can use a heavy-duty paper clip to keep them on its sides.
HOLEY HOSIERY!
I'm always crinkling my nose when I take old candles out of the storage room. They're dusty and sometimes a little stained with last Christmas' glitter or something. This finding is by far the cleverest in my opinion. Ruined your pantyhose? Don't throw them out! You can slot your festive candles in to prevent them from getting scratched and keep them dust-free!
SPACE SAVING TIP!: Tired of dettaching your Christmas tree every year? Shrink wrap your tree to keep so that your tree in place and dust free! When the festive season arrives, all you'll have to do is grab a pair of scissors to get the tree off the shrink wrap and spread the branches out.
I hope you had an amazing festive season and wish you all a wonderful year ahead! More celebration! More love! More kindness!
Love,
Diane