With everyone in your family running in different directions, the holidays can get extremely stressful. On top of that, as the presents start to pile, your home may become more and more cluttered. If you do not stay on top of the mess, you may be climbing over piles and tripping over trash just to move from room to room by New Year’s Day. The secret to saving your sanity this holiday season is storage. The following tips and tricks can help you better organize your home this holiday season.
First, make sure that you do not allow Christmas gifts to pile up under the tree. If you have children, this can especially be a problem, as they may receive gifts at school, scouts, and even church. It is more than fine to keep your wrapped, waiting presents under the tree, but once they are opened, do not use the tree skirt as a place of storage. In the days following Christmas, find a permanent home for the items you and your family members have received. Avoid piles of gifts just because you do not know what to do with them right now.
Remember, you can find space to store toys, clothing, and other items, even when you think there is no more room. For example, there are storage containers that slide easily under the bed. These can hold shoes, wrapping paper, summer clothing, and toys that your children do not play with often. You can also find shelving units that fit in tight locations, like between the washer and dryer or along the wall in a tight garage. Make use of the space you did not know you had!
During the holiday season, you may also have extra food to store. Neighbors may drop off cookies, you may find yourself cookies for dinner parties, and there are usually enough leftovers from Christmas Day to feed your household for the rest of the week. Do not overlook storage issues in your refrigerator. When you just start storing things in an unorganized fashion, you are creating three problems. First, you are wasting money because you might double purchase items that you cannot locate, which is actually quite common. Things may get shoved in the back of the shelves and drawers. Another problem is that you are wasting food. You might forget about that piece of pie hiding behind the milk, and by the time you find it again, you have to throw it away. Lastly, you may be wasting energy. If you do not know where things are in your fridge, the door may be open longer while you are trying to locate the item. By investing in some rolling shelves, you can really cut back on food storage problems.
Around Christmas, the bathroom is another place that becomes cluttered and difficult to manage without a storage plan. During the holidays, you may be going out to parties and events. Do not come home to bathroom counters covered with makeup, hair products, and other toiletries. Instead, invest in storage units for the walls, which can hold curling irons, blow dryers, and other hair tools. You can also pick up some drawer storage units specifically made to organize your cosmetic products. Your counters should now be clear, and as an added bonus, it can take you less time to get ready because you may be able to find the hair and face items you need quickly and easily.
After the holidays is when the real storage nightmare begins, especially if you love to decorate your house. Remember, you do not have to store away your Christmas items all at once. In fact, if you decorate using items featuring snowmen, these can stay up until the end of winter! As far as your Santa Clauses and reindeer go, the key is to store these things carefully. You may likely move the boxes to storage areas, basements, or attics, so you want to protect your ornaments and other fragile item by using storage containers specifically made for them. In addition, because Christmas decorating often includes garlands and strings of lights, it is important to keep things wound tightly and tucked away. Otherwise, you may spend hours next year untangling your decorations!
The holiday season is one of the most joyous times of the year, but it can also be stressful. By staying as organized as possible, you can at least cut some of that stress from your life, which is important, especially if you have houseguests. This Christmas, invest a little time and money into proper storage and organization of all the items you love, this can help keep your decorations from being damaged during storage. If Santa is good to you, store away your items in their new location as soon as possible.
Brian Jenkins writes about the holiday season, decorations, and gift giving, often offering specific tips about the holiday season such as holiday storage.
