| Is limited storage space keeping you from decorating | | | | Every holiday has accessories. Use a similar system |
| your home they way you would like? Seasonal | | | | for each holiday and label the boxes accordingly. In |
| decorations can add spice and inspiration to your | | | | order to make your unpacking bearable next year, use |
| home. You can beat the storage dilemma by properly | | | | a marker and a sticky label to label each box with a |
| packing and then rotating your home decorations. | | | | listing of its contents so that you can easily locate |
| Start with some simple and sturdy plastic containers. | | | | what you are looking for. At my house, I've shortened |
| Then invest in some bubble wrap, tissue paper and | | | | the Halloween labels to "Boo," but use whatever |
| sticky labels. If you have the original boxes that the | | | | labeling system will work best for your household. |
| home decorations came in, keep those for reuse and | | | | Store the packed boxes. Place the boxes in a cool, |
| storage of any fragile pieces after the season ends. | | | | dry area such as the top of a closet where delicate |
| Organize your decorations by season so they will be | | | | items will be out of the way and less likely to be |
| easy to locate when you need them. Then prepare | | | | jostled or broken. Stack boxes onto shelving rather |
| your decorations for packing. Let's use the example of | | | | than stacking several boxes on top of each other |
| packing your Christmas ornaments away. Before you | | | | whenever possible. This prevents damage to the items |
| put your glass and fabric ornaments away for storage, | | | | in the bottom box. |
| take some time to clean them. Remove any dust or | | | | When you stack the plastic containers, organize them |
| soil that may have stained the ornaments. Then | | | | so that the next holiday is on top. It takes a few |
| remove the hooks from the ornaments. Keep the | | | | minutes of effort to empty the closet and put the |
| hooks in a separate box so you can easily find them | | | | recently used decorations on the bottom and rotate |
| next year. Get rid of any broken pieces. Then repair | | | | them according to use. The added effort will make all |
| anything that needs to be repaired. You won't get to it | | | | the difference when a new season comes and it's |
| if you pack them away broken and you'll be | | | | time to decorate for that special event. |
| disappointed when you begin to unpack next year. | | | | |