STEP
#1: COLOR CODE STORAGE BOXES. You can buy
holiday storage bins, or even ordinary plastic storage
bins, in different colors. Or buy containers with
different color lids. Or spray paint the exterior
of your existing lids appropriate colors. Use all
purple for Halloween ornaments and all green and red
for Christmas items. That way you'll know at a glance
which storage bins to pull for each holiday.
STEP
#2: TAKE INVENTORY. List each item in an
individual holiday storage container on a sheet of
paper. Then put that paper in a translucent sheet
protector. Tape the sheet protector to the outside
of the bin. You won't have to open each box now to
know what's inside.
STEP
#3: MAKE A BLUEPRINT. Have you ever struggled
to repack decorations into boxes only to find what
came out doesn't seem to fit on the return trip? Solve
this by mapping the "location" of the items
in the boxes in blueprint drawing fashion. Of course
you'll have to get everything to fit just so in the
boxes the first year. But next year you'll easily
be able to duplicate the repacking process by following
your packing blueprint.
STEP
#4: USE A CODING SYSTEM on holiday storage
boxes that tells you in what order to open them. Put
the number one on the box that contains the items
you'll work with first. Or write "open first"
on certain boxes. For example, at Christmas you may
typically start with your tree stand, tree lights
and/or outdoor lights. Other things you might use
first are holiday cooking related items (e.g. Santa
or pumpkin cookie cutters), gift wrap and gift tags.
Keep other boxes closed until you're ready for those
items.
STEP
#5: CLUSTER. Two columns of stackable bins
that are all orange (for Halloween) in the back corner
of your garage are easy to spot. Always group storage
boxes together by holiday, even if you can't fit all
of the holidays in the same section of the garage,
attic or closet.
STEP
#6: KEEP A HOLIDAY PLANNER. Keep one three-ring
notebook with the inventory sheets mentioned earlier.
(This can be in addition to taping the inventory sheets
to the individual storage boxes.) You can put all
holiday inventory sheets in one notebook and separate
the different holiday information with notebook dividers
and tabs (sold at office supply stores) labeled Halloween,
Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.
Keep the
notebook on your bookshelf year-round. You also can
add divided sections to this notebook for holiday
recipes, holiday collection lists (so you don't buy
duplicate collectibles in a series), holiday gift
ideas and holiday card mailing lists.
It's best
to do all of these "printables" on your
computer and print them versus hand-writing them;
that makes for easier updating. You can either put
the paper in three-hole punched translucent sheet
protectors or leave a wide left margin and three hole
punch the paper yourself.
STEP
#7: START NOW. Work on your storage plan
through every upcoming holiday so that when year two
arrives, your plan is in place and complete. It's
an investment of time and patience that will benefit
you next year and every year thereafter.
Article
by:
Karen Fritscher-Porter publishes www.EasyHomeOrganizing.com
where you'll find organizing products to buy plus
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