6 Tips For What To Do Now To Make Next Christmas Easier For Yourself
Make decorating for next Christmas a breeze with these 6 tips – eliminate stress, chaos, and confusion for a smoother holiday season!
- Decorations that were simply thrown into a box, bin, or bag last year with no thought given to Christmas decorating the following year.
- Having to open every single box, bin, and bag to even see what each one contains.
- Not having a vision or even an inkling of how I think I’ll be decorating next year.
- Not having a decorating timeline to work from so that I feel overwhelmed trying to figure out where to start.
TIP #1: MAKE A LIST OF WHAT WORKED WELL (OR DIDN‘T)
Did you decorate in a way that you especially liked? Or did you do something that didn’t work well and you don’t want to repeat?
- While it’s still fresh in your mind, make a list of everything you loved this year and everything you didn’t.
- Store the list in a Christmas storage box. Label the box with a #1, if you can, so it will be the first box that you open next year.
- Take pictures of things that you did and did not love and store them in a folder on your phone marked “Christmas Ideas” or something like that.
TIP #2: ORGANIZE & PURGE NOW
I struggle with this tip the most because by now, I’m just a little bit tired of “messing with Christmas” if you know what I mean.
But – this is a big one that I force myself to do each year because I know that the reward when I’m ready to decorate for Christmas next year will be well worth it!
CLICK HERE FOR ALL OF MY CHRISTMAS ORGANIZATION & STORAGE SOLUTIONS & HACKS
There are many different methods for organizing your decor, but below are a few of my favorites. Choose the one that works best for you!
- Use see-through bins, so that you can get a glimpse of what each bin contains.
- If you decorate the same way from year to year, pack your decorations away by room.
- Pack decorations by category – tree decorations, mantel decorations, centerpiece/table decorations, and so on.
- If changing things up each year is more your style (that’s me!), pack decorations by color.
- Clean and repair any items that may need it before packing them away for next year.
TIP #3: STORE EVERYTHING IN ONE LOCATION
If space allows, try to store your Christmas decorations all in one location. Spreading them around in different places in your home is kind of like hiding presents – you can never remember where you put them all.
If you don’t have the space to store them all in one place, write where the rest of the decorations are located on a piece of paper, then lay that note in the top of the box that you’re sure to remember the location of.
Another idea is to take of picture of where decorations are stored with your phone and save it to that same “Christmas Ideas” folder that I mentioned in tip #1.
TIP #4: CREATE A PINTEREST BOARD
Create a Pinterest board in your account titled “Christmas 2024 (or whatever the next year is)”. Add pins of inspiring Christmas ideas throughout the year. As you begin to pull your decorating thoughts together for next Christmas, this will jump-start your creative juices!
Try to refer to the board from time to time throughout the year to remind yourself to keep your eye out for bargains on items that you can use next year.
TIP #5: KEEP A RUNNING LIST
It’s inevitable that you’ll think of things throughout the year that you’d like to try next year. The problem is remembering them all by the time the season rolls around again. This has happened to me SO many times!
Here’s where your phone can come to the rescue again. Use a reminder app for your phone to make notes of things as you think of them. You should be able to create a folder within the app titled “Christmas Ideas” or something similar.
TIP #6: USE SPECIALLY DESIGNED STORAGE
Take advantage of storage containers that are especially for Christmas decorations! They’re specifically designed to protect all of your most treasured items.
There are lots and lots of choices out there, but I’ve rounded up some of my favorites in my Christmas Storage and Organizing Tips, Solutions and Hacks post, which you can find by clicking HERE.
Hey Suzy,
I am late to replying to this post. After reading your current post, I just browsed thru previous post and landed on this one. For me, one of the thing that would be helpful for Christmas decorating, is for bloggers (like you) that I look to for inspiration would do a Christmas in July post. Hobby Lobby usually starts putting their decorations out in July, not sure what this year will look like, but I think about Christmas at that time, but never plan what I want my season to look like cause I have no ideas.
Thank you for the suggestion!
These are some of the best tips regarding Christmas decorations and decorating I’ve read. Thanks! They are even more pertinent for those of us living in small spaces. I started using smaller and always translucent storage containers several years ago and started typing up contents list and inserting them into the boxes where they are easily seen probably three years ago. Because I use a lot of faux greenery that I store in bags, I’ve more recently started writing in indelible ink the contents on the bags. As funds permit, I want to purchase clear storage bags for my florals. The requirement to store items in off-site outdoor rental storage is the biggest challenge and one I have yet to surmount. It is difficult when you are not only aging but fighting the elements, to take the time to create a treasure map of what’s stored where in each unit. This caused me the most difficulty this year. If anyone has any suggestions that would make storing things…and finding them easily…in off-site storage simpler, I’d love to hear them. I’m not ready to throw in the towel yet!
You know that Pinterest board you suggested for decorating ideas? That’s where I also pin photos of my Christmas house decor. I know where to look to see how it looked last year and it won’t be lost in my phone photos. I can browse all through the year to see Christmas photos on my board. Works for me! Merry Christmas!
These are excellent ideas. Also, when I have a storage bin that I can’t see through it, I take a picture of what’s inside of it, and place the picture inside the bin. If I have a Christmas arrangement of something, I also take a picture of how and where I put the Christmas items, and put those items in the bin, and the picture so I can remember what I did. Thanks for sharing your wonderful ideas
Wonderful ideas, I love going through everything after Christmas, sorting out, and thinking about next year – the pressure is off! Definitely want to simplify things though, this year’s decorating was a bit overwhelming because we moved a lot of furniture around to accommodate a large crowd on Christmas day and the day after. Quite a project! Your organizational advice is very helpful. Thank you! Wishing you and yours a happy and healthy new year.
I’m glad you found some tips for Christmas organiziation. I VERY badly need to do a ruthless purge. Happy new year to you as well!