Tips for Christmas Clean-up

Are you ready to de-Christmas your home? Sometimes the feat of packing the holidays away seems to be an endless, boring task but here are some quick and easy Christmas clean-up tips to make next year a breeze!

Tips for Easy Christmas Clean-Up

1. De-Christmas room by room. Put a storage bin and plastic wrap in each room and take down as you go. Consequently, when you are ready to decorate again next season, you will already be organized room by room!
2. Wrap your wreaths (artificial, of course), in garbage bags to repel dust. Lay flat or hang on a hook in your attic/basement to prevent crushing.
3. Be sure to wash your tree stand in soapy water to remove the sap. Keep those insects and critters away!
4. When wrapping up your breakable ornaments, line the bottom of our bin with your plush tree skirt. Wrap ornaments in tissue paper (or wrapping paper scraps!) and rest them on top of the tree skirt. Cover the layer with your plush stocking and repeat. Therefore, you will have less of a chance to find broken ornaments next season. Egg cartons work for storing smaller ornaments!
5. Hang tablecloths and napkins from hangers in a closet. Iron them now and as a result that is one less thing you need to do next season!

Christmas Clean-up Tips Continued

6. When storing lights, wrap each string around a separate paper towel roll, placing the plug ends inside the rolls. As a result, no tangled frustrating mess next year!
7. Holiday-themed dinnerware is safest stored in padded, divided containers.
8. Don’t forget to get help! I usually do the clean-up solo. Sometimes it is just easier to get the job done yourself! This year, the whole family pitched in together, just as we decorate the tree together. We had fun joking and laughing and talking about the highs of the holiday season. And it went much, much faster!

9. Purge as you go! When completing your Christmas clean-up, maybe you’ll find that you no longer use that snow globe or those extra stockings. Did you know that you can donate your unwanted Christmas decorations? Some charities have their own guidelines but many accept your donations. October is a great month to do so. Check our your local charities including the Salvation Army as well as your local Goodwill.
Finally, 10. Treat yourself to a coffee….Christmas setup AND Christmas clean-up will be a breeze next year with a more organized system!