Don’t Take Down Your Christmas Decorations Until You’ve Read This

Putting up decorations is usually a tradition or a fun way to get into the holiday spirit. But taking them down reminds you that Christmas is over and, let’s face it, taking everything down is a hassle. Putting each ornament back in its individual boxes, driving your tree to the dump (just to have to vacuum pine needles out of your car), and tangling all of your light strands together is close to miserable. The process takes forever and often causes frustration.

But it doesn’t have to be this way! With these fantastic tips from Urban Transit™, taking down your holiday decorations will go from a weekend project to just an hour or two. Sounds nice, right? Read below to find out how!

Get Reusable Bins, And Label Them

This is step one, and it will save you a lot of grief (especially next year when taking out your decorations again). Walk through your house and try to categorize all the different items you have. Here are some common ones:

Lights
Garlands
Wreaths
Candles

Once you have your boxes labeled, you’ll want to put them away in an organized fashion. Read the following section to find out how.

Pro-Tip: Put tape down on your bin, and then write the label on it with a Sharpie. Suppose you need to relabel something – you can peel it off and change it!

Organize With Dividers

There are many box divider options out there – just type into your google search engine “box dividers” to find what you need. Consider sizing, so they fit correctly into the boxes you have.

Then, you can put different light strands in each divider to keep them from getting tangled, and you can separate your candles by color. Whatever feels right to you, go with it!

You could just throw it all into the same box like every other year, or you could separate them, so everything is organized and ready to decorate next year.

Get a Specific Box Just For Ornaments

The most tedious part of taking down Christmas decorations may just be putting every single ornament back in its box to keep it safe and packed away. Make your life a hundred times easier by investing in an ornament box.

These come in any size you may need – which depends on how many ornaments you have. They have many layers in the box and tons of small dividers throughout. Place each ornament in its own little divider section and tightly secure the box.

Throw out the individual ornament boxes, save room (and time), and safely store your ornaments for next year!

Dispose of Your Christmas Tree

There are many ways to do this – you don’t have to drive it all the way down to the dumpster!

Instead of just throwing your tree out, consider donating it to a company that will use it for mulching and compost or will find a way to repurpose it. This helps our environment, and odds are, people from the company will come to pick it up for you or help you get it where it needs to go.

Schedule a curbside pickup if you can’t find a company near you that will take your tree, and you still don’t want to drive it to the dump. Most cities offer a tree pick-up service during certain weeks after Christmas. Ask around or do a google search – there should be some kind of service to come to get it for you no matter where you live.

Get Someone To Help Out

The more people there are helping, the more you can divide and conquer. If it is you and your whole family, be sure everyone gets involved. This way, you can take one section, and everyone else can focus on other areas. You then won’t even have to think about what would have taken you extra time.

Be Brutal With What You Don’t Want To Keep

As you are packing up all your things, if you see something that didn’t work or you don’t like anymore, get rid of it! Trash the broken stuff and donate the rest – just be sure it doesn’t get packed away again. You will save time and energy by not dealing with it next year.

Wrapping a strand of lights around your tree is fun – until you plug it in and the lights don’t turn on. There is no good point in keeping broken things unless they have deep sentimental value and you want to try and repair them!

Pro-Tip: Keep a running list on a piece of paper of everything that broke or that you will need to replace the following year. Then, put that list on top of your stuff and close the lid. Next year, when you open the boxes, the list will be right there, and you won’t have to try and remember what you need!