Post-holiday dread eased by organizing
By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF, Times Correspondent
Published January 3, 2008
It takes hours to put them up.
And it requires hours to take them down - a domestic task that doesn't evoke the same cheer.
Stowing holiday ornaments, lights and knickknacks until next year is a tall order, especially in Florida, where storage space is at a premium.
So pour yourself a cup of tea or spike the last of the fat-free eggnog, crank up some good tunes and organize those holiday trimmings. With some advice from experts, you'll have your treasures packed away smartly in no time and your house will look clean and clutter-free in the new year.
Liz Witts, a professional organizer with Organized Living and a regular on HGTV's Mission Organization, predicts that by the time the holidays are over "no one will be excited about their Christmas decorations anymore. They'll want to get them down as quickly as possible and reclaim their houses."
Witts says that if you put away those decorations "quick and sloppy," you'll pay for your sins next year with tangled lights and broken ornaments.
Ornament storage
For starters, she recommends a dedicated ornament storage box with individual slots. She likes the 20-slot box from her company, Organized Living,www.organizedliving.com a deal at $5.99 but you can pick them up at any of the big-box retailers.
If you are a procrastinator, holiday organizing boxes tend to go on sale in January, but wait only if it's an option.
Designated ornament boxes can store more items in a smaller space, she says. They also allow for more efficient stacking.
As an example, she likes to use what she calls "the pantry analogy" of whether can you store a sack of flour on a bag of pretzels.
"You can," she says, "but only if they're in containers."
Linda Harns, a professional holiday decorator from Chicago who now lives in Holiday, also recommends heavy-duty plastic storage containers.
"My husband convinced me. He even bought the kind with ornament containers and storage is much easier," Harns says.
Cull the collection
The end of the holidays also marks a good time to scale down your decorations. Since you're actually handling everything, take stock of what's worn, out of style or no longer useful.
Of course, sentimentality wins out, especially with Christmas decorations, but most people have acquired so many decorations that they probably have more than they need, Witts says.
"If you have three sets of the same Christmas salt and pepper shakers, give two away so that someone else can enjoy them next year."
Elizabeth Bettendorf can be reached at ebettendorf@hotmail.com.