Packing and Storing Holiday Decorations, Misc.

What can I do to stop the holiday lights from becoming a rat’s nest in the box?

Of all of the things that find their way into storage with a regular frequency are often your holiday decorations. One of the more difficult items to pack efficiently is holiday lights. When packing them, there are several tricks to keep all of those strands of lights from self-tangling. Have you ever carefully packed them up and open a rat’s nest when you get ready to set up? Who knows what they are doing when they are in the boxes, but it must be interesting, right?

If you make sure that each strand of lights that you pack is fully functional, no dead bulbs, exposed wires, etc., you will save a ton of time come November. Wrapping each strand on a clothes hanger and stacking them next to each other is a common trick to keeping your lights from becoming tangled. Others cut the cardboard wrapping paper rolls into sections, and save them to wrap the strands of lights (one per section of tube). Beads or garlands can be stored the same way.

What is the best way to store ornaments, etc. if you’ve lost the original boxes?

Ornaments can be wrapped in paper (acid free tissue paper is best) and placed in boxes with all those packing peanuts (you know you have them). To protect these items against water damage, invest in a few plastic tubs. Christmas trees are best stored in a Christmas tree storage bags, rather than the boxes that are often beat up and worn. Avoiding cardboard storage boxes also helps your items be less likely to be invaded by pests whether they will be stored in your self storage in Lafayette, CO or in your basement or attic.

What about Aunt Martha’s annual disaster gifts?

Additionally, after the holidays, we bring more stuff into our often already-crowded homes with gift exchanges. After a while, it just becomes too much. Ideally, it would be nice to have our homes ready for this influx, but for many, their goals of organizing become more urgent as they look for the best place to put Aunt Martha’s life-size color by number “Star Wars” poster.

You can almost see the traffic jams rushing to local Lafayette storage units as soon as the family leaves and everyone is left to put all of the strange and unusual gifts into their storage units. After all, Aunt Martha’s gift only needs to be out when she comes back next year for Thanksgiving, right?