Cleaning up after Christmas
I made a few changes this year that will make the after-Christmas clean up easier. For one thing, I tried to use primarily ornaments and decor that can stick around into February and still look okay–things like these little snowmen tucked into the mug rack, and these angelic figures playing among plain white bottlebrush trees. They’re just more “winter” than “Christmas.”
As we were pulling out decor from storage this year, I just set aside stuff that I wasn’t crazy about, or that was inconvenient or awkward to deal with–like a lighted star we put up in a high window every year with suction cups, and every year it falls down at least once! All such items are going to Salvation Army. I have finally clued in that life’s too short to keep dealing with the same aggravations over and over! There are even a few things that I did put out (like the snowmen candleholders that I never did buy the pillar candles for) that are also going to a new happy home where they will be loved and appreciated more than they are here!
I tried a new gift wrap approach for several of our presents this year. I used plain white boxes of different shapes and sizes from the dollar store or retailers. For example, my dollar store sold packages of 3 white shirt-sized boxes for $1.00. Then I tied festive ribbon around the boxes, and attached simple tags. The boxes have been folded down flat again, and the ribbon rolled up to be used next year. They are going in a large flat box under the bed. The gift boxes can be used for birthdays, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc. and pretty soon we’ll have a “library” of ribbon for every type of event!
I had garland around the front door, and as much as I prefer the handy pre-lit garland, I couldn’t justify buying it when I still had decent looking fake garland, and lights that worked. This year I tied the lights and pinecone/ribbon trim to the garland, and will put it away all still tied together, so that next year it just needs to be pulled out of the box and hung, all together. I should have figured that out years ago!
As I put things away this year, I’m being VERY selective. If I don’t LOVE it, I’m not keeping it. I’ll admit to being sentimental–my favorites are things like the popsicle-stick reindeer head ornaments my kids made, and ornaments we have picked up as souvenirs on family trips (such great reminders of happy times when we pull these out each year–and they are such small easy-to-pack souvenirs to bring home from trips.) So those types of things (that may look cheezy to other people) will make it back in the box, but more generic Christmas-y stuff may not. I’d like to think I’m simplifying (rather than just getting lazy!)
What about you? Do you have any tips for cleaning up after Christmas?
I edited my decorating as I brought things down from my attic. This year, I went without the wreaths on the windows – it was the third week of December and I still hadn’t put them out so they remained in the attic. I also left the lighted reindeer in my attic – my neighbor noted that they were knocked over by the wind more than they were up. I found I didn’t really miss the things that I left upstairs. My next decision is whether to pull them out to donate to Goodwill or wait another season.
Thanks for giving me permission to throw away those funky foam ornaments that I don’t even know who made. I am determined to get EVERYTHING into 3 Totes(including the outside lights). I want new decorations next year so I will purge, purge, purge and send what I can to Goodwill so my kids can’t say, “OH, I LOVE THAT!” at our yearly garage sale.
We made sure to put all of our wrapping paper in the paper recycle instead of the trash.. We also decided against decorating the outside of the house, we just couldnt really afford the added cost to our light bill and it was good to save on the energy all together this year..(we dont get alot of traffic on this street anyway so we didnt miss the work)
I also put out much less decor this year. More a matter of lack of time than anything. I think I will edit what goes back into storage, though. I have a lot of “stuff” that I don’t really care for.
I did buy a nice, fake tree at half-off for $80, after Christmas. We ended up paying $40 for a real one this year. Yikes! I’ve not been a fan of fake trees, but we’re hoping this saves both money and hassle.
I decorate with blue and white and snowmen. Appropriate for Hanukkah and Christmas and I can keep out for the winter months. Great post. Will RT.
Thanks for the motivation.
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sharing a comment that was emailed to us. Thank you Wendy!
One of the things that we do to make decorating and cleaning up much easier after Christmas is this: When we take down (off of the entertainment center, etc.) pictures and year-round decorations to make room for our holiday decorations, we place the year-round decorations into the same large Rubbermaid tubs that we are taking the Christmas decorations out of. Then we put the tubs back in the attic to wait until we are ready to put the regular decorations back out and put away the Christmas decorations until the next year. This has worked really well for us for several years now! In the attic, we also store our Christmas decorations in red or green tubs only. That way, it is so easy to see which containers hold Christmas decorations at a glance. The containers don’t even have to be labeled. We keep our ornaments for the tree in their own little Rubbermaid container, and we leave the packing material (tissue paper, bubble wrap, etc.) in the container to be re-used year after year to wrap our breakable ornaments. This saves time and money! One more thing I do that isn’t really a time saver when I clean up but does help a lot is that, when I take down year-round decorations to make room for holiday decorations, I take the time to wipe high shelves that I don’t normally climb up to see. It’s not such a bad job when I’m putting out Christmas decorations because that part is fun. By wiping the shelves when I’m putting out the Christmas decorations, I don’t have to do it when I’m putting them back away–which isn’t as much fun!
I don’t know if any of these tips will be helpful to you, but I thought I would pass them along just in case!
Blessings,
Wendy
We decorate with “winter” decor as well that are appropriate for Hanukkah and Christmas and then there’s no fus hurrying to put decorations away right after the holiday season. We also keep decorations to a minimum whenever possible!
I love the idea of white boxes with pretty ribbon! It’s so simple and versatile. Thanks for sharing.
We’ve divided up our decorations by the room they are used in, then labeled each Rubbermaid for that particular room. It makes it so much easier to put them up in increments or omit extra decorating as wanted.
This year as we are putting things away, we are sifting through and thinning out…putting the excess in a box for our grown children to look through before we donate it….so we don’t “give their memories away”. Right after Christmas is a good time to do that, since the memory of going through it and deciding I didn’t want to use it is still fresh, I’m more willing to part with it now.
I’ve negotiated keeping up some of the white lights in the house for some winter cheer…as long as they are not up too long! LOL!! Summer is still a long way off!