4 Holiday Organizing Hacks

While there is much magic about the holiday season, there is also an underlying sense of chaos when it comes to keeping yourself organized.  But, if you can get into a rhythm each holiday season, getting and staying organized is not as hard as it may seem.  Here are 4 holiday organizing hacks that will save your holiday spirit. 

Declutter First

Before you bring out the bins of holiday decorations, a good pre-holiday purge is in order. Look at your everyday decor items and decide if you want to see them displayed again post-holidays.  It is very easy to have blinders on in terms of what is in your home.  Ugly lamps, bad florals, or old picture frames might need to be retired.  Take the opportunity to really “look” at your decor, especially if you anticipate having new items after the holidays.  In addition, general decluttering of magazines, books, papers, and items in your “junk drawer” is worth tackling.  Afterall, you want a clean slate for your holiday decorations!

Check Your List

One of my favorite organizing hacks is to keep a running holiday gift list.  I use an Excel spreadsheet that is cleverly labeled “Budget 2024” to keep track of all the presents bought for family, friends, teachers, neighbors and pets throughout the year.  This makes keeping track of the item (or idea) and cost easy.  Then, color code those things you’ve purchased and wrapped.  It’s easy to access the list on your phone, which prevents overbuying.  Items are labeled (i.e. from grandparents, Santa…), stocking stuffers, and there’s a place to mark when a thank-you note has been written.  The “list” itself isn’t anything new in terms of organizing; it’s the electronic year-round access, categorization and budgeting of gifts that make this an organizing hack.  

Room Bins

Another great holiday organizing hack is to create a bin(s) by room.  When packing up holiday decorations, do it by room or area in your house.  Create labeled bins for the entry, den, guest room, half bath, kitchen, etc. This method makes decorating for next year a breeze, as you simply bring the bins into each room and unpack.  The everyday items that need to be stored go into their room’s bin until after the holidays.  Now, if you’re like me, not everything goes in the exact same place each year.  With the room bin system, you know what you did the prior year when you want to shake it up! When packing up, vacuum sealed bags are great for holiday pillows and throws to save space and protect from dust. 

Wrap it Up

Finally, as a professional organizer, I highly recommend having one wrapping area in your house.  Within that area, it’s important to stay organized, or wrapping becomes a real nightmare.  You should separate holiday wrap/gift bags from birthday/all occasion items.  For example, use 3 large tote bags to store tissue paper, birthday/valentine/easter bags, and lastly holiday bags.  Within those tote bags, separate gift bags by size and tissue paper by color.  Use folders to keep tissue paper in order within the tote bags – red, yellow, etc. folders, along with ones for Christmas and birthday paper.  You can keep actual gift wrap in one tall storage bin.  Ribbon can be organized by color in bins.  To prevent damage, keep re-useable ribbon, bows, and adornments in a bin with a lid, so nothing gets smashed while storing. Tape, scissors, a hole punch and gift labels stay tidy in a portable container. 

Hopefully these 4 holiday organizing hacks will help keep the hectic nature of the next month in check. Hit me up in the comments with your holiday organizing hacks.  The more the merrier!