If you’re anything like me, when it’s time to put away the holiday decor, I am so ready to put it away that everything tends to find a haphazard place in a box in the basement. I don’t always remember what I put where and then it feels like a disorganized mess left for me the next year. Last year I took some time to minimize our holiday decorations and this year I went a little further with the organization. I have a pretty good system and thought you might enjoy seeing what I’ve come up with. Sources are linked up below.

Holiday decorations should follow familiar organizational strategies. This makes it easier to keep track of these seldom used items and makes it easier to locate and find what we need when we need it.

When I start undecorating I quickly go through the house and gather things up by type and put them on the kitchen table. Then once I have everything taken down I take those items and put them in bins or boxes.

SEPARATE AND GROUP BY CATEGORY – Sort like with like – soft items like stockings and the tree skirt and go together in a bin. Garland and other greenery can be stored together.

I use these white storage totes in the basement for holiday decor and storage of other items as well. They’re large, stack easily and keep the storage light and bright in the basement.

I put smaller ‘collections’ in 2 gallon zip top bags to keep the items together and easy to grab and decorate. Lights, smaller greens, and ornaments are great to keep sorted out this way.

EVERYTHING HAS A PLACE – Make sure you have a place for your decor and that it is easy to locate. The kids each have their own ornament box – this keeps their ornaments separate and some day they’ll be able to take their box to their own homes.

ONLY KEEP WHAT IS USED – If there are decorations you haven’t put out for a while consider donating them instead of continuing to store them. It’s okay to not keep everything. I feel like less is more when it comes to holiday decorations.

I use large divided storage bins for large items like village homes. They keep these items together and eliminate the need for the large, bulky boxes that these items came in.

Here are some of my favorites for holiday decor storage: