4 Easy Steps to Organize Outdoor Holiday Decorations

Now that the New Year is upon us, it’s time to package up your outdoor holiday decorations and put them to bed until next year.

You’ve tackled indoor holiday storage, but outdoor holiday decorations are often big, bulky and difficult to wrangle. I’ve developed the perfect portable holiday storage solutions to make it easy to move and manage your holiday decor.

Here’s where your handy label maker comes in. Now gather your storage solutions. As you know, I love the Container Store, Target and Amazon for storage bins and organizational tools. If you’re shopping at the Container Store online, you can search weathertight and regular, clear storage totes that match your budget. The prices range from under $10 to over $100. You will need a trunk or another large storage container with wheels for Holiday Storage Steps 1 and 3 below.

You’ll also want to purchase a canvas or other zippered bag to store and protect inflatables. You will also need 1-3 garden hose racks to store string lights and hooks to hang these racks in your garage, basement or game room.

Now, let’s look at my 4 quick and easy steps to get your outdoor holiday decorations organized just in time for the New Year. The key here is keeping everything mobile.

Holiday Storage Step 1–Create a mobile holiday storage unit

I use a trunk with wheels and keep everything separated inside of the trunk with a technique I call layer cake. Here’s where you use your fabric to separate each of the following flat layers:

1. Heaviest items, e.g., welcome mats, etc.

2. Signs

3. Garland

4. Net lights

Because your trunk or storage container has wheels, it’s easy to roll and store anywhere.

Holiday Storage Step 2–Keep string lights together

String lights typically tangle easily, causing frustration and creating a mess–often with many broken bulbs as a result. But I’ve got the perfect trick for storing holiday string lights. Use a garden hose rack and simply wind your string lights around the rack with one arm as you stabilize with the other arm. And instead of nailing your garden hose rack to the wall, you can hang it on hooks to keep it portable, making it easier than ever once you break out the holiday lights next year.

Holiday Storage Step 3–Keep yard art mobile

Again, mobility is the most important thing to highlight here to help keep your holiday decorations organized, contained and manageable. We’ve moved onto holiday yard art now, and we’re almost at the home stretch. For holiday yard art, I like to use a sturdy box with wheels or even a canvas bag with wheels like the one shown in the video. I recommend purchasing a storage container that is deep to make it easier to store tall holiday decorations like trees, additional signs or other bulky items.

Separate and fold inflatables. I like to keep these holiday decorations zipped up in a canvas bag to prevent them from getting ripped, damaged or dirty. Once you’ve contained your inflatables, you can much more easily add them to the larger box with the rest of your yard art.

Holiday Storage Step 4–Use containers tailored to your wreath

If you’ve wrestled with wreaths in the past, those days are gone forever. Use special containers that are specifically made to store and protect wreaths. Make sure to use acid-free boxes for delicate, breakable wreaths, wreath bags, or plastic wreath boxes that snap closed. Alternatively, you can use any extra wall space in your storage area to hang wreaths. This frees up floor space and containers and keeps your wreaths in good shape too.

I hope your holiday season was merry and bright, and I’m wishing you a very happy New Year as you tidy up your living space and make way for new beginnings.

Ready to tackle your New Year’s resolutions and (finally!) get organized? Complete the contact form HERE to book a clutter consultation with me–let’s do this!