Are you storing your holiday decorations correctly? Improper storage of holiday decorations causes breaks, shatters and unnecessary wear and tear. If you already put your decorations away, make sure you are storing seasonal items properly. If you haven’t, find the place you can store everything and check out these tips. Save money and extend the life of the things you have by taking a look at Linda Cobb’s, “The Queen of Clean: A Queen For All Seasons,” tips!

Lights

Nothing ruins the joy of putting up decorations like opening a box filled with a mess of tangled Christmas lights. Cobb suggests avoiding this problem by storing lights smart. Separate working lights from lights that need repair or getting rid of. Keep lights from getting tangled by wrapping them around empty paper towel holders. Make one small, slanted incision on each end of the tube (two total), secure one end of a light strand through the slit, wrap the lights around the tube and secure the other end of the light stand through the opposite slit. Label the tubes “outdoor,” “tree,” “window” etc.

Christmas Trees

Disposing of a live Christmas tree can be tricky business. Cobb suggests having at least one other person available to lend a hand. Lay a large piece of plastic on the floor next to the tree to tip it over on to; thick painter’s sheeting or a shower curtain will work (you can find inexpensive ones at the dollar store). Then gently (to avoid needles shedding everywhere) tip the tree over onto the plastic. Shimmy a Christmas-tree bag up the tree, carrying the tree in a bag is much easier and prevents big messes from happening.

It’s easy to store artificial Christmas trees; simply follow the directions of either folding the branches or detaching the branches from the stem and zip up with a tree storage bag. If you are disassembling branches from your trees stem, appropriately mark them before you store them so assembling the tree next season will be a breeze.

Ornaments

Dust ornaments before you store them. Cobbs says fabric softener sheets work well as a duster and you can wrap them around ornaments during storage, as the fabric softener repels static electricity. You can store ornaments in a plastic container or old egg cartons. The Queen reminds us to not overcrowd or stuff ornaments into a container. To give the ornaments a little padding, surround it with a 8 inch by 8 inch piece of felt. A coat of hair spray on silk balls can save them from becoming unraveled.

Wrapping Paper, Ribbons and Bows

Store wrapping paper in long plastic storage containers and keep rolls of ribbon together with elastic bands or string. Place bows in a shoe box or storage container and label the box!