Holiday Decorations…Sort, Organize and Label

Now that the excitement of the holidays has passed, it is time to tackle the un-decoration! Just a few short weeks ago it seemed like such a great idea to decorate every room in the house.  At this point, you might even be avoiding rooms, knowing that there are more items to be packed away.

“Sort, Organize and Label” we associate these steps with cleaning out closets, pantries and garages but they are also valuable in packing up holiday decorations.  Regardless of the holiday you celebrate, next year when you pull out your decorations, you will be thankful that you took a few extra minutes to sort, organize and label when packing things up, this year.

Before starting the Sort, Organize and Label process there is one more step…cleaning! At this point, you are probably thinking that this blog could not get worse.  Trust us, you will be glad you did this!

• Check your tablecloths, napkins and holiday towels for stains-these wont magically disappear by next year, in fact, they will get worse.  If stains don’t come out you should thin about discarding the item.
• Light strands-only pack them if all the bulbs are working
• Hanukkah Menorah-remove the wax
• Hanukkah candles-you need 44 each Hanukkah, so fi you have several open, half used boxes combine them-you might not need to buy candles next year.

So now for the “fun stuff”:  Sort, Organize and Label

• When packing up your decorations store “like” items together, being sure to label the boxes:
  • Tablecloths, napkins and holiday towels
  • Stockings with stocking hangers
  • Wreaths with wreath hangers
  • Lights
  • Ornaments
  • Assorted decorations-group by theme or room, depending on what is more purposeful for your decorating style
• Be sure that fragile items are stored in a way that they wont break or get damaged

• If you have decorations that you no longer use but want to keep for memories or to pass along when your children get older, store those separate from the ones you will use next year-label them accordingly “For Suzie’s first home”, “Family Keepers”
• Holiday cards are letters-stack them, wrap with a ribbon and attach a tag with the year.  These are fun to look through to see how friends and family have changed over the years…don’t forget to save one of yours as well!
• If you have  special holiday pajamas, slippers or linens go ahead and pack them up-yes, it seems unusual to pack them with holiday decorations but when you think about it there is no need to store them in a separate location. Again, label accordingly!

So once again our running theme of Sort, Organize and Label is used in a different way!

Happy New Year!

How many sheet sets does one household need?

If you found the last blog helpful, then you will probably be pleased with this one. After these two blogs you will be on your way to a well-organized linen closet. The key to not having an overflowing linen closet is to not have too many things in it-brilliant concept we know!! The pressing question is “How many sheet sets should I have?” Again, there’s no law, just suggestions and recommendations based on purposeful thought and no emotional ties to your linen closet.

Good news-the math is a bit easier with sheet sets versus towels-whew, big relief we know!  Here you go, plan and simple:

2 sets of sheets for each “Sleeping Space“

What is a “Sleeping Space”? Any sort of bed family members and guest may sleep on.  This includes: sofa beds, blow up mattresses, campers, bunk beds, beach/mountain/lake homes (unless you keep linens there-in which case, follow the same rules).

As expected, there are a few extra thoughts, suggestions and exceptions to the rule:

• If you have a bed-wetter, keep an additional set for those beds
• If you aren’t always quick with the laundry turn-around, pick up an extra set
• Keep your spare beds made and ready to go, even with the sofa beds-sheets will fit folded in the bed
• Consider purchasing similarly colored sheet sets so you can mix and match
• Your old sheets can be donated to the animal shelter or cut into rags
• To make changing linens easy (yes-that is a slight exaggeration, the only real way to make it easy is to have someone else do it), keep your sheet sets together in your linen closet.  Fold your flat and fitted sheets, then put them inside the pillowcase, extra pillowcases for the bed can also be placed inside.  This way when it is time to change the linens they are ready to go.