Christmas decoration storage:

So that was Christmas then, was it?  Today I carried out the depressing task of putting away all of the Christmas decorations, tossing the poor tree to the kerb (literally) and hoovering up four hundred million pine needles.  While we don't have tons of decorations at the moment, our collection has grown over the last few years, and I decided it was time to sort out some proper storage for it.

Let's all pause for a second to fully enjoy the freshly hoovered and pine needle free carpet in the above photo.  Ready?  Okay, let's continue.

I only had to buy two new storage boxes to fit our modest array of Christmas decorations.  The first was a 64 bauble capacity storage box which I settled on after a quick Amazon search.  It was reasonably priced (just over £12, including delivery) and had good reviews.  The second was a fairly bog standard 52 litre plastic storage box from Dunelm Mill (similar one here) for £5.99.  I like that the box has a transparent lid so that you can easily take a peek at what's inside.

The bauble box arrived flat packed, but was easy to zip together into a cube.  The inserts for separating the decorations from one another were a little bit fiddly to put in, but it was nice to have the option to leave out a row so that larger baubles (and/or Christmas monkeys) could fit.  I'm not sure exactly how many decorations I fitted in (I should have counted!) but there was more than enough room for everything.  I easily fitted two or more smaller baubles into one section where there was room, just as I managed to squeeze the larger ones in!  For standard sized Christmas decorations, though, the section sizes were spot on.

Somehow, we have amassed an enormous number of Christmas cards that I'm planning to use next year, and probably even the year after that!  My trick (learned from my parents) is to visit Paperchase during their post-Christmas sale, buy a few packs of cards and some rolls of wrapping paper cheaply and then save them for the next year.  To stop the cards getting crushed, I've stored them all together in an empty gift box that I already had, along with some small gift bags, Christmassy ribbon and stick on bows. 

Larger gift bags went in the bottom of the 52 litre storage box, with everything from tinsel and Christmas lights to scented candles on top.  I call that box 'organised Christmas chaos'.  It looks like a massive mess, but at least everything is in one place and I won't have to go hunting for bits and pieces all over the flat next Christmas!

I think this project will make a big difference for me in Christmases to come.  It's definitely a big improvement on keeping everything in plastic bags!  I'm sure as the years progress we may have to invest in one or two more plastic boxes, but right now everything fits perfectly.  I couldn't have planned it better!  Now to tackle the cupboard that these boxes are meant to fit into...