How To Organize Your Fall Decorations Ahead Of Time

You must be wondering, why on earth are we talking about how to organize your Fall decorations when we’re only about 2 weeks into the season? Don’t worry, we haven’t moved to another country (that was 2 years ago but not this year). We’re still here in the United States, and we also just started decorating for the holidays, starting from our Fall table.

So… No, we are not putting away our Fall decorations already, if that’s what you’re thinking. As a matter of fact, we’re still in the process of shopping for more… of course, as our budget allows, and as we find stuff that we really like.

You see, that’s the thing…

We leisurely shop for holiday decorations.

We believe that the holidays are supposed to be enjoyable and not stressful.

Note to self: We need to keep things as manageable as possible so we can have more time and energy to focus on the more important things… such as enjoying the holidays with Baby 4.0 (he’s going to be celebrating his first Thanksgiving and first Christmas this year) and his three big brothers. We can’t wait to photograph them in their Christmas pajamas this year!

We’re doing things differently this year:  We buy early, store early, and we decorate leisurely. NO PRESSURE. By God’s grace, it’s been working out! We even got to start our Thankfulness Journal early! (If you would like to make your own Thankfulness Journal, you’re welcome to check out our tutorial as well as our free printable Thanksgiving cards. Feel free to check out the rest of our Thanksgiving printables.)

As we find the Fall decorations that we think we’re going to use, we purchase and then immediately store them away in one of the corners of a room in our home (which we recently designated as “Studio B”). Any decorations preserved from previous years also make their way over to Studio B.

When we’re ready to decorate, we start “shopping our home” by visiting Studio B.

A Note about the Telescope: You must be wondering why there’s a huge telescope in Studio B. Our budding backyard astronomers love to go stargazing in the Fall. We usually only do this during the Fall and Spring seasons (and sometimes, during the Winter) here in Central Florida, as the mosquitoes and bugs make stargazing less enjoyable during the Summer evenings.

So, let’s talk about how we organize our Fall decorations ahead of time, without losing our sanity (or breaking our bank).

How To Organize Your Fall Decorations Ahead Of Time

1. Create a seasonal storage area by finding a corner in your home where you can immediately store the current or upcoming season’s decorations.
2. Use a storage unit, preferably one with cubbies, to categorize or group your items. If you’re feeling more ambitious, add storage labels to each cubby, e.g. ceramics, plastics, wood, pumpkins, floral, linens, etc.
3. Start early by leisurely shopping for Fall decorations ahead of time.
4. As much as possible, look for the best deals as well as the best value. Best value doesn’t always equate to the “cheapest”.
5. Keep adding to your seasonal storage area as you score “great finds” at the store or as you leisurely dig up some oldie but goodie decorations from your garage or attic from previous holidays.
6. “Shop your home” when you’re ready to decorate.
7. As you cycle through your decorations or as the season starts winding down, you can leisurely start to put each “category” away by storing them in sturdy plastic totes or bins. Use small boxes to store inside each large tote or bin to keep things organized. Label each box to make things easy to find for next year’s “holiday home shopping spree”.

So far, this system has been working for us.

A note about having little helpers: We involved our toddler, middle child 2.0, in the process. Somehow, involving him in the organization process has kept him from having any “creatively re-organizing which leads to breaking something” mishaps. He seems to love to organize (although keeping things organized still remains a challenge for him… as it is with us, which is why we always need to stay on top of things using systems that work).

So, tell us how you organize and store your holiday decor! Whether or not you use a similar system, we’d love to hear your holiday decor storage ideas.

Looking for more holiday prep ideas?

Feel free to check out our 10 Simple Holiday Hosting Tips {Hawaiian-Style}!

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