After Christmas Organization Tips

After Christmas organization tips will help you get reorganized after a busy holiday season and ready for the new year ahead.

Preparing for the Christmas season is a lot of fun. Putting everything away when the holiday season is over isn’t nearly as much fun. However, making the time to organize properly will get your home in good shape for the new year and ensure that all of your decorations and other holiday supplies are ready for the next season.

Having a few keys after Christmas organization tips makes this process as straightforward as possible, so that you can get your home in order quickly without getting overwhelmed.

Start decluttering a couple of weeks before Christmas

Making room for presents ahead of time will make the entire Christmas holiday less stressful and help you keep your house in order. Sort through all of the toys. Discard broken items. Donate or sell items your kids are too old for or simply no longer use.

Set aside time to declutter at least one or two other areas of the house as well, such as clothing, kitchen items, or books. You’ll love having space to put away new gifts right away and start the year with a less cluttered house.

Clear out used wrapping paper and other discarded materials from Christmas Day right away

Before opening presents with family and friends, get a garbage bag ready to collect wrapping paper and other items that can be discarded immediately. If you’re planning to save gift bags, bows, and other wrapping materials, have a dedicated space for these supplies. Store them sooner rather than later, so they don’t get damaged or thrown away by mistake.

Remove new Christmas gifts from their packaging and discard it

Having a few extra boxes around may not seem like a big deal. But gift packaging can add up quickly and take up space that you’d rather use for other purposes. When you’re cleaning up after Christmas, it’s nice to get as much taken care of all at once as you can.

It’s also a good idea to take gifts out of their packaging right away, so you can make sure that everything works properly. If you have electronics that aren’t functioning right or sets with missing pieces, you’ll be able to get replacement items while the receipts are still good.

Go through the Christmas decorations you didn’t use this season

Before you put away your Christmas decorations, pull out everything you didn’t use this year. Discard broken items. Be honest with yourself about pieces you no longer like or that simply don’t work well in your current house. Plan a trip to a local donation center before New Year’s.

Purchase new Christmas storage containers and organization items

Having dedicated Christmas storage containers makes it easy to find everything the next year. In addition to basic plastic storage tubs, there are a few storage items you may want to consider purchasing.

Ornament organizer. I have no idea what I did before I got an ornament organizer. It is worth every penny and makes decorating and un-decorating the tree so easy. You’ll keep your ornaments safe without having to wrap every single one. Also, most organizers are large enough to fit all of your ornaments, making storage so simple.
Light wrappers. I don’t need to spend a lot of time explaining that it’s a pain untangling Christmas lights every year. Light wrappers make a world of difference.
Wreath bag(s). Wreath bags keep artificial wreaths protected amongst other holiday decorations, so they don’t get smashed. They also protect them against moisture and any pets and kids that may be exploring the storage area.
Tree bag(s). If your artificial Christmas tree didn’t come with a bag, it’s worth purchasing a tree bag to keep it safe from moisture and pests while it’s in storage.

I also like to have dedicated storage space for small miscellaneous items, such as light timers and replacement Christmas light bulbs, that are important but small and tend to get lost in the shuffle.

Finally, label all of your Christmas storage containers before stowing them away.

Fix broken Christmas decorations before storing them for the next season

Repair any Christmas decorations that can be fixed before storing them for the next holiday season. You’ll appreciate having everything ready to go when you open the storage containers to decorate again. Here are just a couple of things you’ll want to check for as you take down decorations.

Burned out Christmas bulbs
Christmas ornaments and other home decor with broken or damaged pieces (i.e., faux wreaths with loose or detached elements, nativity figures that have come unglued)

Put away new presents

Make space for new toys sooner rather than later, so you can keep your living room, kids’ bedrooms, and other rooms where you house toys organized. Hopefully, you’ve already cleared out some space during your pre-Christmas declutter session. This week after the holiday is also a good time to rotate out old toys that you don’t want to get rid of but that you can put away for a while.

Set aside time to put away books, kitchen items, and other items that you can use right away. Get new clothes in the wash, and store any items that your kids aren’t able to use yet (i.e., clothing in the next size up).

Decide what to do with your Christmas cards as soon as the holiday season is over

Resist the urge to stash your whole pile of Christmas cards in a drawer because you feel guilty throwing them away but don’t know what to do with them. If you don’t want to save your Christmas cards, don’t. If you do save your Christmas cards, decide what you want to do with them.

I make my Christmas cards into upycled books. I recommend making your card book within a few weeks of taking down the cards, so you don’t lose any cards or end up with cards from different years mixed up together. Each year I pull out a few old books to display on our coffee table during the holiday season. I’m sharing a few ideas for repurposing your Christmas cards below.

Update your address file if you haven’t already

Before I send Christmas cards, I review my address list, reach out to everyone who I know has moved since last year, and update the list accordingly. As I receive Christmas cards, I always check the addresses and make updates as needed. Inevitably, I always get at least a couple of cards returned and then update those addresses as well. The more you can do to keep your file updated, the less work you’ll have head of you when it’s time to send your next round of cards.

Update your master Christmas document if you haven’t already

I have to give credit to Jessica of How Sweet Eats for the master Christmas document idea. I’ve been slowly developing a document over the last couple of years and hope to write a full post about it at some point in the future.

A master Christmas document is a Word file with everything from a timeline for ordering and sending Christmas cards to remembering to send food gifts to certain family members to your favorite Christmas albums to play during the holiday season. Everything seems so clear as it’s happening. But then when Christmas rolls around again, you don’t remember how many batches of cookies you made or where you buy the advent calendars that your kids love so much.

I encourage you to start with the areas of highest priority for your own Christmas festivities and then build the document from there. The more work you put in the first couple of years, the easier it will be to simply use the document and make little tweaks as needed in the future.

Tidy up the house

After having the whole family at home for an extended period of time and possibly hosting family and friends as well, your house will be a little more cluttered than normal. Before you can deep clean, you need to tidy. Take an afternoon to tidy up, working your way through one room at a time. Take advantage of this opportunity to collect final items to donate and get rid of any remaining Christmas wrapping and other miscellaneous holiday garbage.

Do a thorough deep clean

Cleaning the house is a great way to reset after the holidays and get you ready for the new year ahead. Once you’ve tidied the house, you’re ready to deep clean. I have deep cleaning posts for the kitchen, living room, bathroom, and bedroom, which will help you cover the vast majority of deep cleaning tasks for your house.

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What are your favorite after Christmas organization tips? Is there anything that you would add to this list?

I’d love to hear your best advice for making the holiday clean-up process as straightforward and stress-free as possible!