Unless you’re brand new to The Christmas Cart Family, you’ll know that I am a bit of a Christmas Crazy. I absolutely love everything about Christmas, including decorating – lots and lots of decorating. The flip side of lots of decorating though, is that once the festive season has come and gone, there’s lots of undecorating (or packing away) to deal with.
Just like I have refined my preparing and decorating processes over the years (check out Decorate with Me: Getting Ready to Decorate for Christmas for all my preparation tips and tricks) I’ve developed a pretty methodical and efficient approach to my undecorating. This not only helps to make the whole process slightly less tedious but is also a great way to ensure everything is in good order and ready to go at the end of the year when it is time to put it all back up again.
Christmas Decorating is a Labour of Love
When it comes to decorating for Christmas, I’m not ashamed to say that I really embody the saying that “too much is never enough”. I just love A LOT of Christmas. If I am being specific, this year I put up 4 x 210cm trees, 8 x smaller trees (ranging from 100cm-140cm), 14 x garlands, 5 x wreaths and a vast assortments Santas, elves, sleighs, nutcrackers and many other ornaments throughout almost every room in my house. Not that I was counting! 😉
I do like to take my time putting it all up though. In fact, it takes me months from beginning to end, but there’s a few reason why.
- I enjoy the process – every part of it. From the planning, to the decorating and the craft projects too. So the longer it goes for, the more time I have to enjoy it all.
- I am quite busy running The Christmas Cart during this time of the year (so that everyone else can get their decorating done too!), so my opportunities to dedicate big chunks of time to decorating is limited. Breaking it down into smaller tasks over a longer period allows me to still get it all done with minimal stress.
- I love to make videos whilst I am doing it all too so that I can record and share what I have done, so that requires some extra time too.
Christmas Undecorating is a Labour… (without much love!)
When it comes time to (reluctantly) take it down and packing it all away, I like to do it much quicker, much much quicker.
The truth is, I don’t like the thought of taking it all down. Not only does packing away signal the end of the festive season for another year, it is also a little (or a lot!) sad to have to say goodbye to all of my hard work, and frankly, it’s not fun at all!
Just like a kid might like getting all their toys out to play but hates packing them up, or a baker loves making the cake but hates washing up, I simply don’t love putting my Christmas décor away.
I love creating, styling, arranging, curating and all that fun stuff, but carefully removing all the decorations from the trees, wrapping and putting them back into their boxes, sorting and stacking with Jenga like precision to minimise space and maximise the chance that they will be safe until next time, well that is just plain boring if you ask me.
My Top Tips to Tackle the Mammoth Task
So, to help me deal with the emotionally and physically overwhelming task of undecorating, I try to follow the below structure.
1. Schedule It
Things that don’t get scheduled don’t get done. I put the dates and times that I plan to undecorate clearly in my diary. That way I have committed myself to the task and it ensures that I have allocated time to get it done. Without that firm commitment, there is all too much chance that “it will get done one day” and before you know it, it’s February and life is getting busy again! I tend to start my Christmas undecorating around 6 January, give or take a day or 2 depending on what else might be going on.
2. Break It Up
I usually break up my Christmas undecorating into 3 separate sessions and allow approximately 6 hours for each session. I am sure I could probably do it quicker than that, but I don’t want to make it stressful. If I happen to get everything done that was scheduled for that day in less than the 6 hours, then I do a little happy dance! And then I either make a decision to reward myself with an early finish or I get a head start on my tasks for the next session. The undecorating sessions may not necessarily be 3 consecutive days, rather it might be spread into 3 days over a couple of weeks. This means that my Christmas decorating is usually all packed away by mid-January.
3. Take Photos and Videos
Before launching into any undecorating, I make sure that I have taken heaps of photos and/or videos to remind me of what I did.
I love looking back on my creative endeavours and I can’t help but to get a big smile on my face when I look at photos of pretty Christmas décor. The photos and videos also make for a great a starting point of ideas and inspiration when it comes time to decorate for another Christmas or even other occasions that I might be decorating for.
4. Great Storage Solutions Make the World of Difference
I honestly think that this is one of the most important parts of de-Christmasafying my home in a stress-free way. I make sure to always have plenty of the right storage solutions for my Christmas décor. Some of the items I like to have on hand are;
- Ziplock bags
- Craft or tissue paper
- Bubble wrap
- Plastic storage tubs with lids
- Christmas ornament boxes
- Large canvas Christmas storage bags (tree storage bags?)
- Original boxes and packaging (for what/anything in particular?)
5. What was Left in Storage?
As I am getting my storage tubs and bags out, ready to be filled again, I take some time to look at what I didn’t use this year and assess if I want to hold on to it or maybe pass it on with love.
Like my wardrobe, I have my old favourites and sentimental Christmas decorating pieces that I know I will always hold on to. I cull my clothes and accessories fairly regularly, normally before they have past their best before date. I offer them to friends and family, or donate them to a charity store who can sell them.
I’ve adopted the same approach with my décor, including Christmas decorations. The old saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”, is true for Christmas decorations too! If I haven’t used it for a while, and it’s not considered an old favourite, I will thank it for the joy it brought me and pass it on to bring Christmas joy to another home (thank you Marie Kondo for giving me permission for a guilt free cull!).
6. My Storage Strategy
As a general rule, I tend to group and store my Christmas décor by type. That is, I put all the table top trees together, all the garlands together, all the floral sprays together etc. I do it this way as I very rarely use the same item the same spot 2 years in a row. So when it comes to getting everything ready for the next year, I can easily locate the pieces that I am looking for.
This may not be the best solution for everyone, sometimes it is good to store your Christmas décor by room so that everything you use for each room is stored together. Or perhaps a combination of both strategies might be a good approach for some.
7. Get Stuck In & Get It Done!
With all of the above things sorted and ready to go, I feel like I have set myself up for a win, and so now it is time to get stuck in and get it done. I often put some music on, or perhaps an audiobook or podcast to help lift the mood. I find this is a great time for me to listen to an inspiring episode of one of my favourite motivational speakers, which helps me to get me thinking about the year ahead and set some goals. Or I might simply get lost in fantastic fictional audiobook. Either one helps the time spent doing something I don’t really love, pass really quickly!
With everything packed away for another year, I think I’ve earned myself a nice cold glass of wine while enjoying the beautiful Australian sunshine! It’s also the perfect chance to start day-dreaming and thinking about my decorating plans for next Christmas. It’s never too early you know!
So what are you waiting for?! Be inspired and shop everything you need to decorate with me in The Christmas Cart’s online store.