You’ve survived the hustle and bustle of the holidays. The gifts are unwrapped, the family dinners are finished, and now you are staring at a mountain of wreaths, lights, and ornaments that need to go somewhere until next year. It’s tempting to shove everything into the nearest cardboard box and toss it into the attic just to be done with it.
But rushing this process is a recipe for disaster. Every year, people ruin cherished holiday decor simply by storing it incorrectly. Broken ornaments, melted candles, and tangled lights are often the result of hasty decisions made in January.
This guide will walk you through the most common storage mistakes homeowners make and show you how to avoid them. We’ll also look at why moving these items out of your house entirely might be the smartest move you make all year.
The attic seems like the logical place for holiday storage. It’s out of the way, and you only need to go up there once a year. However, standard home attics are often the worst environment for delicate items.
In the summer, your attic can reach temperatures far higher than the rest of your home. This intense heat is an enemy to many common decoration materials.
Plastic ornaments can warp. Painted figurines can bubble and peel. Perhaps worst of all, those expensive candles you bought for the mantle can melt into a shapeless, waxy puddle, ruining whatever they are stored next to. Unless you want your vintage Santa collection to look like it melted in the sun, think twice before hauling boxes up that ladder.
If the attic is too hot, the basement must be just right, right? Unfortunately, that isn't always true. Basements are notorious for moisture. Even if you don’t have standing water, high humidity levels can wreak havoc on your holiday items.
Moisture breeds mold and mildew. This is particularly dangerous for:
Once mold gets into fabric or cardboard, the smell is nearly impossible to remove. You might open your bins next December to find a musty odor that permeates your entire living room. Furthermore, moisture causes metal parts on ornament hooks or light strands to rust, potentially rendering them unusable.
We get it, you want to use as few boxes as possible. It saves space and makes you feel efficient. But stuffing a bin until the lid barely snaps shut is a major error.
When you overpack, the items at the bottom bear the weight of everything on top. Glass ornaments crack under pressure. Delicate wire frames on lighted deer or angels get bent out of shape. Artificial pine needles get crushed and never quite fluff back up the same way.
Instead of jamming everything into one giant tote, use smaller, manageable containers. Give your items room to breathe. Use plenty of tissue paper or bubble wrap, and never force a lid closed. If you have to sit on the box to close it, you are doing it wrong.
There is a special kind of frustration reserved for untangling Christmas lights. We have all been there: standing in the living room, holding a ball of wire that looks like spaghetti, wondering how this happened.
The mistake is throwing strands of lights loosely into a box. Without structure, the wires naturally coil around themselves.
Take the extra five minutes to wrap your lights. You can buy specialized spools, or simply use a piece of stiff cardboard. Cut a slit in the cardboard to hold the plug, wrap the lights around the body, and secure the end. Your future self will thank you when decorating takes half the time next year.
The biggest mistake might be trying to keep everything in your house in the first place. Holiday decorations are bulky. Artificial trees take up huge amounts of floor space. Totes stack up in closets, blocking access to things you actually need year-round.
Clutter causes stress. Walking past a garage filled with holiday bins for 11 months of the year is a constant reminder of a task unfinished or space wasted.
Sometimes, the best way to organize your home is to move the seasonal clutter off-site. Renting a storage unit specifically for your holiday gear is a game-changer for many homeowners. Here is why Ankeny Mini Storage is a great fit for your decorations.
For many families, the garage becomes the default storage locker. This means cars get parked in the driveway, exposed to the elements. By moving seasonal items to a storage unit, you reclaim that valuable square footage. You can finally park your car inside or set up that workbench you’ve always wanted.
Garages and sheds are high-traffic areas. Bins get bumped by bikes, lawnmowers, and tools. In a dedicated storage unit, your items sit undisturbed. They aren't at risk of being knocked over by a kid grabbing a basketball or a spouse looking for the weed whacker. Your fragile ceramic village and glass ornaments stay safe and sound behind a locked door.
When you store items at home, they often get shoved wherever there is a gap: under a bed, on a high shelf, or in the back of a closet. This decentralization makes it hard to find what you need. A storage unit gives you a dedicated, centralized space. You can invest in shelving to line the walls of your unit, organizing your bins by holiday or room. When December rolls around, you make one trip and have everything you need.
Adding onto your home is expensive. Renting a small storage unit is incredibly affordable. It is the cheapest way to "add a room" to your house. You get the benefit of extra space without the cost of renovation or moving to a larger home.
Don't let poor storage habits ruin your holiday cheer. Avoid the heat of the attic, the dampness of the basement, and the crushing weight of overpacked boxes.
Treat your decorations with the care they deserve so they last for generations. If you are tired of tripping over totes or losing closet space, consider moving your seasonal items to Ankeny Mini Storage. It’s the easiest way to keep your home clutter-free and your decorations safe until the season returns.
