Holiday storage woes solved

Storage woes can get the best of us anytime of year, but they seem particularly acute after the holidays when there’s a rush to put everything away, pronto, and get the new year started with a clean slate. Here are some common holiday storage problems and easy solutions that require  minimum muss and fuss.

1 Problem: Strings of lights and garlands get all tangled up
Solution: One of the most frustrating things about hanging lights and wrapping garland comes at the beginning of the process: endless untangling. Save cardboard boxes to help you with this task. “Wrap garlands and strings of lights around rectangles of sturdy cardboard,” says Martha Stewart in Martha Stewart’s Homekeeping Handbook: The Essential Guide to Caring for Everything in Your Home.

2 Problem: You’re not sure how to store your artificial Christmas tree
Solution: Faux trees are irresistible to animals and pests, so consider a special Christmas tree storage box which is better for outdoor storage than the prone-to-ripping cardboard box the tree came in. “Frosted, flocked or white Christmas trees are particularly sensitive to extreme temperatures and humidity,” say the artificial tree experts at online shop Christmas Tree For Me, so store such trees inside in a low-humidity temperature-controlled environment. Packing it back in its own box to keep indoors? Be sure to put the instructions on the top so you’ll find them easily next year.

3 Problem: The wrapping paper, ribbons and bows are a jumbled mess
Solution: There are many excellent storage boxes you can buy specifically for storing wrap and supplies, ranging from under-the-bed rolling containers to hanging organizers. For a free solution, use empty gift boxes instead. Find a large one to hold the wrapping paper rolls, and use small ones to hold ribbon and bows separately. Label and place them inside the larger box, labeling that, too.