Organizing Holiday Decorations

One of my projects this winter is going to be organizing my holiday decorations once and for all.  I say that because this is something I have good intentions of doing every year but for some reason it never happens.   Since we are remodeling our basement this winter and losing space I want my storage organized and of course, labeled.   Right now I have bins for my Christmas decorations but they are far from organized. 

 

What I want to do is find matching bins plus some just for ornaments so I don't need to worry about wrapping each one.   I have already weeded out what I don't use but that's easy to do when I take them out.  Putting them away in January will be more time consuming. 

How do you organize your holiday decorations?

The Command Center Cabinet

I figure the most logical way to start exploring the command center of our home is to start at the top.   The upper cabinets serve as the zone for everyday items that need to be stored and maybe used quickly.  The very top shelf of the cabinet holds separate containers for tools, cards and scratch paper on the left side.  The three hole paper punch, extra supplies for school work and paper cutters on the right.

  The middle shelf I have sunscreen in a bin for quick access.  

 Next to that we have one of my favorite organizing items.  A lazy susan.  This way I can keep it out of reach of the little ones but the short people in the house (me) can still see everything.  I try to go through this once a month to weed out any expired medications or ones we don't use anymore.  That way it doesn't get too over filled.

 

On the right side I have a small organizer the has batteries, photo CDs, tape and small extras on the top.  The oatmeal containers are perfect for storing craft scissors and crayons.  Another confession.  I love to label.  I just like to have everything straightforward and easy to find.

I painted the inside of the cabinets with chalkboard paint and we post notes and important information on them.  We have an emergency list that has our address (in a panic you may forget it) and important phone numbers (poison control, parents cell and work, neighbors, doctors).  A school lunch menu and school calendar are hung here as well.

This cabinet is the go-to spot for a lot a items my family uses.  It has the stuff you would find  in a "junk" drawer.  It just looks prettier.  

Future Organizer

I am pretty lucky to have naturally "neat" children.  I say that with my oldest two in mind.  My youngest who is 18 months I can already tell is going to push the limits in this area and many others.   The other two however prefer things neat and tidy (most of the time).  So it was no surprise to me when my 6 year old son called me over and enthusiastically told me he organized his book bin.  This usually consist of the books all placed in the bin and somewhat straightened.  This time however I was delighted to see the books organized by size and type.  Proud mommy moment!  It was perfect and so cute how excited he was about it.  Which is why I chose not to tell him that his little sister proceeded to empty out the bin 5 minutes later when he left the room.

A Delightful Space for a Pretty Plate

Years ago my Mom gave me this beautiful decorative plate for a gift.  It was one of those "so pretty I can't bring myself to use it" plates.  It has been delightfully stored in an upper cabinet in my kitchen waiting for that perfect moment to be used.  As you can guess that time came and went.  After my Mom passed I decided to go through some of the personal items that reminded me of her.  When I came across the plate I decided why wait for a special occasion!  I wanted to put it in a place where I could see it everyday and think of her.  So I found the perfect spot.  The bathroom sink.  What a delightful way to organize all the daily items I use.  

The Command Center

Every home has a command center.  This is where you keep all the field trip slips, bills that need to be paid and calendars.  There is probably a big pile of papers in that area too that need to be sifted through.  I want to show you how I organized my command center.  We have a small built in desk in our kitchen which makes for the perfect place for all sorts of important items.  I will get down to the nitty gritty of my command center next week, but I just want to give an overview of how ours is set up. I like to have everything at my fingertips so on the counter I have a file box that contains a folder for each person in the family as well as folder for things to be filed.

 My calendar hangs in the wall space above the counter.

  My most favorite new addition to this area is the wire basket for the kids to dump all their papers in at the end of the day.  

 This way I don't have to rummage through their backpacks or possibly miss something important.  My bill paying binder is also a new addition.  I used to keep a file folder for bills to be paid but I wanted a binder to keep my budget and other must-haves for our finances.  There are so many delightful parts to our command center that I can't wait to share but for now I will give you the brief list of the major elements in this area.

1. Calendar 

2. File box

3. Emergency number list

4. Pencil holder

5. Bill paying binder

What are your must-have items for your command center?