Get prepared for Holiday Season 2009 – Tip 1

Can you believe we have already flipped the calendar to November?  Where did time go?

I am sure many of you will agree,  it seemed a little pre-mature when the stores and malls had all their Christmas decorations up at least two weeks ago.  So you are thinking, I have a month before I can pull my decorations out of the closet/attic/garage, right?.

Well – now is the perfect time to pull out your decorations  and go through them.  Yes, now.  Prior to the seasonal rush is the time to make decisions on which items you no longer like, no longer have meaning or is the lousy gift you received in the office Sneaky Santa exchange last year.   Now is the time to donate or resell these decorations or gifts.

Often we don’t take the time to go through these items and store them year after year. Or we realize that we have just been holding on to something we don’t like, just in case the giver stops over.  You’ve been storing it for six years and the giver hasn’t been over for five.  Before you take it out to display or store it for another year.  Think about who will appreciate it more.  Holiday decorations or ‘seasonal’ gifts  have little value to donation sites and is of no value at a consignment store once the holidays have passed.

So this weekend-

1. Schedule some time to pull out your boxes of decorations
2. Separate the items.  Start thinking now about how you want to decorate this year.
3. Make sure the decorations you want to display are easily accessible, the ones you want to store are packed well and the others are packed to donate or sell.  You might be surprised to find you have forgotten about some of your favorites or may find that family heirloom that was misplaced years ago.
4. Take to decorations that you no longer want or are just taking up space to a shelter/charity or consignment shop.

A little prep time now will make the holiday decorating a whole lot more enjoyable.

Please let us know what’s the most interesting thing you have found while going through your holiday decorations?  We’d love to hear (we’re just curious).