Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Plan a Strategy for Taking Down Decorations
Filed under: Earth911 - December 26, 2009
By Bob Karlovits
Every holiday season brings a breakdown.
No, it isn’t when all of the chores or the credit card bills seem insurmountable or when that can’t-miss gift for that special person falls flat.
No, this breakdown is when it is time to take apart all of the decorating that has been done and return the home to its non-festive life.
Organizers, decorators and business owners all say there are ways of handling it that will create an easier holiday next year—and every year.
“Planning is the key,” says Nancy Sakino Spears, an interior decorator from Upper St. Clair, sounding the phrase that becomes something of a mantra.
These organizers agree the best way of handling the matter is to store things away in such a planned manner that making decisions next season is just about unneeded.
Jill Revitsky, owner of the Mt. Lebanon’s Discover Organizing firm and a like-named supply shop, says some devices such as wreath cases and tree bags are a quick step to safe and reasoned storage.
Most of the ideas seem rather basic, but perhaps are so simple they are overlooked.
- Take pictures of successful decorating you have done, and store the elements for that success together, says Bob Palermo, founder and owner of Jolly Holly Lights, a decorating firm from Robinson.
- Don’t be afraid to throw away things you are not using or do not like anymore, says Carol Briney from Universal Order, an organizing firm from Aspinwall. It is surprising the space unwanted stuff takes up.
- Plastic storage crates are not popular in the love-of-things-green mentality, but do the job well because they protect items from water damage, says Jody Adams, owner of the In Its Place organizing firm from Greensburg.
Having a system matters.
A method and not madness
Plans can make it seem easy. For instance, Stephanie Tomasic, executive director of Overly’s Country Christmas at the Westmoreland County Fairgrounds near Greensburg, has a way of storing the display’s lights.
She had better. There are 21 million of them to put away. The lights and extension cords all are wound in the time-tested “Overly Way.” She is unsure of the origin, but positive it works, although she couldn’t really describe it.
She also says another important job is to check for burned-out bulbs and replace them before storage, to make use next season easier.
She, and other planners, also remind to pack items so the first needed are the ones in front.
Revitsky says you may need to rotate items so material for the next holiday is in the front. That requires a shuffling of goods at each holiday, she says, but makes any decorating task easier.
Many of the storage savants urge the use of plastic containers that come in a variety of sizes and sometimes have colors or colored lids to help identify them.
Jodi Eisner, owner of the Method to the Madness organizing firm in McCandless, says they are not only protective, but the colors can be keys such as “here’s orange for Halloween and pink for Easter.”
Revitsky says color-coding creates easy recognition and allows a non-decorator to get the right material simply by “looking for the red lid.”
Rubbermaid Totes, which range from 3 to 50 gallons in size and cost $4.99 to $19.99, often are mentioned for this job.
Lauren Spahr from Rubbermaid says the containers were not necessarily designed for holiday storage but “we are always pleased when we get a letter telling us about uses we didn’t think of.”
Finding the right space
Revitsky also believes in zoning storage, or keeping items close to the area where they will be used. Outdoor items could be kept in the garage, she suggests.
That means, of course, finding more than one space around the house, but it allows those spaces to be smaller.
Spears recommends creativity in space use, too. For instance, a pole or rod of some kind can be put in unused closet space to become the home for wreaths. Similarly, hat hooks can be installed to hold bags of items or extension cords, she adds.
Labels are important when specificity is demanded, Palermo says. He stores enough lights to fill three tractor trailers, he says, so labels are necessary to indicate what items are needed for his more than 100 clients. Similarly, if there are lights or decorations needed for a specific display, he says, label them.
Lists of what goes where and what items are available also are useful, Spears says. Tomasic says the crews at Overly’s make sure to keep inventories so there are no problems when decorating begins next year.
If belongings are organized and stored in known positions, space is not wasted, and the decorating job in the future is easier.
“Make it like shopping,” Eisner says, “You can just go to a spot and pull out exactly what you need.”
What to do with the tree?
Christmas trees can do more than hold lights and ornaments.
The more than 4 billion Christmas trees growing in the United States provide a great deal of oxygen and, when their days are done, can be composted into mulch or even made into materials for flood barriers, tree and recycling experts say.
Recycling programs in this area generally are run at the municipal level and can be found by contacting local governments.
But Earth911.com, a environmental-awareness firm headquartered in Arizona, has a comprehensive list of the more than 4,000 recycling programs in the United States. The list is put together for many large cities, including Pittsburgh.
Rick Dungey, a spokesman for the National Christmas Tree Association in Missouri, points to the list as a good one. He says recycling programs have grown to their current level from about 1,000 when he started with that group about 12 years ago.
Jennifer Berry from the Earth911.com says this year’s list will be the “most comprehensive” one of their efforts and will be updated by Christmas day.