How to Organize Holiday Stuff for Good

by | Dec 6, 2019 | Clutter, Relationships, Holidays

Organizing Holiday DecorationsYear after year, you want to get all your holiday stuff organized completely. At the end of the holidays you are tired, life gets back to usual busyness and holiday items quickly get stashed away. Here are Top Shelf Home Organizing’s tips to get your holiday items organized and packed away properly. Organizing holiday items really is not different than organizing any other category of items in your life. Gather, sort, purge and store.

1. Gather

Retrieve all items from storage including the attic, basement and storage unit.  Gather all items that were put on display this year. Unwrap, touch and hold each item.


2. Sort

Sort each piece into categories:

  • Tree Décor
  • Interior décor by room
  • Exterior décor
  • Holiday cards received
  • Food storage
  • Other

Within each of these categories, you will sub-sort items as:

  • Used this year and will use again
  • Used this year, but will not use again
  • Did not use this year, but will use next year
  • Did not use this year and I never want to use these (this includes defective lights and broken items)
  • Do not use these and will not use next year, but they are family heirlooms, I must keep these items forever

3. Purge

Remove the items you have classified as “Did not use this year and I never want to use these,” and “Used this year, but will not use again.”  These items can be donated, offered to friends and family or potentially recycled and disposed of.

4. Store

After the sort is done, plan for storage. Create ample space in one location to store holiday items.  This is when you purchase storage containers and shelving if needed.  Clear, small- to medium-sized containers that stack and nest well, work great for these delicate items.  A shelf dedicated to holiday décor keeps these items organized and together. These items are readily available at most home goods stores immediately after the holidays.

Keep track of your categories created.  Items should be stored and labeled in the same manner to keep next year’s decorating as simple and organized as possible.  Holiday lights can be neatly wrapped individually for ease of install next year.  Ornaments are carefully wrapped and stored. Carefully pack up the family heirlooms that you want to keep, but will not necessarily display often.

Top Shelf home Organizing loves to organize holiday décor.  Contact Jayme to see how Top Shelf can help.

4 Organizing Tips for Pre-Holiday Sanity

by | Nov 5, 2019 | Relationships, Holidays

Getting organized before the holidays can save your sanity and protect your pocket book. Having a holiday plan will keep you in check, and prevent impulse purchases that are so easy to make during this magical time of year.

Organizing Ornament DecorationsHere are some ideas on keeping the holidays organized:

  • Budget
    Set a realistic budget for the holidays. Think beyond the gift budget, and include extra events and shows you may attend, additional dining out, entertaining, wardrobe purchases for events, and activities while you and the family are on holiday break.
  • Decorations
    This year, you get a free pass for decorating early because you are getting your holiday decorations organized.  Getting your holiday décor out and organized will prevent you from purchasing new, unnecessary decorations.Follow these steps to effectively organize your holiday décor:
    • Step 1: Remove all holiday décor from storage
    • Step 2: Sort and categorize into: lights, tree ornaments, exterior decorations and interior decorations by room.
    • Step 3: Access what you have, what you love, what you don’t like, and what you need to keep, but don’t want to display
    • Step 4: Donate or sell what you don’t want
    • Step 5: Organize and store what you need to keep, but don’t want to display. This includes items such as family heirlooms, kids’ homemade décor, etc.
    • Step 6: Check that lights work properly. Recycle those that do not work or will not be used.
    • Step 7: Take time to decorate carefully selecting the items you love that will serve your family well. Remove the rest.
  • Gifts
    Create a list of people you want to buy gifts for (friends, family, teachers, service providers, etc.). Consider gifting experiences, memberships, services, outings/dates or consumables. Limit the physical gifts as they can be costly and under appreciated.
  • Sell
    Do a quick inventory of items in your home that you can remove before the holidays. Sets of toys sell well online before the holidays. So you may consider selling those expensive sets of toys that your kids no longer have an interest in.This also a good time to resale your clothes online.  Poshmark, ThredUp or local consignment shops are great places to get a little return on your wardrobe.

If pre-holiday organizing has you overwhelmed, a professional organizer can help.  See if Top Shelf Home Organizing can help you on your journey.  Contact Jayme to schedule a consult or chat about organizing.

Four Simple Reasons to Give the Gift of an Experience

by | Dec 4, 2018 | Clutter, Money & Paper Management, Relationships, Holidays

 1. Save Money

Giving experiences does not have to cost a lot of money or put you into debt.  An experience can be as simple as an afternoon in the park, inviting someone into your house for a homemade dinner or going for a hike together.  No one wants you to go broke purchasing material gifts for them.

2. Make Memories

The memories created when you spend time one-on-one with friends or family are kept forever. The anticipation alone of an experience can bring much more joy than a material gift. They are not tangible like a bottle of wine or a set of decorative towels that will soon be used up or packed away into storage.

3. Quality Time

Time with a loved one brings you closer and allows you to focus on the relationship you hold dear.  Friendship is spending time together listening, learning and helping.  Memberships, lessons and outings together are great quality time.

4. Less Stuff

Material gifts soon find their way into storage or are left to feel more like clutter.  Toys are left on the floor to be tripped over and pieces lost. Eventually, a material gift can add stress and burden to the recipient.

Still not sold on the idea of giving an experience instead of a material gift?

Start slow.  Consider a fun photo frame to give with the experience so a photo of them enjoying the experience can be placed in the frame. Create a memory book of the past year’s activities, outings and experiences. Give a puzzle or game that you can play with your friends and family.  These options still give you the opportunity to spend time and create memories together.

Have fun and enjoy making memories.  If organizing and planning are overwhelming, a professional organizer can help.  See if Top Shelf Home Organizing can help you on your journey.  Contact Jayme to schedule a consult or chat about organizing.

How to Easily Organize Your Holiday Décor

by | Nov 6, 2018 | Relationships, Holidays

Organizing DecorationsTake some time to organize your holiday décor this year.  You likely have décor and ornaments that you have in storage, but typically don’t display them.  Here are some tips on getting them organized.

Get all the ornaments and décor out from storage including the attic, basement and storage unit. Then, unwrap, touch and hold each piece.

Sort each piece into groups:
1. Use this year – I love these decorations.
2. Not going to use this year – I am keeping it simple this year, but love these decorations.
3. Not going to use this year – Actually, I never want to use these.
4. Not going to use this year – Family heirlooms, I must keep these forever, but will never use.

After the sort is done, plan for storage. Allow storage space for the décor and decorations you will use this year. Then, carefully pack up the family heirlooms that you want to keep, but will not necessarily display often. Lastly, take careful considerations to remove the items that do not bring you joy.

Have fun and enjoy this process. If organizing your holiday decor is overwhelming, a professional organizer can help.  See if Top Shelf Home Organizing can help you on your journey.  Contact Jayme to schedule a consult or chat about organizing.

How a Professional Organizer Can Help You and Your Personal Relationships

by | Nov 16, 2017 | Relationships, Holidays

How Professional Organizing Helps Personal RelationshipsWhen is the last time you snapped at your husband or were short fused with the kids because the house was a mess? Are you hanging on to old bad relationships and old stagnant items?

There is a link between organization and personal relationships. Overall, organizing improves how you feel. This can have a positive effect on your personal relationships.

How Does Organizing Help Relationships?

Being disorganized distracts you from your priorities. Whereas, removing clutter frees space for fresh ideas and fresh relationships. It helps you move onto the next step in your life. Clearing the clutter also helps you to rid the people and things that bring bad memories and bad feelings. Plus, getting organized isn’t about the stuff. It is about what the stuff does to you and your personal relationships. Being organized will help you stay focused, achieve your goals and seek clarity. In addition, it will improve the relationships that matter most to you.

Having an outsider help you get organized will provide an objective opinion. Then, you won’t strain or stress over the organizing process.

How Professional Organizers Can Help

Professional organizers can help those of us too busy, too confused, too tired, or too stressed to deal with clutter ourselves. In fact, getting help from an organizer is no different than getting help with any other thing you may not be able to do, or have time to do on your own. Organizing requires professional help just like taxes, real estate, legal matters, investments, and retirement accounts. More importantly, organizers have effective systems and processes. Which make them more efficient, improve time management, and improve daily routines. Organizers can also provide professional resources such as; closet companies, movers, art appraisers, garage companies, and painters. They also have resources such as; auction houses, organizing products and stores, junk companies, shredding companies, consignment stores, photo and paper scanning companies and contractors.

If you need help reducing your clutter to improve your personal relationships, see how Top Shelf Home Organizing can help you on your journey. Contact Jayme to schedule a consult or chat about organizing.