Undecking the Halls

It's that time of the year when I really should take down my decorations. I am giving myself until Monday to get them all down and then they have to be packed away. Ever noticed that it is always quicker to put up decorations than to take them down? I found these suggestions for packing ornaments which I thought was quiet helpful. Picture by Mark Kund.

Undecking the Halls
#1: Instead of throwing away used gift wrapping and tissue paper, run it through a paper shredder and use the fluffy strips as packing filler when you’re putting away your decorations.
#2: Start an inventory sheet for each holiday so you can keep track of how many strands of lights and how many feet of garland you have. Make sure you don’t overbuy when it comes time to decorate again.
#3: Evaluate your decorations annually, and keep only what you are really going to use. If an item is damaged or has lost its color, get rid of it.
#4: If you don’t have an ornament’s original packaging, wrap the piece in a resealable sandwich bag, then store it in a sturdy, well-padded box. Egg cartons make excellent packaging for tiny ones. Stuff all the nooks and crannies with tissue paper saved from opened gifts. Keep your fragile items together at the top of a box. The more you have to dig for an ornament, the greater your chances of damaging it.
#5: Dough ornaments and macaroni crafts. Pack food-based decorations in resealable sandwich bags to protect them from humidity, then place the bags in a cookie tin to keep rodents out.

I had better get busy since I have so many ornaments!