Making Christmas magical involves hundreds of practical decisions. One of those is making room for all the new stuff that comes into the house so you can hold onto a bit of sanity amidst the general chaos.
It’s a great time of year to have a sort out and get to grips with storage and home organisation.
Storage in Kids’ Bedrooms
After the excited flurry of present opening, there’s the age-old question of where all those new toys go. To start with, kids want all their new stuff around them, so you end up with piles of toys and games in every corner. Gradually though, things have to get put away, so thinking a bit about where everything will go before the presents even get opened makes restoring order a lot easier.
You could simply put up a few extra shelves in bedrooms, or just invest in some new storage tubs for soon-to-expand collections of smaller toys. If there’s room under the bed, flat storage tubs on wheels are easy to reach, and make tidying up as quick as getting things out.
Other ideas include swapping frame beds for storage beds so kids have built in drawers for toy storage. Beds with lift up mattresses aren’t quite as practical for children to use for their own storage, but can free up space elsewhere if you commandeer them for your own linen storage. You could put into practice some quick, cheaper storage ideas for kids’ bedrooms before Christmas, then take advantage of new year sales if you’re planning renewing larger furnishings.
Safeguarding Older Favourites
When new Christmas presents push old favourites out of daily use, it might be a good idea to temporarily remove those things to make room for the new ones. When you don’t have acres of spare storage space at home, a self storage unit is a handy option, with spaces from locker sizes upwards. This is becoming more and more popular with growing families as an economical way of maximising their living space without having to part with treasured possessions.
Kids probably won’t miss toys they haven’t played with for a while, so there’s no reason not to start a gentle culling before Christmas so there’s room for new things straightaway. Having old favourites in self storage, ready to come home again when they are missed, saves the upset that throwing away cherished toys can cause.
Christmas Day Practicalities
You can lower Christmas day stress levels by having storage at home organised before the festivities start.
- Make sure you have plenty of bin bags handy so you can snatch up wrapping paper as soon as it’s off, keeping floors clear. If you leave it until everything is opened there’s a chance small toys can be accidentally gathered up and thrown away with discarded paper.
- Invest in storage furniture to help keep things organised. Side tables with drawers, lift up coffee tables, storage stools or even just empty tubs kept handy can help to corral things like batteries, games controllers, the TV remote or random small parts that have escaped from games boxes.
Wardrobe and Household Sort-Outs
Christmas is the ideal time to prioritise possessions in just about all areas of the house. Maybe you’ll have a sudden expansion in kitchen items or household linens, or your range of makeup and perfumes, clothes, or accessories will go through the roof.
Having lots of new things is a perfect excuse to get ruthless with the old. Clear the decks of items you’re not using, from seasonal clothes to kitchen equipment standing idle and everything in between. The idea is not to dispose of existing possessions you love, but to find an alternative storage solution for them. This could be in the loft or garage once they’re suitably packaged and protected, or in self storage facilities where you know things are safe but they’re not taking up valuable space at home.
It’s all about making smart choices to make life easier. Just because you own something doesn’t mean it has to take up prime real estate in cupboards or on shelves. With clever storage solutions, you can enjoy all the new things Christmas brings and still hold onto all you already have.
