How to declutter Christmas decorations with ease and intention – 5 tips to cut down on surplus decor from professional organizers

Christmas is fast approaching, and so is the scramble to dig out all the festive decor. Boxes and boxes stashed full to bursting with tangles of lights will be far from a pleasure to sift through.

You can still enjoy the holidays with less and, according to professional organizers, when you take some time out to properly look through all the holiday decor you have accumulated, you'll likely realize there are many items you don't need.

Downsize your decorations this winter to ensure you can store Christmas decorations properly for next year. After following this expert-approved process to decluttering your festive decor, you'll find joy once more when it's time to bring your festive items back out of storage.

1. Take out all of your decor

The best place to start when it comes to decluttering, whether you're into maximalist Christmas decor, minimalist Christmas decor, or something in between, is by taking out everything you have. This will help you to see the amount of items you're dealing with, as well as make the decluttering process easier as all the items you need to look through will be in one place.

Cheryl Arzewski and Jordan Marks, co-owners of It’s Organized, LLC, say, 'Pulling out decor from all of your storage areas makes sure there are no forgotten boxes. Don't forget to take out both indoor and outdoor decorative pieces though, which may be stored in different areas of the home.'

Pick a large room in your home and bring all of your storage boxes there. The large space will make items easier to sift through.

If your storage containers are looking a bit worse for wear, we recommend investing in the 103 qt. weathertight tote with wheels from The Container Store. It's spacious and transparent so you know exactly what's inside, and easy to move around with its wheels and durable handles.

2. Inspect what you own, intentionally

Once your storage boxes and decor are out, it's time to delve into them. Instead of haphazardly rummaging through boxes, Heather Bifulco, owner of Tidy Style Home, recommends taking each item out and creating categories.

A good category break down for Christmas decor could look something like the following, although this can differ from person to person:

• Ornaments for your tree
• Other decorative ornaments to stand around the home, including table decor
• Christmas lights
• Ceiling decorations
• Old Christmas cards kept for sentimental reasons
• Other Christmas decor (miscellaneous), including Christmas window decor, handmade decorations, and Christmas wall decor
• Outdoor decorations

Heather explains, 'We always take our cues from our clients when we are doing a good edit and Christmas decor is no exception. We start by taking everything out and sorting into categories. Then, from there, we encourage our clients to hold each and every item in their decoration collection and make an intentional choice about whether they wish to keep or donate it.'

You may ask yourself questions including:

• Why am I keeping hold of this item?
• If this item were to break right now, how would that make me feel?
• How much do I use this item?
• Do I look forward to using this item for years to come?
• Will it set the scene for a cozy and joyful celebration?

If you discover items you rarely (if ever) use and you didn't even remember they were in your possession, it's likely time to let them go. Punteha van Terheyden Head of Solved here at H&G, tried the Didn't Know decluttering method and found it marvelous for getting rid of items without guilt.

3. Create your 'keep' and 'discard' piles

After inspecting what you have and deciding which pieces of Christmas decor spark joy, it's a useful idea to create separate piles of what you wish to keep and what you wish to discard.

The most efficient way to do this is to declutter category by category, splitting each one into two piles: a keep and a discard pile.

Doing this will actively show you progress, serving as a form of motivation, as well as remind you what you're actually keeping. For instance, if you declutter all of your Christmas lights, you'll see them absent from your 'keeps' pile.

Mary Jo Contello, certified professional organizer and owner of Organized by MJ, says, 'Remember that you don't have to do it all in one day, and that you can seek help if it's too much for you. My family helps each other, and as my birthday is near Thanksgiving my family celebrates with me and then spends the day helping me to go through and put up decorations for the holidays.'

If you're into arts and crafts it might be worth tackling your DIY Christmas decor separately, as they won't be as easy to replace, so they will likely require more thought.

4. Test your bulbs and batteries

Before wrapping up your holiday decluttering, it's a good idea to test out your Christmas lights and take old, potentially corroding batteries out of any light up ornaments in your collection. Doing this now will save you finding out that your items no longer work once they're already on your tree or in a prime space in your home.

Kenzie Harkey, founder of Simply Dare, an award-winning professional organizing team, says, 'Test all of your lights to ensure they work and if something is broken, assess if it's worth the time to fix or if you would rather recycle it and buy again. You can recycle electronics at most county/city dumps, but be sure to look up the guidelines in your area.'

If you're looking for affordable replacements for your Christmas lights, there's some great buys on Amazon, including the JMEXSUSS 168ft 600 LED outdoor Christmas light set which is waterproof and available in all sorts of color combinations, and the Christmas string lights decoration in warm white which sits over your tree and cascades beautiful shining stars.

Cheryl and Jordan add, 'Don't forget to check for broken ornaments, or decor that is chipped. If an item is in this condition and you don't wish to keep it, consider whether it's in good enough condition to donate as well.'

5. Reflect on your final choices

Temporarily push your piles of items to donate and discard to the side for a moment, leaving only what you wish to keep in front of you.

When you look at this pile, do you feel joy? Do you feel excited about the holidays and can imagine yourself sipping hot cocoa surrounded by the items in this pile? Do they symbolize, to you, what makes Christmas warm: a sentiment, family, an aesthetic whether traditional or non-traditional, that you personally love?

If you feel happy with your selection, your gut will know. But if you don't, take a moment to decipher why. Did you declutter too much that you actually like? Were many of the items you enjoyed, such as sets of lights, broken beyond repair and are now absent from your collection? Does any of the decor bring up bad memories or stay in your collection purely due to obligation?

It's okay to take time to curate your Christmas decoration collection. We recommend placing items you wish to discard in a box out of the way, such as in a garage or under the bed, and seeing how the holidays felt without them if you'd like to wait before decluttering them out of your life for good.

Alternatively, as recommended by Kenzie, you could declutter your Christmas decorations when you're taking them down after the holidays instead.

'I recommend decluttering Christmas decor when you take them down,' says Kenzie. 'We get so excited to decorate ahead of Christmas, I think it's best to stay in the exciting, decorating spirit and to worry about decluttering and organizing when you're taking everything back down and storing your Christmas decorations away again.'

This may work better for you if decluttering can be stressful.

Final tips from experts

Kenzie recommends doing all you can to avoid comparing your Christmas decor collection against what other people have in theirs. They explain, 'Christmas decor is very personal, so the amount and type of decor you keep might not be the same as a friend. It depends on the size of your house, how many areas you have available for decor, if you like to switch it up every year or stick to the same decor.'

Mary recommends keeping one box for sentimental items, or items you feel obligated to keep and take out every year. 'If it's a keepsake or family treasure, I have recommended in the past that a person designates one storage tote or box for these items. This makes them easy to find every year and creates a boundary for the amount that can be kept in the space.'

Heather recommends that you don't throw out super special Christmas decorations, even if they are a bit damaged or broken. 'I have ornaments from my childhood that are not in great condition but they still make me smile so I will hold on to those forever!'.

And lastly, Cheryl and Jordan says to consider whether you're a person who opts for sentiment or aesthetic over the holidays. 'Do you have a theme for this year’s decorations? If so, do all of the items you’re keeping work within this display? We have clients that change themes each year, and it’s okay to keep those items together for future years.'

Did you know there's actually an official date experts believe is when you should start decorating for Christmas? Find out when your 'keep pile' of decor should be displayed in all its glory.