It is difficult to imagine Christmas during the summer when the temperature is soaring high. Unless your house is in a place where the temperature is always freezing, you probably do not think about a summer Christmas. However, summers can be the best time to make plans for your winter festivities. Some of the top reasons why you need to start preparing for Christmas in July include:
- You have a fewer number of parties to go to in July than between Thanksgiving and New Years.
- It is much easier to go gift shopping in the off season than during the holiday rush. The checkout lines are shorter and the malls are less crowded.
- The summer holidays are spaced far from the Christmas holidays and therefore there are lesser distractions in July.
- In July, when the temperature is soaring, you can stay inside your house and plan your holiday.
Come December, being unable to locate certain holiday decorations or easily distinguish which items are stored where can is a common setback that can delay or even halt your holiday decorating for a day or two. Don’t let that missing Wise Man ornament or rumple tree skirt dampen your Christmas cheer! Take advantage of the summer lull and get organized with these Christmas in July off season storage tips.
Holiday Decorations
July is best month to lay out all your Christmas ornaments and get them organized. Remember when last Christmas was over? You had just stuffed away all your decorations in a box to deal with next year. You rolled up all your beautiful twinkling lights in a ball and tossed them in an unlabelled box. Getting your Christmas ornaments in order was not on your mind last January; getting your space tidied up and ready for the New Year was the goal.
If you sort out the ornaments in July, you won’t have to sort out them when you have a million things running in your mind. July is the best time to sort out all your decorations and even purchase some new ones.
Sort and Reduce
Since you do not have the pressure of putting up a tree and get the whole family together, you can sort through the decorations and throw out the ones that are broken or outdated, unless of course there is sentimental value attached to any of them. This will be easier to do during the long days of summer.
Cooking & Serving Equipment
During the holidays, you take out all your fancy cooking and serving equipment and have a nice family time. But after the festival is over, you have a ton of extra silverware just lying around the house, ready to be stored away in their boxes again. If you have just stuffed them away in a box without giving it much thought, you can use the long months of summer to sort through your cutlery.
If you do not have enough space in your drawer, you can hang your silverware in storage buckets.
If you do not have a deep drawer, you can store your things in an upright position in a cupboard and create small compartments in it to store like cutlery together.
Larger cooking equipment like a turkey fryer or roasting pan can be put back directly in their places. Somewhere out of the way such as the garage or a rented self storage unit is best to keep these infrequently used implements.
Car Care Items
Though not typically used for decorating, you likely have a supply of car care items that are only used seasonally. Things like antifreeze, ice scrapers, de-icer spray, and floor mat protectors may be taking up space in your car when they’re not really needed. Or, they may have ended up randomly stored on a shelf or in a lower cupboard after your holiday road trip. July is a great time to get everything out of the car or rounded up together, and to create a designated storage bin that’s easily identifiable come the first sign of frost.
Sports & Outdoor Equipment
Storing sports equipment can be a big headache. Skis, sleds, snowboards, and the like take a lot of space and need to be tucked away very delicately so that they do not get damaged.
You can install a shelf or make use of bags or bins to store all your sports gear. Bags and bins will keep equipment from getting lost in the mix and protect it from getting damaged as well.
After the season is over, each family member should go through their sporting equipment and determine which ones need to be stored and which ones need to be donated or replaced. July is the best time to go through all your winter sporting gear to get ready for the season beforehand.
Seasonal Clothing
Almost every household has a bunch of seasonal clothing that comes out only during the colder months and is stuffed away in closet, box, or under the bed for the rest of the year. July is the best time to go through Halloween costumes, snow boots, winter coats, etc. After the holiday season is over, take out all your seasons clothing and send them for dry cleaning, repair them, fix the lost buttons and donate the ones that you and your family won’t need anymore.
Luggage
We generally do not pay much attention to the care of our luggage, but it needs to be looked after as well. During the off season (which could even be during winter break, depending on your typical travel schedule), take out each of your suitcases, duffel bags, garment bags, etc. and clean them inside and out. If any of the zippers or handles need repairing, now is the time to send them in. You should also determine if you need to buy any new luggage and make arrangements to donate the pieces you no longer need.
We often have so much planning, shopping, celebrating, (and eating!) to do during the Halloween to New Year’s Day holiday season that it’s easy to misplace a special decoration or forget where we put the turkey carver last year. Taking time to plan for Christmas in July and to organize all your seasonal items, can really help alleviate feelings of overwhelm and frustration to make more room for the joy of the season.
If you’re looking for a storage facility to store your belongings, Armor Storage has got you covered in this department. Here at Armor Storage, we offer a wide range of unit selections and top-notch security. To learn more about our self-storage facility, please check out our website at http://armor-storage.com/.