Oh yes, the Christmas decorations are down, and everyone is in “Resolutions” mode…No play, all work, and everyone saying words like “goals”, “organization”, etc. For a nerdy, goal oriented, semi-organized, person 11 months out of the year, saying good bye to Christmas (that one month where I let my hair down) is one of the saddest times of the year. (If given the chance my Christmas decorations would be up till Super Bowl, but then of course the neighbors would hate us). In the meantime I thought we would share some of our money saving/organization tips for storing away the clutter with free stuff you may already have at home. Because seriously, who wants to spend $40 on ornament storage…(as seen below from Amazon) Yuck! (Doesn’t this defeat the purpose of that resolution to save money?!)

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Especially when you can spend $6 for organic apples at Costco AND doubles as ornament storage…

(This idea is brought to you by my dad, he’s a pretty clever guy, no Pinterest necessary) Also if you’re a knitter/crocheter then this same idea is great for storing your yarn/twine…

Another awesome and free idea to store away those pesky Christmas lights is by using an empty tissue box…

If you don’t care what it looks like then skip the next couple steps (but in case you need to get rid of some left over Christmas wrapping paper…) Wrap the box in wrapping paper, and make sure to cut away the paper at the tissue box opening, then  tape on the inside of the box.

Then loop your Christmas lights, place in box and Voila! Instant Christmas light caddy…

Again if you already put away the Christmas lights, then this idea can double as a plastic grocery bag caddy…(And with two supersized dobermans, plastic bags are a hot commodity for dog walking, if you know what I mean…)

Third idea is for all those pretty ribbons and garland you wanted to save…You just need a clean, leftover plastic container (i.e. cottage cheese, etc).

Cut a cross in the lid, then place an end of your looped ribbon through the hole.

Place the lid back on and you have an instant ribbon storage and caddy for next year’s decorating.

Remember this same idea can be used as a yarn, or any type of ribbon/string caddy. Finally, our last storage tip is for storing those mini ornaments…Again with two large dogs who L-O-V-E tennis balls, we tend to accumulate many empty tennis ball canisters…  We put these to good use by storing all the mini ornaments… And if not ornaments, these canisters make great paint brush caddys!

All in all we hope these little storage ideas will help you check off two resolutions…organize and save some cash! Goodbye Christmas, (you do fit nicely away in one storage container) and Happy Sunday everyone!

P.S. Check more amazing storage and organizational ideas at Remodelaholic’s Link Party! Oh and if you’re wondering where this post is at the Link up party…Its #58 under “Tandra” instead of the actual name “Free Storage Solutions for Christmas Decor”…Sad right?! (No this wasn’t me needing attention) Instead the computer copy/pasted the wrong info and then said computer/wifi froze up during my link up…Hopefully the 49ers have better luck than me today =) Again Happy Sunday everyone!