| "Storing Holiday Decorations"-McAllen Real Estate | ||||
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| McAllen Real Estate - Residential | |||
 As we wrap up the holidays it's also time to start wrapping up the holiday decorations. Every year this becomes a daunting task, because we often wrap up the lights where they become entangled, stuff delicate ornaments in the bottom of a box to find them chipped and broken the next year, or we forget we may need some of these items sooner than later. These helpful tips can ensure you keep all of your decorations in tact and ready for easy access.Storing your lights can be the most difficult task. Experts say that as soon as you pull your lights out of the original box, label the plug with the type and number of bulbs in the strand. This will make it very easy if you ever have to replace a bulb. In order to avoid tangled lights, take an empty coffee can and cut a slit in the plastic lid. Put the receptacle end of the chord through the slit, wrap the string around the can, and store the extra bulbs and extension chords inside the can. Next year, before you unroll the lights simply take the receptacle end of the chord out of the slit and plug it in to ensure that all the lights are still working properly. This will make it easy to spot any bulbs that are not working. Remember to store colored lights in a dark place to keep the bulbs from fading. For storing your delicate ornaments it is best to keep the original packaging. If this is no longer an option you can use an egg carton for your small ornaments, and partitioned cardboard liquor or wine boxes for your larger ornaments. Make sure to stuff all the open spaces with tissue paper that you have left over from your gifts. The less open space, the less likely it will be that you have broken ornaments. Another issue that many people often have is not being able to find anything or needing some of your supplies sooner than later. At the end of every holiday season pack an "Open First" box. Put any items that you think you might need early in this box and put this box away last (this way it is easily accessible). Be sure to label each box in great detail with the types of items. Organize the boxes by season, so you can grab the correct box with ease. Blog inspired by article written by Kathleen Squires featured in Real Simple and can be seen here: http://www.realsimple.com/holidays-entertaining/holidays/christmas/storing-holiday-decorations-10000001133623/index.html
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