It’s a new year and I am MOTIVATED to get better organized! The day before yesterday my youngest and I started with his room. Grandma Nystul was coming to visit and since Sten’s room is the “guest room” when she is here, we had an impromptu purging and organizing session in advance of her arrival.
Yesterday, I decided to get started on another organizing project I’ve been meaning to tackle….my Christmas decorations. Ever since I first got married I’ve stored our ornaments, etc in cardboard boxes (which are in pretty rough shape now.) This year I was determined to find a better option.
After looking around online at the PRICES of the “better options” out there I decided a “DIY option” was in order.
So the day after Christmas I made a quick trip to the outlets near our home in search of a deal on some storage boxes. I SCORED when I found these large, see-through plastic bins with lids at Staples for half price…$7.00 each.
Now all I needed was a couple of pieces of cardboard, plastic cups, and my handy glue gun to create a my own version of an idea I had spied on MarthaStewart.com.
Despite the fact that yesterday was New Year’s Day and I prepared two large meals (one for a friend and one for my family) I still had time to create this because it was so quick and easy!
Make Your Own Christmas Ornaments Organizer Box
What You’ll Need:
- Large storage bin of some sort
- Cardboard
- Plastic cups
- Glue gun & glue sticks
Directions:
Simply cut your cardboard pieces so that they fit inside the bottom of your box. Depending on the height of your cups and the height of your box, you should be able to fit at least two layers. Maybe even three if the cups are shorter than mine.
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Apply glue to the bottom of the cups (it might melt a little but you’re not going to be drinking out of them, so it’s fine!)
Attach as many as will fit evenly on your piece of cardboard. Repeat with 2nd piece of cardboard.
Now stack on top of each other in the box and you have your own compartmentalized ornament box for a FRACTION of the cost of the ones online or in the stores.
Total price of my DIY Christmas Ornaments Organizer???
The ornaments on my tree now have a safe and secure spot to rest during the off season.
They look pretty happy about it don’t you think? OK…actually Santa is looking a little confused and maybe even mad here…but that’s just because he needs a VACATION! :-)
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Now to tackle the REST of the house! In the words of Scarlett O’Hara ……I’ll think about that tomorrow.
Hi Jillee: What a great idea! So much less expensive than the “ready made” bins.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Thanks, AGAIN, for such a great idea.
Sheila
You can even use some of your gift wrap that you have shredded (or even mail or bills that you shred to prevent ID theft) as filler for the cups to cushion the more fragile items. I agree with some of the comments that this might not work for everyone but it’s a great sounding board for generating more ideas that might give someone else an idea of how they could fix their problem.
Love all your ideas and wish you and yours a Happy, Health and Prosperous 2014!!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Two things: to reduce silverfish, etc.m sprinkle a tiny bit of powdered detergent or cinnamon on the bottom of the bins. To reduce mice: DONT store leftover candy canes or gingerbread houses, no matter how sentimental! Trust me on this one.
The COSTCO Apple tray idea is brilliant! The solo cups are too, AND, you can sort of hook the hooks around the rims, which will alleviate some of the tangling.
Light storage suggestions, anyone?
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Years ago I bought some fairly cheap plastic containers at Target (I think): one for gift wrap & one for lights. The containers have a “corrugated” looking white plastic box & green lid, and they aren’t heavy duty, but they work fine. The light box came with four spools and each spool has removable ends and the ends have slots to anchor the cord while they are stored. These work great for me. Each strand goes on one spool and this keeps them from tangling. I also keep spare fuses & bulbs in the box with the lights so everything is together and nothing is a tangled mess.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Thank you, KC… I hadn’t thought about silverfish in my ornaments. But will put something with cinnamon in it inside the containers. I use the clear totes, too. But I wrap each ornament and other decorations in tissue paper. So far, I’ve had no problems with anything breaking or finding bugs. I love Christmas, so I have several totes full of things I’ve collected over the years… Thanks, Everyone, for all the awesome ideas!!!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I think this is an excellent idea! I might take it a step further by cutting the cups down to match the size of the ornaments to save space and layering same-size cups/ornaments together. It might be a little trickier to glue, but you could even use the larger top half of the cup. I love the idea someone had about using the clear cups, too!
Happy New Year!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Love this, Jillee! Pinned!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.You can make it for even less if you use those cardboard boxes that you have from Christmas presents (you know you have them) . Just cut them up using the one box you did pay for. It is an easy half cut on the narrow board.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I do love your site.
I have a few of those gift boxes that I use to organize different types of ornaments in my big totes. I wrap some of the individual ornaments in paper towel and reuse them forever… and store quite a few of the gift boxes filled with smaller ornaments in them. That works great for me.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Great idea! We have a heavy cardboard box that has seen much better days, and I love the plastic bin’s long-term storability, and that you can see into it. I will try it, but use clear cups.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.One of the things I love about your posts are all the ideas generated in the comments, that spring from whatever your One Good Thing is each day. Which really turns that One Good Thing into several different versions of the One Good Thing, so if something is great but doesn’t quite work, someone else may have a tweek that would make it work (for example Sharon H’s comment basically explained why today’s won’t work for her but Christine’s post gives some ideas that might)
I have a couple plastic totes that came with the cardboard dividers, and they tend to start breaking down, and smaller stuff slips down the sides. Oh, and the hooks get caught on the cardboard dividers and pull off the tops of my balls when I pull them out. This would be a great way to fix those problems – for even less since I already have the totes and base cardboard, just need the cups :-)
Thank you for all of the great ideas you give us, and for trying things out (to be honest I come here before Pinterest because I know you have tested it, reducing the chance of a fail). THANK YOU!!!!!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Amen Dawn! I completely agree. I think the COMMENTS generated are WAY better than the posts!! :-) I do!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.hi jillie, i just love your ideas and your website as well. I have made several items from you. you have the best hints, tips and I love your ornament box, the way you did it the box could be used for other storage ideas as well. may you and your family have the best 2014….looking forward to all your posts. thank you so much for sharing.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Thanks to purchasing our apples by the dozen at COSTCO I store the large round ornaments in the clear plastic apple containers. In a 66-quart Sterilite container you can lay two apple forms side by side. 24 ornaments on each layer is handy. Egg containers work great for the smaller round ornaments. Any wooden, metal, foam, or other unbreakable ornaments I store in shallow flat boxes which fill up the Sterilite completely. Thanks Jillee for One Good Thing. All those little things really matter!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.LOVE this idea!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.That’s exactly what my parents do! They saved some of the plastic apple containers from Costco and store ornaments in those, then in bigger plastic crates. Brilliant!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I can see the theoretical value to this idea, however I have way too many ornaments/decorations to store like this. By wrapping my pieces and organizing them in various ways (like items, similar sized items, etc) I can place them in smaller, appropriate sized boxes, or sometimes just zip topped bags, and pack this container FULL. I don’t have the space for 8 or 10 big bins that only hold a handful of pieces. I think it’s great if this works for you, but I have to “micro-manage” all my “stuff”! I could probably get rid of some things, but not enough to make that big of a difference. I have opted to not add a lot every year…saves me a lot of money…time….and storage.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Just wanted to say:
Please log in or create a free account to comment.1) Thank you, for what you do.
2) Happy New Year! May it be better than the last!
Hi Jillee, love your idea. I came up with my own decoration storage idea 2 years ago. At the after Christmas sales ornaments go really cheap and I’d been buying for a few years. I found I had heaps of ornaments. I hate having the same decos year in year out. I came up with the solution of colour coding my decos. I got storage bags cheap at the sales and each bag has one colour in it. Eg gold in one, silver in another, red in another. I put each size and type of baubles etc in resealble plastic bags. Eg, for red I have little apples, these go in one plastic bag. Now every year I choose a different colour and as each colour has different ornaments the decos change. Eg in the gold year I trim my tree with just baubles in gold. I have so many balls in gold ranging in size from small to large that every space is filled on the tree. It looks stunning. I have a fibre optic tree so don’t have to worry about lights. I have 4 bags of decos, so each year I have a different look in the house. I also store my Christmas linen and room decos in the appropriate colour bag. All I have to do is pull out the bag of the colour I chose for the year and everything I need to decorate is in it. Saves so much time and space.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Helen
YOU READ MY MIND!!!! I’ve been figuring out how to store these things!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Super idea :) Love it! Great job Jillee especially after cooking two meals.. Super :)
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