My bins are labeled by holiday and content. For those bins that hold items that transcend seasons you could also tape photos on the lid or front of the bin. That will help you identify the contents quickly.

Maire_cafe has a good idea about the photos. I was going to suggest putting that stuff in bins by type -- i.e. all pine cones in one bin; crystal garlands in another bin; birds in another. That way you could find what you are looking for!

This is how we do it in kswl land o

Cardboard boxes in the attic cubbyhole.

I have bins also: Fall, Halloween, Winter, and of course tons for Christmas. I'm in the process of weeding out a lot of Halloween & Christmas, and decorating with more Fall & Winter. Less work & less bins.

KSWL - you are my hero! You rock.

Can you tell me where you got the stands that hold 12 containers each? Did you purchase the stands or make them?

How tall and wide is each stack?

What is the brand/size of the blue containers?

I've been pleading for "shelving" for five years. When you have to just place things on the floor it gets rather cluttered. This looks like something I could do myself!

We purchased the racks at Bin Warehouse online and the bins (sterite brand) on sale at Walmart for about five dollars each. The poles cane with instructions and pre-drilled holes. My son put it together.

This is how I have it right now. Christmas is sorted by room in bins. Halloween is in another, with Thanksgiving in another. I usually just take out the halloween stuff and mix it a bit with the Fall decor, then take out a couple of things that I have for Thanksgiving.

The shelves have vases, weird little decorative objects, rocks, shells, small statue kind of things, etc. Then the china is on one end, with giant pots and pans and catering things that we rarely use in the corner. I try to group things in an orderly way, but it tends to get away from me. I had started sorting the things that I would be OK with getting rid of, but DH "cleaned up" down there and mixed it all up again.

I have crystal from both my grandmothers, DH's family, Aunts, etc. that I love, but really don't need. Hoping the kids will want, but if we move I'm not taking it all with me.

Kswl, that's the way to do it! If I ever move somewhere where basements are common, I'd love to do that.

Mine are stacked in the attic, which isn't tall enough to stand upright, AND the top step off the ladder is a killer.

I sort by general season...spring which includes Easter and Valentine's Day, summer which includes Independence Day, autumn which includes Halloween and Thanksgiving and holiday which includes Christmas and New Year's. Something like pine cones which can be used in multiple seasons would get its own container. Wreaths for the various seasons are in their own individual containers.

I have two bins for each season except holiday which fills several bins as you might imagine. I also have a few small decorative items in a cabinet in the living room, so that I can access them in those years when I don't feel like dragging out the bins.

kswl - That's an amazing amount of décor stuff! I thought that I had a lot.

Newhomebuilder I'm the one with storage area envy now! Yours is so clean, and finished!

In the interest of full disclosure I feel I must tell you that the storage in the photograph does not include trees (six tall, four tabletop), outdoor wreaths for windows (13), about half the garland (the magnolia has to hang across hooks and is covered with cotton sheeting), the five large nutcrackers, three tubs of ribbon and the stuff currently out of rotation in longer term storage, as well as the Christmas Casualty Workbench we set up each year to glue, paint, sew, or otherwise mend broken or damaged ornaments, nutcrackers and Byers carolers.

I didn't take time to read others ideas, but here are mine.

1. Have a container for each holiday and/or season you decorate for.
2. Items that "fit" into more than one season/holiday could be placed in the the season/holiday that comes the earliest in the year.
Take plain pumpkins for instance. Put them in the Fall container, remove them in September. When Halloween comes get into that container, decorate and once it's over put just the Halloween items back away in their container. Get out Thanksgiving decor, leaving the pumpkins out still. Once Thanksgiving is over, put plain pumpkins in the Fall containers and Thanksgiving in their containers.
Same with Spring items that work with your Easter items.

Dear KSWL,

Please come over and clean out my garage.

Thank you!

Tote/ bins in all sizes in a big walk in closet same place our covered Xmas tree goes and all my wreaths covered and hanging on the walls this closet has a vaulted ceiling making this possible plus outdoor lights in bins in the gar. and our attic area where DH put a plywood floor down houses all our xmas lawn décor.

kswl - For some reason, half my post didn't make the thread.

The climate controlled room was built out in my basement 2 years ago this coming March...specifically for Christmas storage. Part of the room has also turned into furniture storage for those things that my kids do not yet have room for.

This past season saw it's first use because I left everything in their boxes, bins and various containers in the unfinished part of the basement until I used them last Christmas. After decorating, I got rid of so much!

I bought up more clear bins (the solid red house my Santa collection) and stored what I am keeping. Most everything is in this room, but some larger outdoor wreaths are in the unfinished area of the basement. I also have my artificial pumpkins and a few Easter things stored in the basement. I am not big on decorating for either of those occasions. I have one bin in the new area that is specific for Fall. I didn't touch it this year because we are not going to be here for Thanksgiving.

The bins are organized by collection or where they go in a room in my house. For instance, all the fireplace/mantle things are in one bin. All the dining table top in another.

Great ideas. Bethpen-that is exactly what I need, open shelves where I could 'shop' decor.

KSWL-You are the QUEEN of storage! Awesome!

Justgotta-thanks! That's what I needed to figure out. I think some things that could be used all year can just go into their own seperate containers or storage areas. I have SO MANY vases, and I incorporate them all year in different ways, so I'll have to keep those seperate and easily accessible. Same with linens. I recently was asked to help decorate a baby shower and I went to my sideboard to get white table cloths and only found two-I was sure I had at least half a dozen. So as I'm clearing out my decor to organize it, I find them stashed in a different place. (I had 10!)

KSWL, one more question! How heavy are your containers? I have four containers, 18-gallon size, that hold two sets of china in anticipation of the day I have a dining area.

They are fairly heavy. Would the shelves support them?

KSWL, one more question! How heavy are your containers? I have four containers, 18-gallon size, that hold two sets of china in anticipation of the day I have a dining area.

They are fairly heavy. Would the shelves support them?

Be still my heart!!! OMG, KSWL, I love your system!

Last year right after Christmas I splurged and bought two dozen 18-gallon storage bins to replace the huge 30-gallon ones I'd been using for many years. We have a large storage closet in our attached garage, right outside the door to my laundry room created to store my seasonal and holiday decs in. I specifically requested that feature when we had this place built, as we sadly don't have basements or attics out here.

Like Maire Cate, I use large labels on each to identify holiday or season and (general) contents. With these new, smaller bins, I'm now able to have separate Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer bins that hold decs I can use before, after or with my holiday decs. It's been very convenient to have them like that instead of having to dig through the old, huge holiday bins for what I wanted.
Lynn

I have edited a lot of my seasonal decor but still have more than I used this year so must edit more. I used to have 12 totes of Christmas decor (as well as trees) but found that large totes take more space than boxes and can get heavy so went back to storing in small cardboard boxes. These fit well in my 'secret' storage closet which is behind the closet in the guest bedroom. Fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving decor is in 4 large totes. Easter has one and I'm going to give most of that away as I only use it when the Grands come. Otherwise I use a few spring-like decor items but not specific to Easter.

Much of my decorative accessories are not in totes or boxes but in closets where I can see what I have and choose what to decorate with. All vases, candlesticks, urns, trans-seasonal items are on shelves. It's important to me to keep these items out of bins and on shelving where I can easily choose what to use. My house has many storage closets as we planned for that before building. However, any clothes closet can be fitted with shelves which would work similarly.

IMO too many bins often means "out of sight, out of mind" and those items seldom see the light of day. No point in having things one never uses. Of course it's taken me decades to come to this POV! :D

Pesky, I thought that's the idea you were looking for. I've been obsessive about organizing since I was a child. I meant to go on and say for things like linens and candle sticks to have a container of their own. Make sure you label each container with all it contents on the front. I'm adding a link to a printable label I had on one of my blog posts when I wrote for an online home group.
Now if you want to go a step further and make a photo log of everything you have with a folder on your computer for each container then take pictures of everything as you pack it. If you don't pack a container at a time then you might want to make of list of the photos in order they were taken, writing which container you put them in. That way when you load them on your computer you can tag and place them in the appropriate container. This is what I plan on doing with our whole home as I get the time. Hubby just had a new shed built to store all my extra furniture so as I'm filling it, I'll be taking photos so I know what I have. I'll also take photos as I'm putting it in the shed so I'll know just where to look for it when needed.

Here is a link that might be useful:

I prefer my see through totes to my older solid color ones. All are labeled by season (In what world is Valentines SPRING??) or month depending on what we are talking about. Items that transcend seasons need to be put back in the bin that is the first time of year they will be used. They can stay out as long as you feel they "fit". I have edited and only allow myself two totes per season at most, not including Christmas. Christmas has an entire under the stairs cubby where it all stays. I keep it fitting there so if I get new something has to go. I do not put linens in the totes towels, table cloths and such, but I am beginning to think I should.

Caroline, the bins themselves are light. It really depends on how much stuff you put in them. We put the heaviest bins on the bottom racks, which stabilized the units quite a bit. The mfg recommends strongly that each unit be secured to a wall and that they NOT be used freestanding, but we've had no problem with them at all by being careful to put the heavy stuff on the bottom and not overload any of the bins.

Newhomebuilder---that storage area is FANTASTIC!