I’m going to show you how to electronically organize your Christmas decor. Why would you want to do this, you ask? Who wouldn’t want an inventory of their Christmas decor right at their fingertips? When everything is still stored away in the attic, you can begin sorting and planning your decor scheme for the season. When you are ready to shop for Christmas decor, but can’t quite remember what you have, you can check out your inventory and make smarter purchasing decisions.
Step 1: Get Trello, Mom’s Favorite App
If you haven’t heard of Trello, it’s an extremely helpful project management tool. I use it for many things including content management for multiple websites, daily tasks, and now, Christmas. If you do not need to share your boards with a team, you can use the free version of Trello. It’s super convenient because you can work with it on your computer and your phone. Go to trello.com and sign up. (This is not even an affiliate link.)
Trello is essentially a system of boards, lists and cards that you can move around. You can also attach photos, which is how I organized my Christmas decor.
Step 2: Lay It All Out & Snap a Pic
I did this this year while I was decorating. You could also do this when you are taking things down and before you put it all back into the attic or wherever you store it. So, if you are about to start your decorating, do it now.
I used an old table cloth and I just made piles of decorations on top of the table cloth. This was helpful so all of my photos had the same background. I used my phone to take pictures. You can do this straight from Trello. So, for example, I might be working on red ornaments and I would be in Trello and have a card that says Red Ornaments. Then I would add an attachment and it would let me take a photo and that photo would be attached to the card.
Step 3: Categorize and Organize
So, this is one of the great things about Trello, you can move things around. If you decide on a category and then change your mind, just move it to a different card. I decided to categorize and organize by color. I have a board called Christmas. On that board I have lists. My lists are as follows: Trees, Lights, Garlands, Picks, Santas, Signs & Accessories, Ribbons, Red Ornaments, Gold Ornaments, Brown Ornaments, White Ornaments, Silver Ornaments, Black Ornaments, Inspirations, Family Room Tree, Living Room Tree, Flocked Tree. I also added a list of things I needed to buy.
On each list I have pictures of piles of ornaments. I also counted how many of each ornament I had and put that information in the description section on each card. If I happen to remember where I purchased the items and how much they were, I added that to the description as well.
Step 4: Plan Your Christmas Trees
Each year I try and change up my Christmas trees. I move ornaments to different trees or I try a new color combination. This year I was able to put it all together and see what I had available for each tree. Next year if I decide to change my color combinations, I could simply make a list and move my pictures around until I thought I would have enough ornaments to fill a tree. If I do not have enough, I can see what I need to purchase to pull off my tree.
When I was done decorating each tree, I added a picture of the completed tree. I have referred to this on my phone a few times when I was out shopping to make sure what I was wanting to buy was needed and would coordinate. I also had a list on my board of items I was considering purchasing.
I have wondered every year when I store my deocr if I should pack it away by room and tree or by color. Now, it doesn’t really matter, because I know exactly what I have. I can’t say that everything in my life is this organized, but maybe one day!
Honestly, this was super easy to do and I think it will come in handy even more next year when I come up with my next brilliant Christmas idea!
Check out some of my other brilliant Christmas ideas here:
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