Now that we are past (most) of the craziness of the holidays, many of you may be starting to think about cleaning up and how ready you are to have your house back to its clean, organized, pine needle-free state. Along with this clean-up, many of you may also be thinking about how to pack up all your decorations in such a way as to make next year’s decorating just a little bit easier. Here are a couple of little hacks we have come up with to help!
Bundle Your Christmas Lights with Cardboard
If you’re like me, I am usually so ready to clean my house that I just wrap my lights up in a bundle as they come off the tree and expect that they will stay untangled till next year (though this never works as well as I think it should). This year, instead of an easily tangled bundle, find an old paper towel roll or a used-up roll of wrapping paper and coil your lights around this. By doing this, you will not only keep your lights tangle-free until next year, but they will also fit nicely and compactly in any storage container. There are a number of other items that get thrown in the recycling after the holidays that can also be useful for effectively packaging up your Christmas decor at the end of the year.
Label Your Lights
Have you ever gone to decorate your Christmas tree, just to forget which end of your lights needs to be at the top/bottom of the tree? I have done this too many times, and have had to re-do the lights on the Christmas tree as soon as I realize the star at the top has nothing to plug into. The same goes for the lights that go on the exterior of your home. Ensuring that every different strand of Christmas lights has something to plug into can be a lot to think about and keep organized. So, to help avoid this, label each end of your Christmas lights with a little piece of masking tape and a Sharpie. This will make your decorating next year hassle-free and foolproof!
Safely Pack Your Ornaments
Not all ornaments come in a box, and even if you do try to save and reuse any boxes that your ornaments might come in, these only last for so long. To keep your ornaments safe and protected, use tissue paper, whether new or recycled, to wrap up your ornaments. You can organize them by color or style in shoe boxes or store them in recycled egg cartons if they are small enough! You can also use plastic cocktail cups to store glass ornaments. Line the bottom of a storage bin with plastic cups, place one ornament in each cup, lay a piece of cardboard cut to size over the first layer of cups, then add another layer, and so on until all your ornaments are safely packed away. Either tactic will keep your ornaments safe and in one piece throughout the off-season until they are ready to be dug out of storage next year!
Where to Recycle Your Christmas Tree in Fort Collins
If you have already gotten through packing away all your decorations and are now wondering what to do with a live Christmas tree after the holiday season, there are several establishments around Fort Collins, CO that will take your tree and recycle it! With the 25-30 million REAL Christmas trees that are sold each year, imagine the benefit of repurposing all these trees. Drop your tree off at any of the following locations:
Ewing is a supplier of landscape materials and has been in business since 1922. In addition to supplying landscape materials, they also recycle old landscape materials such as mulch, rock, plant material, and more! During the holiday season, Ewing also opens its recycling center to live Christmas trees. There may be a small fee associated with recycling your tree. Visit their website for more information!
Christmas Tree Drop-Off Fort Collins:
3501 E. Prospect Road, Fort Collins, CO 80525 (970)221-7173
The Green Waste Program is a program that allows residents to recycle any green waste such as branches, lawn clippings, leaves, pallets, or other organic materials. This program allows live Christmas trees to be recycled from December 26th - January 16th. A small fee is charged for each tree recycled. Learn more on their website!
Christmas Tree Drop-Off Fort Collins:
5887 S. Taft Hill Road, Fort Collins, CO 80521
(970)498-5760
The City of Fort Collins Recycling Center located on Timberline road accepts Christmas trees after the holiday season. Here they are recycled and put to use in various ways around the City of Fort Collins. There is a fee associated with recycling Christmas trees. You can learn more here!
Christmas Tree Drop-Off Fort Collins:
1903 S. Timberline Road, Fort Collins, CO 80525 (970)221-6600
Christmas Clean-Up Hacks
We hope you find these Christmas clean-up hacks useful, and if you have any questions, please let us know! We have tons of other resources on our blog, including information about the differences between real and fake Christmas trees and which ones are better for the environment. We hope you all had a very merry Christmas, and we look forward to seeing you in the New Year!