James Kelly for Closets by Design
To organize a family home for the holidays, work in sequence: sort and clear storage before decorations come out, prepare guest space before decorating, and process gifts and returns in January before the decorations go back into storage. Handling the three pressures in that order means most items move once instead of twice, and the space they came from is ready when they return.
Key Takeaways
- Holiday spending is expected to top $1 trillion this season.
- Nearly half of home decoration fires start too close to a heat source.
- Keepsakes last longest below 75 degrees and 65% humidity.
- A one-in, one-out rule keeps new toys from overtaking a child’s room.
- Four in 10 Americans don’t have a guest room.
Why does the order matter?
The National Retail Federation expects holiday spending in November and December to grow 4.2% over 2025, to $1.013 trillion, according to its 2026 holiday forecast. Americans planning to buy gifts expect to spend $879 on average, and about 2 in 5 Americans plan to spend money on flights and hotels, according to a September Harris Poll survey for NerdWallet.
When Closets by Design, a custom storage company with locations across the U.S. and Canada, took a look at those numbers together, they pointed to one crowded calendar. Decorations, gifts and guests compete for the same closets, garages and spare rooms in the same few weeks. A set order keeps each item from moving twice.
What is the best order for holiday organizing?
Four to six weeks before: Sort every decoration bin before anything goes up. Sort children’s toys before gifts arrive, and agree on a one-in, one-out rule. Clear one shelf to receive incoming gifts.
Two to three weeks before: Prepare guest space, and discard light strings with frayed or pinched wires, as the U.S. Fire Administration advises.
The week of: Keep wrapped gifts in one place, and keep empty decoration bins together and labeled.
After the holidays: Process gifts and returns first, apply the one-in, one-out rule, then pack decorations last.
Organizers say the toy sort belongs at the front of the line. “It’s time to clear out old toys, broken toys, and toys the kids have outgrown,” Kiera Malowitz, a certified professional organizer and owner of Decluttered, LLC, told Livingetc. “Touch each shelf, every cabinet, and bin and donate what they no longer play with.”
How should holiday decorations be stored?
Guidance from the National Archives, the Library of Congress and the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension points to a few rules by category:
Ornaments: Remove hooks before packing, and give fragile pieces their own compartments.
Linens and tree skirts: Clean them first, since “storing dirty linens will attract insect pests and set stains,” the Kentucky extension warns. Store textiles flat.
Photos and keepsakes: Use stable plastics such as polypropylene or polyethylene, and avoid PVC, the National Archives advises.
Candles: Keep them in the house, not the attic or garage.
“If possible, find space in a closet within your home, preferably on a top shelf,” home organizer Lauren Saltman, founder of Living. Simplified., told Homes & Gardens.
Number each bin, list its contents on the side that faces out, and use the same dry location every year, with boxes off the floor.
“Pack all items securely enough that you could move with the box as is,” Amélie Saint-Jacques, a professional home organizer and certified Kon-Mari consultant, told Homes & Gardens.
Outdoor decorations need one more step. “They should be dry, free from ice, snow, or rain, before storing away,” Brenda Scott, a professional organizer and founder of Tidy My Space, told Homes & Gardens.
What fails in an unconditioned attic or garage?
The National Archives recommends keeping keepsakes below 75 degrees Fahrenheit and 65% relative humidity, and storing them “out of damp basements, garages, and hot attics.”
“Many out-of-the-way places one would store holiday items may not be up to snuff as far as moisture level goes,” Kim Corey, a professional home organizer and founder of Finely Sorted Organizing, told Homes & Gardens.
Summer afternoon temperatures in Texas attics can reach 120 to 180 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Texas A&M AgriLife, which also lists wasps, rats and raccoons among attic hazards. The National Pest Management Association recommends raising stored boxes off the floor to reduce nesting sites.
Swings can be as damaging as heat. “You don’t want [the storage environment] to be getting really hot and really cold,” Savannah Adams, a book conservator at the San Francisco Public Library, told KQED. “That could be worse than just it being in a consistently hot environment.”
Decorating carries risk, too. Nearly half of an estimated 835 home decoration fires a year start when decorations sit too close to a heat source, according to the National Fire Protection Association.
“Many of the activities we engage in during the holiday season reflect leading causes of home fires, which explains why we consistently see the number of home fires climb at this time of year,” Lorraine Carli, vice president of Outreach and Advocacy at NFPA, said in a statement.
Where do new gifts go?
After the holidays, the problem is intake. U.S. toy unit sales rose 3% in 2025, according to Circana data reported by The Toy Association. A one-in, one-out rule is the simplest control: for each new toy, one existing toy is donated or passed on.
“If fewer toys are present, children play with them longer and in more imaginative ways,” David J. Bredehoft, a professor emeritus and former psychology chair at Concordia University, wrote in Psychology Today.
“Recognize toys for their short-term value and then pass them on,” occupational therapist Alexia Metz told TODAY.com.
The same rule works for decorations. “I recommend setting a limit on how many new holiday decor items you allow yourself to buy each year,” Grace Hall, a professional organizer and owner of Grace To Organize, told Livingetc.
Keep receipts, gift receipts and original packaging in one spot until return windows close.
“In the post-Christmas haze, it’s easy to turn a blind eye to presents littering your surfaces. But at some point, you need to integrate them,” Laura Price, a professional organizer and founder of The Home Organisation, told Homes & Gardens.
How do you make a home office or spare room sleepable without remodeling?
Four in 10 Americans don’t have a guest room, according to a 2025 Talker Research survey conducted for a mattress company. Among them, 56% said guests sleep on the couch.
“If you are having overnight guests you will want to make sure the guest room/space is ready,” Mary Jo Contello, a certified professional organizer and owner of Organized by MJ, told Livingetc. “Declutter drawers/closets and rooms to make the space feel inviting for guests, giving them a place to put their possessions.”
- Clear the desk and put away work papers and mail.
- Empty one drawer and some hanging space for guests.
- Leave a clear path to the door. Thirty-six inches is the minimum for an accessible route under federal ADA guidance.
- Inflate an air mattress the day before. Most inflate “in a matter of minutes,” according to Consumer Reports.
The season’s storage pressures arrive together, but they don’t have to be handled together. Clearing space first means each item moves once.
This story was produced by Closets by Design and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
