Organizing my storage

[Kathi Manley]

Good news and bad news :P Last year I learned to make light balls to store my
minis... and I have been very happy this year as I got my lights out.

However, when I was in the attic this weekend, I found the 1200 mini lights that I used on my indoor tree 2 years ago. Sadly, I did not know about the joys of light balls. So tonight I spent 2 hours untangling 6 200 light mini strands- yuck!

I think that I am going to have to keep a journal & inventory for all of this also as I believe someone suggested here because I really have no idea why I didn't use those 1200 minis last year!!

Kathi

[JR V]

Kathi,

You can never go wrong with an inventory. We started doing one about 3 or 4 years ago. Each year when I put stuff away I have a list of each tub and whats in it. There are two major advantages to doing this. First and the obvious, you know where to find stuff the next year. Secondly, each we buy a lot of stuff at the year end sales, so in March when I have an idea in my head I can see if I bought enough stuff to pull off my idea.

After I am done making my lists, I transfer it all to a spreadsheet. This also allows me to keep track of my light count and what what colors I may have need more in and which ones there is an abundance in.

[Jason Rose]

I went thru everything I have last year, orginized it all and put it all back in boxes (the older stuff). of course I failed to label anything or document what was where or how many of what I had... so now I'm back to square one... boxes full of random lights that I can only truely ID if I pull everything out!

I too learned about "yarn balling" lights last year, thanks to PC members! I used this method when I unboxed most of the new lights I bought after christmas. Made it perfect for wrapping trees :). For general use lights (anything other than wrapping trees) I still prefer to coil my lights like an extention cord. I rarely get tangles as long as I'm always gentle with the bundle and pay attention to where the start of the coil is...

[Will Richards]

katelynal wrote:
Good news and bad news :P Last year I learned to make light balls to store my
minis... and I have been very happy this year as I got my lights out.

However, when I was in the attic this weekend, I found the 1200 mini lights that I used on my indoor tree 2 years ago. Sadly, I did not know about the joys of light balls. So tonight I spent 2 hours untangling 6 200 light mini strands- yuck!

I think that I am going to have to keep a journal & inventory for all of this also as I believe someone suggested here because I really have no idea why I didn't use those 1200 minis last year!!

Kathi

its a little more work but this is what i do, i wrap them up in a ball then wrap it in stretch wrap, then under the last lare of streatch wrap i put a number and then have all the numbers writen down and whare they go.