Christmas Lights

After all the Christmas cheer has been shared, the Christmas party has been thrown, and Christmas dinner was enjoyed by all, it is time  to take down the Christmas lights and decorations. People work so hard hanging up outdoor Christmas lights spending countless hours trying to make their homes look picture perfect.  Some go above and beyond spending hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars.  Taking care of your investment is equally important as how nice the Christmas displays look during that magical time of year.  Effectively storing  lights can extend years to your investment as well as decreasing the amount of time to put them up the following year.  This house has approximately 20,000 lights consisting of mini lights, C7, C9, LED dome lights and rope lights.


After taking down the lights the pile can look pretty intimidating.

There are many ways to store lights and after years of practice here is how I suggest going about this task.  There are three essential items you need to complete this task.  The items include the Rubbermaid container or equivalent, electrical cord / Christmas light holders, and Cling Wrap.  These items can be found at your local convenient hardware and general retail stores such as Home Depot and Meijer.

How to Get Started Storing Christmas Lights

There are two types of extension / Christmas light holders: the storage wheel and “H” shape holders.  I prefer using the “H” shape for Christmas lights for two main reasons.  First, they hold more and second, they are easier to store in Rubbermaid containers.  I use the red holder for the 150 mini light count strands and the green for the 100 mini light count strands providing a visual difference for the length of the light strand for the following year.  I also use the red holders for the premium ice cycle lights which have 150 lights per strand.  When I am decorating I connect no more than 3 strands of the premium ice cycle lights together which is the recommend amount.  Anything more will cause the fuse to fail typically in the first strand of lights.

Each green “H” shape holder will hold 4 strands of  mini 100 count lights and the red will hold 3 strands of mini 150 count lights.

When stringing these lights on the holder please remember to start with the female end (the end with holes only)  first so when you decide to test your lights the following year the male end (the actual plug) will be available to plug in.

It is recommended to only string three strands of mini Christmas lights together at once, but I’ve had success using four strands for the past twenty years.

The LED dome lights I used in my display were purchased at Walmart and their recommendation for strand connectivity is 43. I am able to put 8 strands per holder.

The key to a nice Christmas display is the use of a lot of extension cords.  Storing extension cords can be just as problematic as Christmas Lights.  Most would just throw them in a container or use a wheel holder which takes up too much space.  That is where the Cling Wrap comes into play.  It’s cost effective and takes up zero additional space.

How to Use Cling Wrap as a Storage Aid for Christmas Lights

Pull out strips of Cling Wrap about 6 inches, role into a rope to make it stronger and tie at the opposite ends of your wound up extension cord.

Now we have everything wound up neatly to be placed  into containers.  There are several container sizes you can use and I’ll show you examples that work for me.  However, choose the size that works best for your living arrangement and storage area.

How to Pack Christmas Lights in Storage Containers

I use 18 gallon Rubbermaid Rougheck Storage containers to hold my C7, C9, rope lights and some extension cords as well as peripheral materials such as stakes and outlets.

Then I use  24 gallon Rubbermaid Clever Store containers to hold both my extension cords and C1, and LED dome lights, and premium C1 150 count ice cycle lights.  With this container I am able to place 4 to 5 holders of 100 mini lights across in three layers.  The end result is each container will hold between 4,800 to 6,000 mini lights. The see-through plastic also allows me to quickly access what storage container I need based on what is inside for the following year’s decorating.

How to Store the Miscellaneous Pieces of Your Christmas Display

The last thing to remember is how to store the remaining pieces of your Christmas light display.  I use a wide range of hooks to help me with my lights and wreaths.  For each style of hook I use a one gallon, Zip Lock bag.  This provides ample room however, any size will do. The key is to keep the hooks sorted out for easy access when decorating in subsequent years.

For the wreaths I found a container that was the right size in both width and height to store the wreaths side by side. This one is a Rubbermaid Roughneck Latching Storage Box.

The Finished Product

With everything stored away safely, next year’s display will be a lot easier to put up and take less time. Do you have additional ideas for Christmas light storage? Please feel free to submit your comments and time saving ideas.

Removing branches from your tree may seem like a difficult task. If done correctly trimming your tree branches can extend the life of your tree and add value and cub appeal to your property. However, trimming branches incorrectly can cause irreversible damage to the tree or harm the person doing the tree trimming. In either situation safety and caution need to be taken into account before you start your tree trimming task. Before trimming your tree please consult your local professionals, city, and county to make sure you are following proper safety procedures. The following will provide the basic steps to trim and remove tree branches.

Step 1: After locating the branches to be trimmed or removed determine the correct tools to be used in cutting the branch. In this example a bow saw, large bypass lopper, and a pruning saw with a 14 foot extension pole were used. These tools can be found at local stores like Home Depot and Meijer.

Note: (For Safety) Other tool considerations to use include a hard hat, goggles for eye protection, thick gloves, and a ladder to get you closer to the area of work so you are not over exerting or extending yourself.

Step 2: Since the branch to be trimmed is out of reach we used the pruning saw. Take the pruning saw and make a cut underneath the branch to be removed. This protects the tree if the weight of the branch causes the branch to break  preventing the bark from tearing off the tree as the branch falls.

Step 3: Cut on the top side of the branch parallel to the bottom cut of the branch resulting in a smooth cut. As the blade nears the end of the cut, speed up the pace of the cut to create a smooth finish on the tree.

NOTE: The branch will start to bend and break at the cut. For all sizes of branches make sure you and those helping you are at a safe distance and out of the way of the falling branch. Sometimes a branch will kick back in the direction of the person cutting the branch or the trimmed branch may get caught on another branch causing the branch to fall in an unexpected direction. Everyone on the job needs to stay alert for falling branches.

When trimming and removing branches expect the unexpected to happen. However, practicing safety will not only save the life of the tree but those removing the branches.

Do you have any helpful tips or tricks on how to safely remove or trim tree branches? Feel free to make a comment!