The sales and marketing of Christmas lights and decorations is only superseded by the even larger sales and marketing of wild and clever plastic containers and gadgets that are meant to be used for the storing Christmas lights and decorations.

I’ve tried several different clever containers and methods for storing my Christmas lights from one year to the next. Some work better than others, but I was looking for a simpler way. I’ve tried putting the light cords back into the original plastic trays with very little success. It’s both too time consuming too easy to break bulbs or LED’s out of their sockets when you’re trying to cram everything back into the box the way they came out.

My method for storing my Christmas lights is cheap and easy and it’s worked for for me for several years now. Here’s what I do:

1. Remove and Test your Christmas Lights: I take down each strand of Christmas lights separately and test them after I get them down, just to quickly make sure I haven’t broken or crushed anything accidentally in the removal process. This may seem silly, but it saves me from storing a set of lights that is broken or in disrepair.

2. Wrap Each Strand of Christmas Lights Separately: I know some people who keep three or four long strands of Christmas lights all plugged together in one long line from year to year, but I find that small strands are easier to work with. I keep each strand separated and then I just coil or wrap them in a circle. For longer strands I run them around my arm and hand like any other cord, but I try to keep the loop rather loose. For smaller strands I sometimes wrap the lights around a cardboard tube (from paper towels or toilet paper) or even a chuck of cardboard. The idea is to have the lights in a loose coil or pattern. Yes, there may be some minimal tangling, but if you do it neatly and gently it’s rare that you’ll have any real problems next year.

3. Pack the Christmas Lights in Plastic Bags: Yes, plastic bags. I do not use old plastic shopping bags, but rather, I splurge for the clear zip top freezer bags. There are several reasons for this. First, zip top bags usually stay shut, so your Christmas lights won’t go falling over the floor if you pick up the wrong corner of a bag. Second, clear bags make it much easier to see what’s in the bags and the freezer variety of plastic bags are made of a thicker plastic than regular bags. And these types of bags are durable and can be flattened and packed tightly and even provide a little spot for labeling.

4. Label and Store Your Christmas Lights: I use a Sharpie marker to then write on the outside of each bag a few things. I write where I put them (indoor, outdoor, tree, bushes, etc) and sometimes the brand or number of bulbs if I know it and sometimes I write on the year that I bought them. I have recently started cutting up the Christmas light boxes and putting the specifications panel and spare bulbs and fuses for each set of lights into the bag as well, just for use at a later time. The trick here is to make sure you put the right set of lights back into the right bag each year. Finally, I store all my Christmas lights in one big clear plastic storage bin. Again, I like clear bins because I can see what’s in them without opening them up.

The total investment for my Christmas light storage solution was probably less than $20 which bough the clear storage bin, a box of zip top freezer bags and a permanent marker. Using this simple method I’m able to find, organize and pack away my Christmas lights with a minimum amount of hassle!