Organizing Gift Wrapping Supplies

I mentioned in yesterday's post how last Friday my daughters and I spent some time organizing all of our gift wrapping supplies. I already had a thrifted under-the-bed plastic bin with lid, and my daughter was about to donate to GW another under-the-bed identical plastic bin. I told her we could use that one for organizing the gift wrap and gift bags. Her bin was also second hand to her. I don't remember how much she paid, but I think I paid about $4 for mine. These retail for about $8 at our local stores like Fred Meyer.

Previous to Friday we'd just put gift wrap and gift bags into my bin. You may already know this, gift bags tend to be heavier than gift wrap paper. When a bunch of gift bags get tossed onto rolls and sheets of gift wrap paper, the paper is weighted down and crushed a bit. Anyway, it wasn't an ideal solution. Besides, we have now accumulated so many gift bags that there wasn't enough space in the one bin for paper and bags.

So heres, what we did.

I should mention, we reuse most of our gift wrapping supplies, paper, bags, tissue, bows, ribbons, etc.

We folded all of the tissue into squares and piled them in a square fabric basket. Even used and slightly wrinkled tissue can be reused as top stuffing for a gift bag.

We sorted all of the ribbons into two separate plastic clamshells, one for Christmas and one for all-occasion. One of my daughters made labels for each clamshell so we would keep them separated by occasion.

In my seed starting supplies I found a smaller berry clamshell. I used this for all of our holiday stickers and gift tags. Most of these gift tags came free in the mail with requests for donations.

We have two gallon ziploc bags filled with shredded paper bag and basket filler. The bags themselves are worn and have leaks. But they work great for holding dry items.

I said we reuse our gift wrap supplies. That includes wrapping paper that is in good shape and large in size. Even if the paper has a small tear or a gift tag sticker, those spots can be cut out and the paper can still be used for another package. Under all of these Christmas rolls are one roll of royal blue solid and another of silver solid. We use the blue and silver for non-holiday packages, like birthdays and weddings.

And finally, the bottom plastic bin -- the gift bags. I save even store gift bags, as those can be spray painted to camouflage store logos, if the size is perfect in every other way.

I'm guessing we won't really need to pay retail prices for gift wrapping supplies for many years. I do keep me eyes open for gift wrap at yard sales and have found some great deals. Three of the rolls of paper in the gift wrap paper bin came from a yard sale, paying 25 cents per almost full roll.

All of these bins and containers live in a closet in the upstairs hall, out of the way of other things we need to store. It's really nice to think that the next time I have to wrap a gift I'll be able to find everything I need.

Immediately post-Christmas Day is the best time of year for me to organize our belongings and do a solid housecleaning job. I have this window of time where nothing is really pressing. It's too early to start garden seeds indoors, too cold to work outdoors in the garden, too soon to start planning spring birthday celebrations, and too soon to begin taxes. So, I spend a little time cleaning and organizing almost everyday from about the 26th of December through the month of January.

How about you? What do you do with the post-Christmas winter weeks?