Steps on Taking Down Christmas Lights the Safe Way

With the Christmas holidays almost a thing of the past, the time draws closer to take down the decorations. Usually this takes much longer, or at least that is how it feels, than putting up the cheery Christmas lights. As a rule, one have plenty of hands when it is time to put up the Christmas lights and other decorations, but when it is time to take them down, one often have to make a few threats to get some kind of assistance to do this dreadful job.

Most of the time, it is the kind of job that is done very hurried and in the process the lights become damaged and most likely only realize it by next year when you want to put them on again. With some attentive actions, you can reuse your current lights with little or no damage next year again.

Get together a number of brow paper lunch bags and a couple of zip ties. Never pull on the wires to take down the Christmas lights. This is a sure way to pull the wires out of the sockets and cause unnecessary damage. Start by taking down the lights gently with the one end rolled around your hand and gently roll the lights around your hand as you untangle it out between the branches of the Christmas tree. In this instance patience is certainly a virtue. Do not pull the wire even slightly at any stage as it may damage the other strands of lights entangled to the tree.

You can make use of the same method when removing lights from other difficult to reach places such as the rooftop or ceilings. Keep in mind when you started to decorate your home for Christmas, you made sure that the lights stay in place, therefore you need to reverse those applications by removing them the same way and with the same care and thoroughness. If you want to do it properly and carefully to use them next year again, the safest way is to take out the ladder and do it step by step.

To store your Christmas lights you can place each individually rolled strand of lights into a brow paper bag. Before you place the lights into the bags, use the zip ties to make sure the lights stays together and do not become tangled again. Before you place the lights in the bags, make sure that there are no cracked or broken lights. If any, replace the damaged lights if possible or discard the strand.

Now place all the packets of lights into a strong box. Use the box to store nothing other than the Christmas lights. If there is a surplus of space in the box, use newspaper to fill the gaps. This way you ensure that the lights does not move around inside the box and prevent it from getting damage while you handle the box. Label the box to make it easy to find next year.