[Kwll2112]

Since Halloween, we have worked long hours on every weeknight and every weekend and it's taken us until last night to take it all down and put away. There's actually still about an hour of work that needs to be done to put away the last few things, but it's finally done!

We still have the dragon skeleton on the roof, because I keep forgetting it's there. We've been kidding that it's now the Thanksgiving dragon, but I probably won't keep it up.

I took this photo last Saturday as sort of a "here's where we're at" kind of thing:

 

[J-Man]

Yeah, I know the feeling. If you wanna keep things organized, putting away takes just as long as setting up. My OCD never allows me to just throw everything in pile.

 

[danb708]

Im in the same boat I just finshed taking everthing down but I still have to place everything back in its storage bin before thanksgiving since its scattered about on my dinner table.

 

[Wolfman]

Our stuff was all down & stored by Nov. 4th but the Sentinels are kind of banged up so I need to do some maintenance on them. No rush now...

 

[DEADicated]

We still have two skeletons on the roof and it is supposed to snow tonight. Maybe they will help by shoveling!

 

[Malicious]

I'm still not quite done, darn it!

 

[Cephus404]

All of my stuff was down October 1. It was 95% put away the same day. The only things that weren't were things that needed repairs or modifications and I still have one or two of those I have to work on when I get the chance, probably this weekend or next weekend. Otherwise, it's all gone, up in the garage, etc. Now I just have to deal with Christmas after Thanksgiving.

 

[Kwll2112]

Well, it's good to see I'm not the only one, though I can't say it makes me feel better.

One of the issues we had for taking things down is we don't have everything in a tote bin. Much of the stuff either won't fit into one, or is stored on a shelf (either in garage or inside). We have a lot of glass and candelabras, and it's easier to keep on a shelf, etc. It would be great to have a bunch of storage boxes that we pack, load up into a truck, and take to a storage location - which has always been on our wish list - but the expense of those storage places precludes that. It's one of the pain points we have and factored into this being the last year.

I posted this picture in another thread, but here's how much of the stuff is stored; in our 3rd car garage:

 

[xredge]

I feel the pain also have everything down but not put away, and actually need to redo the trailer wheer some stuff is as the skeletons are fallingout of it when I had to open it up. And now already fighting with snow on top of it. Just not enough time, and not enough room to store stuff.

We have been talking about storing some expensive stuff at storage facaility already have one I pay for but the mother-in-law stuff still in there. We need to get it cleaned out as she has passed just haven't had the chance oer wanted to.

 

[Jerseyscare]

In my fantasy world of cost is no object, I would contract a POD, use it as a walk through, repack everything in it, have it taken away and stored, until the next year. Now, 70% is stored two flights up in the attic, 20% stored 1 flight down in the basement and 10% store above the garage ceiling, which all mean a lot of STEPS! I actually ran the numbers a couple of seasons ago and decided the "steps" were part of my health program!
Still LOTS of totes and boxes and piles of stuff to be stored (steps) away.
jerseyscare

 

[xredge]

For storage the past couple of years it has stayed in the utlility trailer I built sides on and covered up, some in the house like all foggers and fluid and a few other items, then some in the portable garage. I actually picked up another portable garage to replace my cover as it was cheaper and figured just tarp the old opne and use for storage of just halloween stuff

 

[Tannasgach]

omg guys, thanks for posting. As always the HF makes me feel "normal". I have my outside in and my porch done but my house looks like a Halloween eruption. Every available surface is covered with stuff needing to be packed away. I started yesterday but what I don't understand is it all came out of bins but doesn't seem to fit back in the bins. I can already see I'm going to need at least two more bins; what the frig?!

 

[J-Man]

I started yesterday but what I don't understand is it all came out of bins but doesn't seem to fit back in the bins. I can already see I'm going to need at least two more bins; what the frig?!

Something I do that really helps with storage totes is use a marker and write on the lid of each tote exactly what's in it. Makes life easy when setting up and when it's time to pack it away.

 

[Tannasgach]

Yeah, I do that too J-Man. That's what makes it so frustrating! I use masking tape and a sharpie to label my bins - outside, porch, decor, kitchen, witch, costumes, candles, lights, etc... All my bins are full and I still have a bunch of stuff laying around. Another great tip is Sam's Club apple boxes - they're strong, have handles and are stackable. You can stack 5-6 boxes using just a little bit of floor space. They're great for pumpkins, oversize skulls, skellys, sheets/curtains/rugs, anything that doesn't need to be in a covered bin. I moved my whole house with apple boxes. Just go to the produce section at the back of the store and ask them if they have any empty apple boxes (if not, ask them to save them for you) - don't get the lettuce ones, they suck. I like the gala boxes; there's a nice white area on the side for labeling.

 

[dbruner]

I finished putting it all away this morning. I had the outside stuff down and put away the weekend after Halloween, but the inside stuff takes me longer because I use it as an opportunity to rearrange the regular stuff in the house. I also have 3 boxes of stuff I haven't used in the past few seasons to donate.. I'm going to do a serious weeding of my Christmas stuff next weekend and hopefully create more storage space for Halloween.

 

[RCIAG]

I have one Rubbermaid tote full of random things to go to the basement that my husband has to take down because it's too heavy for me to lift.

I finally got it all gathered together yesterday.

Yesterday, November 17, 2018. That's the latest I've ever done that.

That said, that does not mean it's all organized & put away properly, it's all just a jumble in the storage room in the basement. I need a good clear week to get things sorted into "keep", "donate", "sell", or "trash" piles.

The thing that helps me is clear bins & a labelmaker. Even if it's not labeled I can see what in them. I'm slowly switching over to clear bins for the majority of my Halloween stuff.

A Brother labelmaker can be bought for $33 (+ the cost of label tapes) & it's a worthy investment.
https://www.amazon.com/Brother-PTD210-One-Touch-User-Friendly-Templates/dp/B013DG2FNW

Some are fancier, some are basic. Most you can attach to you computer & do different graphics & fonts, but for just labeling bins you can go cheap & basic.

 

[kakugori]

I've still got some stuff to put away too, big things like walkway and pallets but also some small things (fog machines that need test/clean/repair, a little indoor decor). My body just hasn't been up for it though - I pushed too hard to do setup, and I'm still feeling the effects. Bleh.

 

[lilibat]

I still need to take the front porch webs down, a couple of the floods that are up in trees too. Also have to actually put everything away. It's all sitting out in the garage drying. argh.

 

[Malicious]

but what I don't understand is it all came out of bins but doesn't seem to fit back in the bins. I can already see I'm going to need at least two more bins; what the frig?!

lol I seem to have that problem as well. I'm even going through and weeding out stuff to get rid of! I am determined to get it all put away ( out of my garage ) by the end of the week