How to Keep Christmas Lights from Tangling

One of the simplest ways to store your Christmas lights is to wrap them around a piece of cardboard. With all the holiday gifting, you’re sure to have some extra shipping boxes around the house. These work perfectly for all kinds of Christmas storage, but have you ever thought to create a string light spool out of them?

1. Cut a flat, rectangular piece of cardboard from a box.
2. Cut a slit about two inches long in the top of the rectangle.
3. Wrap the lights around the make-shift spool and use the slit to hold the end of the cord.
4. (Optional) Wrap the spooled lights in newspaper or shopping bags to protect the lights until next year!

This is the perfect hack for anyone who has some extra hanging space around the house! Using hangers to store your Christmas lights not only keeps them from tangling but also prevents the breaks that come with storing your lights in bins and boxes of other decorations. For this hack, it’s as easy as one, two, three!

1. If your hanger has a strap holder, tuck the end of the light strand in to keep it in place while you wrap. If not, it is helpful to tape the cord to the hanger to create a more secure wrap.
2. Starting at one end and working your way to the other, begin wrapping the lights vertically around the hanger. Try to spread the lights out rather than overlapping them.
3. Once you reach the other side, either tuck the end into the strap holder or tape to secure.

This tip is somewhat similar to the classic cardboard hack. In this tutorial, you’ll make use of those empty wrapping paper tubes you gained over the holiday season.

1. Start by creating a two-inch slit in the top and bottom of the roll.
2. Use the first slit to hold one end of the cord as you wrap the light strand up and around the tube.
3. Finish by securing the other end in the second slit.
4. (Optional) Wrap the tubes in newspaper or tissue paper to protect the lights until next year!

These tips are fine and dandy for preventing new tangles, but what if you need to undo tangles this year? Untangling Christmas lights can be time-consuming, but with these tips, you’ll be decorating again in no time!

1. Decide how many lights you will be using this year. If you can access the plug, you should also test them out at this stage. The last thing you want is to spend all that time untangling only to find that the strand is dead.
2. Start with the plug. Having an end easily accessible will be much easier than attempting to undo knots near the middle.
3. Gently weave the plug through the tangles to avoid breaking any lights.
4. As you begin to get lights untangled from each other, you will want to have a large space to lay them out. This will avoid any more tangles from forming as you work on more strands.