Fix It!® Handyman offers 10 holiday handyman tips that will make your holiday decorating faster, easier, as well as safe and fun!
- Holiday light hangers: When hanging holiday lights, try attaching the wires with clothespins. This is a much easier method than the traditional way of poking nails into aluminum soffits and fascia. It’s also much safer!
- Lazy Susan tree stand for wood floors: Winding the lights around your Christmas tree can be a pain! Avoid scratching up your hardwood floor and put a bath rug underneath the tree stand, fabric side down, rubber side up. You can easily turn the tree to string your lights and place your ornaments just where you want them. This makes “undecorating” the tree a breeze too. Fold the rug under the tree skirt to keep it hidden.
- Tree in a tube—to go, please: Do you want to use an artificial tree but worry it will take up all the storage space? Try storing your artificial tree in concrete form tubes. Try using two 8-in.- diameter concrete form tubes, wrap each layer of the tree in twine and store half the tree layers in one tube and half in the other. You can stow the tubes in your garage rafters, a perfect solution!
- Hose reel for holiday lights: To keep all the lights from getting tangled and to make it easy to string them around your yard, roll the light strings onto a portable hose reel that has wheels and a handle. Then pull the lights around your yard and roll off as much as you need without any help from the elves!
- Handy clips for outdoor lights: Try using plastic picnic tablecloth clips to attach Christmas lights to your deck railing. It makes putting them up and taking them down a cinch!
- Labeled tree layers: If you are using an artificial tree, duct-tape layers together and label them to avoid confusion the following year. Use the duct-tape and number each layer with a marker to make putting the tree together next year a snap!
- Zip-tie your decorations: Zip ties are an easy and inexpensive way to string holiday lights on banisters and fences without marring the railing with nail marks. A pack of 20 zip ties costs $1.60 at home centers and after the holidays, simply snip the ties off with scissors.
- No-spill Christmas tree: Keep water corralled with a plastic snow saucer. This is great for keeping overflowing Christmas tree water from staining your floor. Place a carpet remnant under the saucer to prevent scratches on wood flooring.
- Spool center: Avoid keeping tape, twine and ribbon spools in a drawer. This can look messy, wastes a lot of space and just makes it hard to find things. Instead, screw a paper towel holder to the window trim in your craft room. This is a great organizing idea that will keep your tape and ribbon handy!
- Outdoor remote control: Love the cheerful glow of outside holiday lights, but hate going out in the cold to turn them on and off? Use an outdoor remote control switch (only about $15 at online retailers) so you can control them from inside your home or car. All you do is plug the switch into any outdoor outlet and use the small transmitter to control it.