It's a well known stress factor. You get the box of Christmas decorations down from the loft, open it up, and realise you hastily stuffed the fairy lights from the tree in there with no regard for how you'd untangle them next year.
How does it even get that tangled up from just staying in a box? No one knows, but you can bet it always happens.
But this year is different. If you're reading this, you're about to learn a hack that you'll be thankful for come next Christmas.
One woman has shared a genius hack that will stop your Christmas tree fairy lights from becoming tangled, and you can use them with ease next year.
A TikToker called Tanya, the self-appointed Queen of Hacks, uploaded a video with a hack that will guarantee you tangle-free fairy lights. All you need is a shoebox and a bit of tape.
In the video, Tanya explains: "I'm going to show you how to prevent your Christmas lights from getting tangled.
"Tape the light to the bottom of the shoe box to hold it in place. Wrap the lights around the shoe box, slowly working your way up until you reach the top.
"Once you have taped the end, make a slit in the corner of the shoe box to store the battery pack."
This is a great hack, because as Tanya points out, you can then store your Christmas decorations or baubles inside the shoe box.
Tanya added: "This will stay perfectly neat and tangle-free until next year."
Social media users were blown away by the simple hack, with several people calling it "genius".
Some people shared that they have already tried a similar hack, but they use a coat hanger or an empty Pringles can to wrap the fairy lights around.
One person added: "I will definitely be doing this with my Christmas lights. It always takes me age to untangle. Such an amazing hack."
Another said: "The lights... I'm already excited about taking them down so I can do this!".
A third commented: "The light one. Genius!"
Although decorating a Christmas tree is often part of the fun, some people would rather do without.
Another TIkToker has shared their trick which saves hours every Christmas.
Gillian Cowie clingfilms her tree every year so she doesn't have to take her decorations off.
Do you have any tricks or hacks that save time every Christmas? Let us know in the comment section below.
