Here are a few ideas to make setting up (and taking down) your outside lighting decorations easier and neater.

If you're stringing up lights around the gutters, you have two options:

• Get a set of gutter hooks that can be easily removed when the season's over.
• Use small hooks that screw into the wood and you can keep up there season after season. The hooks make putting up and taking down strings of lights a cinch.

And, if you're illuminating things away from the house, like your trees, get some outdoor floodlight holders that you can spike right into the ground. You'll need outdoor-certified electrical extension cords for the holders. Orange is the most typical color, but you can find green cords that blend in with your landscaping.

So you won't be plugging and unplugging the lights every night or forgetting to flip off the switch, you can buy an outdoor electric timer that turns your outdoor lights on and off automatically.