The end of the year seems to zoom by with all the holidays, celebrations and parties. Throw in a birthday, graduation, wedding or trip and there's a lot of important dates marked on your calendar in a short amount of time. Planning ahead for all of them now, will help you stay more organized and less stressed later.
Start preparing your home for the holiday visitors with a quick decluttering session. Begin in the entryway of your home. Store away any lingering summer items like flip flops or outdoor toys that won't be used anytime soon. Thin out the coat closet to make way for your guest's jackets and coats. Next, grab 2 bags and label one "Trash" and the other "Donate". Walk throughout your home and throw away anything that is obviously trash and identify those things that you really don't want going into the new year with you and put them in the donate bag. Sweep, dust, vacuum or mop and then decorate for the holidays. Evaluate your decor as you swap it out for seasonal decor and ask yourself if you like it enough to use it again next year and if not, put it in that donation bag.
Once you have your house tidied up, focus on organizing the events you have coming up. One year, I had a Veteran's candy party that I hosted, a college graduation trip and Christmas all within a few weeks of each other and if I didn't physically separate all those supporting items by event, I would have lost my mind! To stay organized, I like to dedicate one clear plastic tote to each event the I have coming up and start using it early to corral everything I need per each event. Lists, gifts, decor, nonperishable food, paper goods and special items go in the tote so they are ready for you when you need them. If you have all these things scattered (hidden) around the house, you just might start to panic if you can't find them when you need them. Using a dedicated tote for each event will help you avoid the stress/panic of not being able to find something with you need it. Keep adding items to the appropriate tote as you get them and when you're are ready to start working on the next event, everything is in one place waiting for you. Extra bonus, if you're heading out of town for any of these events, everything is already boxed up and ready to be loaded into the car.
Breaking down tasks even further can help you stay organized with smaller or ongoing tasks. Creating a small greeting card basket with envelopes, cards, pens and stamps will help you send out cards throughout the holiday season. A gift wrapping station with wrapping paper, tags, tape, scissors, tissue paper and gift bags will make preparing gifts easy for everyone. Making holiday cookies? Use a smaller container for recipes, ingredients, cookie cutters, icing, sprinkles, icing bags and decorator tips. You get the idea. Gather up all the items that you'll need for a certain activity and contain them together so they are ready to use them when you are. (Note: You don't have to go out and buy new totes or containers; use those cardboard boxes that come to your house for free!)
Preparing your home and your upcoming activities will help you keep the stress down and increase your enjoyment of the holidays.
Happy Holidays!
Comments