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Let’s Get Organized!

Do the holidays stress you out? Do you need more hands, time, storage space and help to keep your house and life organized for the season? Let’s get down to brass tacks!

De-stressing With Baby Steps

Let’s take some of the stress out of the holiday season by getting organized today.

The keys to organizing for the holidays are:

• start early
• take baby steps
• make lists (i.e. gifts, budget, meals, cards, etc.).

Now is the time to start going through toys, clothes and other household odds and ends to make room for decorations, supplies and presents.

Plans And Lists

Since failing to plan is essentially the same as planning to fail, we need to get an idea of what all needs to be considered for the holiday season.

Plans should include:

• • Greeting Cards – Since greeting cards can cause almost as much stress as gift shopping, you should:
    • gather all of your materials in one place before you start
    • keep them in a specific location tasked to the purpose
    • write any personalized notes before preparing the cards that they’ll go into
    • add personal touches to a few cards each day
    • plan to complete your cards over the span of a week or two
    • keeping the process to less than an hour each day will make the process go smoothly and enjoyably
  • Presents – Christmas gift shopping can be tremendously stressful if you don’t have a plan. Let’s break it down a bit to make the process more enjoyable:
    • • Lists – It’s a grand holiday tradition to have the kids compile their wish list for Santa, but it’s also very useful to have all of your friends and relatives give you some kind of idea of what they might like to receive for Christmas.
      • Familiarity – Obviously, the better you know someone, the better the chance you know what they’ll enjoy receiving. It’s often a hassle to go shopping, particularly around Christmastime, so you don’t want to have to deal with the embarrassment of providing a gift that isn’t suitable. If you’re not well acquainted with the person you’re buying for, you’ll want to get an idea of what they like either by asking them directly or by checking with people who are more familiar with the recipient’s interests and preferences.
      • Categories – Another thing to keep in mind is the nature of the gift. We normally think of stuffing the underside of the tree with a magical treasure trove for the kids or finding the perfect items for our loved ones, but there are other more generalized gifts:
        • getting a little something for your kids’ teachers
        • the Secret Santa at the office
        • a little gift for the Pollyanna that large families sometimes participate in
        • any other small casual gift that you might have occasion to offer to whoever you’re thinking of
      • Stores – The sooner you start, the sooner you’re done. If you’ve waited this long, there are still strategies to help reduce the stress of shopping during the holiday season:
        • Start Early – shorter lines and broader selection are available before Black Friday
        • Off Hours – Avoid malls and shopping centers on the weekends. Going during weekdays while most people are at work will avoid some of the holiday foot traffic.
        • Shop Online – Wherever you are, there you are and so are a plethora of shopping sites that can be ordered from when you’re having breakfast, sitting in the back of an Uber or carpool ride, waiting for a team meeting to begin or sitting home in front of the Hallmark Channel.
      • Wrapping – As with the greeting cards:
        • gather supplies ahead of time
        • set aside space specifically for the task
        • wrap gifts shortly after shopping, even the next day if you’ve been on a marathon
        • pick an individual paper for each recipient so you don’t get confused about whose is whose
        • extra large gifts can be wrapped in specialty gift bags or you can wrap them in paper or plastic holiday tablecloths
        • keeping up with the wrapping in short sessions will
          • prevent hectic wrapathons that will make Christmastime less enjoyable
          • decrease the risk that the kids sneak a peek at the gifts before they’re packaged up
      • Help or Hindrance – Our desire to be generous can sometimes overrun our need to be kind. You might think that a gift is genuinely wonderful and it may be kindly received, but is it going to just clutter up their house? The utility of the gift is every as important as the decorative or intentional value you place on it. Do they really need another music box?
        • Maybe they do. Maybe they have a spot in their personal museum for it.
        • Maybe it’s just another tchotchke collecting dust and budging out the family photos

        Be sure that your gift isn’t going to be a nuisance. If you’re not sure, it’s probably best to go with a consumable gift such as a fruit basket, an edible arrangement, a box of chocolates or a jar that looks like sand art but is actually the ingredients for cake or a batch of cookies.

Handling things methodically in short sessions will help get things done in a less stressful way and maximize the time you have for truly enjoying this festive time of the year.

Cleaning Up

Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up. ~A. A. Milne

There’s no point in overwhelming yourself by scouring the house from top to bottom. Instead,  only concentrate on the public areas. Your guests will appreciate your hard work and still be able to enjoy your company. They will be none the wiser that your spare rooms, garage and closets are packed with presents and whatever else you don’t want sitting around during the holidays.

Just as some people have a closet full of identical shirts and jeans to eliminate the hassle of making decisions about what to wear, you might want to do the same thing with your holiday decorating. Finding the perfect place to put your tree, hang your wreaths and deck your halls is a way to take the stress out of the holidays.

Taking pictures of your ideal layout can help you to set up quickly and easily each year. If you’re feeling the need for a change, you can tweak the layout a bit or change the colors every couple of years. In many cases, you’ll find that putting certain things certain places helps to create a traditional feel for your holidays.

Guest Prep

Keep an inventory of convenient snacks like cheese and crackers, tea and coffee, cookies and so forth in order to be prepared for unexpected guests.

For planned gatherings:

• allow enough time for cleaning, cooking and decorating before the event
• keep meals simple or ask guests to bring a dish to share
• delegate or ask for help with some of these activities

These simple steps will take the stress away from you by sharing the load and spreading out the activities.

Post-Season Recovery

When the holidays have come and gone, getting ready to pack it up can feel stressful but fear not!

Have an informal “undecorating” party. More hands make light work, so invite friends and relatives over to help you put it all away in exchange for pizza and a movie.

Hopefully, you’ve got a system for storing your Christmas decorations and supplies. Using sturdy, appropriately sized storage containers that are clearly labeled will save hours when it’s time to decorate next year. A place for everything and everything in its place is the key to getting it all stowed away quickly and easily so you can get on with your post-holiday fun with helpers you’ve invited.

This is also a good time to update your greeting card list while it’s all still fresh in your memory. If it turns out you forgot someone this year, you can always send them a New Year’s card.

Wrapping It Up In A Bow

Please remember, the holidays are about friends, family, and fun!

Diminish the stress of preparing for the holidays so you can enjoy the good times by:

• preparing early
• asking for help
• keeping it simple

I hope you enjoy your holidays with a calm mind and a peaceful heart this year.