2.5 min Read Time
Get ready for holidays and reduce your stress to maximize your enjoyment by getting organized. By prioritizing, planning ahead and organizing, you can have a stress-free holiday season! We’ve heard it a million times before. Holiday time is very stressful, but it doesn’t have to be!
Get Ready for the Holidays
Start holiday cards before Thanksgiving. Work on them a little at a time while doing something enjoyable!- Jot down gift ideas for friends and family throughout the year. Make your smartphone work for you using the Evernote app or a notes application so your list is always with you. If you’re a paper person, try this worksheet.
- Find out clothing sizes now for anybody you may buy this kind of gift for. Keep it on the gift idea list mentioned above.
- Find out what your nieces, nephews, and grandkids are interested in currently so you’ll have a starting point for gift ideas. Or, find out which kids are interested in CASH! Encourage them to save all or part of the cash gifts you give them. I suggest staying away from gift cards because they are more difficult to “save up” for something specific or for a rainy day.
- Review your calendar by month so you can avoid over-scheduling yourself with parties and volunteer activities. Prioritize your activities so that the most important ones don’t get left off.
- Start planning holiday meals now. Make a list of what will be served and ask party attendees to bring something off the list. This way you won’t end up with 4 pumpkin pies and no mashed potatoes! Read my Thanksgiving meal prep tips post to find more ideas to make the meal easier for the host!
- Purge toys and games with your kids before the Christmas gifts start flowing. (See Helping Kids Reduce Toy Clutter post.)
- Do a high-level decluttering of the entertaining areas of your home over the next several weeks. Doing a little at a time will make the project seem more manageable.
- Start your holiday decorating the weekend of Thanksgiving. It will be less stressful than shopping and most of us have extra time off that week.
- Purge holiday decorations that are unwanted, broken, or unloved as you take them out. Donate what’s still usable to the Salvation Army. When you take down decorations, do another purge and repack in ornament boxes. Stock up on tissue paper to wrap delicate ornaments in.
- Organize your holiday decorations after Christmas so they’re easier to get to and take up as little space as possible.
What’s your sure-fire way to get ready for holidays and reduce stress? Which one of these tips will you try now?
Not sure what the best way is to organize your decorations? Give us a call to set up your post-holiday appointment now. Contact us at 630-561-8018 or jmartin@destorg.com to find out how we can help!
