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Christmas is a perfect time to spend with family and friends. It's a great time to entertain and take part in annual traditions for the entire family. And, if you are like me, it's also important to decorate the inside and outside of the house in holiday fare. Unfortunately, we can't do it all. So, to help you determine what you plan on doing this holiday season, I have compiled several tips from my own and my fellow Professional Organizers' experiences. I hope it helps you determine what you and your family want to do this holiday season.
Holiday Tips to Minimize Stress
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First, I will share my tips. My tips are primarily based on prepping your activities and your home. I personally use these tips, and they have helped me reduce stress and enjoy the season more. I hope they help you, too.
Dust before you decorate your home.
Shake out the items before bringing them into the house to minimize the dust on stored items.
Make a list of things you need to decorate.
To save time and money while decorating, list what you need and place it in your phone to remind you to get the stuff when shopping. Also, check online for coupons for the products you need and print them out.
Organize your replacement blues.
Have a replacement light bulb compartmentized container with an attached lid (see the image below from Amazon (affiliate) and accessories for the tree and outside's string of lights. Having one place for these minor items will help you save time if you need to repair a string of lights.
Use Command Hooks to Decorate
The next tip is to help you decorate without damage. If you use temporary hooks (like 3M Command Hooks (Affiliate Link)
) or other small decorations, organize them in a compartment container above for quick decorating. After you use them, remove the tape, reattach the front and back parts, and place them in this bin for next year. I love it when I don't have to hunt for the back of the hook.
Visit your kitchen supplies.
Review your holiday platters (Affiliate Link), baking supplies, and clothes at least a week before your party. Make a list of items and ingredients you need and what you will be using while making your menu. When you go out, you will have more direction on what you need, and you will save time. Check out our lists to see if you have everything you need for hosting your holiday events.
Create a Complete Baking Supplies Zone with this Checklist and Tips
How to Create a Baking Zone with a Baking Tools List
How to Create an Inventory Checklist for Organizing Spices and Herbs
Essential Baking Supplies in the Kitchen
How to Organize Your Holiday Cookie Baking Tradition
Create a Plan for Your Traditions
With your calendar at hand, determine what traditions BEFORE Thanksgiving for this year. Visit my post about Organize Your Holiday Traditions Tips. This post gives you a free tradition form to fill out and helps you get organized for the event.
Gather all your papers together.
Take it to the next level and get my FREE ebook for holiday planning! These areas below are detailed sections in this ebook:
Gift Giving Planner and Gift List
Black Friday/Cyber Monday Shopping Tips
Holiday Season Things to Do with Family
Saving Time and Money on Holiday Groceries
Saving Money and Time While Entertaining at Home
How to Save Money and Time While Holiday Decorating
Small Business Office Decorating
Wow! Here's everything you need to make your holiday a breeze! Visit my post and get a copy of How to Create a Holiday Season Planner to Save Money and Time ebook today!
Other Tips from Professional Organizers
Now, on to my excellent Professional Organizers' tips about keeping the fun in the holidays.
Hilda M. Rodgers from Overwhelmed to Organized suggests to "plan ahead (and do things ahead), so you aren't overwhelmed with everything at the last minute and can enjoy the holidays."
Seana Turner from The Seana Method says, "traditions are wonderful, but you don't need to perform every tradition each year. There are seasons to life, as well as unexpected situations and developments. In some years, we can pull out all the stops, while in others, it makes sense to scale back. Take each holiday season as it comes, and don't drive yourself crazy."
Helena Alkhas from Helena Alkhas A Personal Organizer speaks from her own experience. "My personal practice around the holidays (we have 15 people for several days) is to go to Costco at the beginning of Nov and make a big shopping trip for everything I can stock up. From TP and napkins (Affiliate Link), canned goods, and chicken stock to wine and sodas, I get it all out of the way. Then, when it’s cooking and hosting time, we just shop for perishables, making it a lot less stressful."
Vlasta Hillger from Simplify Experts suggests, "Getting help! It's the best holiday gift of all; we don't have to do it all alone."
Well, there you have it. I hope this inspired you to take the time now and prep and create your limits for this holiday season. Feel free to visit all these lovely organizer's blogs to get even more tips this holiday season. I hope you have a beautiful and joyous time.
Now it's your turn. What is your favorite time to help you maximize fun and minimize stress this holiday? Please leave a comment below. And please share with others who may also get overwhelmed this time of year.
Get more holiday inspiration!
Sarah Soboleski says
What a fun round-up of ideas and suggestions! My two-cents is that I pre-print address labels for my holiday cards so I'm not writing each one by hand. I update the spreadsheet at the end of every season in case anyone has moved or fallen off the list. Not having to hand address 50+ cards is a timesaver for me!
Sabrina Quairoli says
Great tip, Sarah. Thanks for stopping by and commenting. =)
Linda Samuels says
Such great tips. The holidays can make the calmest of us stressed-out, so anything we can do to alleviate that stress is wonderful! Doing things in advance is helpful and some of you suggested. I'm a huge list maker. For the holidays (like Thanksgiving, or other annual events that we host,) I keep a Word document with all the details for the menu, shopping, and daily (leading up to the event) plan,) which gets easily updated each year.I also really like Seana's advice about not feeling you HAVE to do every tradition every year. I've noticed that over time as family members have moved, grown up or passed away we've had to rethink some of the traditions- either letting them go all together or changing them into something else.
Seana Turner says
All of this is so helpful. I love being a part of this group:) Here is another tip for the decorating: take a photo once everything is all set up, print it out and store it with the decorations when you put them away. This will make it easier next year!
Sabrina Quairoli says
Great tip, Seana. Thanks for stopping by and sharing. =)