The holidays can be a stressful time in terms of planning and prepping. This year may be especially difficult due to social distancing restrictions and shipping delays.
However, with a little planning, you can still have an amazing holiday that everyone can enjoy. If the holidays have snuck up on you, we’ve got a quick organization plan to help you accomplish the major tasks and keep everyone sane.
Week 1: Planning Week
This is the week that you put pen to paper and fingers to keyboard, laying the groundwork for everything that needs to happen for the next few weeks. These tasks will need to be handled first, so that there’s a system to follow the rest of the month and anything that’s dependent on shipping has as much time as possible to arrive.
- Shop in Advance – Do as much of your holiday shopping in advance as you can. Pay special attention to gifts that will be being shipped to other locations, so that you can get them in the mail as soon as possible.
- Family Pictures – Take a digital picture of your family if you’ll need it for holiday cards.
- Mail Cards or Send Digital Greetings – Address and mail holiday cards if you’ll be sending them via mail, or plan to send cards via email or social media instead if you’re short on time. If you’ll be sending them digitally, save the file to your computer and put a note on your calendar for the day you’d like to post them.
Week 2: Cleaning and Meal Prep
- Make a Cleaning Plan – Make a list of anything that you’ll need to clean and designate a day this week to handle it. Delegate tasks to members of your family, and then put that plan into action.
- Meal Planning – Prepare two extra meals to put into the freezer for stressful evenings this month or set aside money for takeout for these evenings.
- Order Holiday Groceries – Order any groceries that you’ll need that you don’t currently have on hand. Do you need baking items, special ingredients, or extra butter? Now is the time to add it to your grocery order for pickup or delivery.
Week 3: Holiday Preparations
- Decorating -This is the week that you’ll be focusing on your home. Keep things as low key as you can. Stick to decorations that make you happy and add sparkle to your home.
- Holiday Baking – Begin any holiday baking that you’ll be doing. Break this up over several evenings so you aren’t overwhelmed. Pick recipes that can be made in advance to ease stress.
- Remember those freezer meals? This is the week that you may want to use one of them.
- Holiday Shopping – Plan to purchase any other gifts that you haven’t picked up this week.
Week 4: Holidays and Family Time
- Enjoy spending time with your loved ones, whether in person or virtually.
- Remember you have an extra freezer meal tucked away if anything goes awry.
- Make a Storage Plan – As you take down your decorations, pay extra attention to your storage options. Do you have a place for everything? If not, it may be time to consider working with a professional storage expert, so the next holiday season goes a bit more smoothly. Reach out to the friendly professionals at Closet & Storage Concepts to learn more about the variety of options available for custom storage. Proudly serving the greater Philadelphia and South Jersey areas for more than 30 years! Get a free in-home, phone or virtual design estimate.
Photo credits: Decor ©Massonstock. Ornaments ©DutchScenery.
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Custom Closets | Desks & Home Office Organization | Entertainment Wall Units