Cooler weather makes it easy to check and organize the attic and storage areas during Attic Week at the Holiday Grand Plan!
No attic? Use this week to work on undone tasks, or to tackle a bonus area in the home.
We continue to move toward Thanksgiving in holiday prep, preparing to set a pretty holiday table. Are you working on holiday gifts?
Make one batch of Holiday Goodies.
Make one extra meal for freezer again labeled HOLIDAY MEAL.
Scanning a list of handmade craft gifts is something like reading a cookbook: it makes you hungry!
Whether you wander the crafts store, settle in at the library's craft bookshelf, or browse online, visions of bright and beautiful gifts follow one after the other. Will this be the year you give hand-crafted gifts ... to everyone?
Christmas is coming! Do you understand the unwritten rules of gift-giving?
Each of us carries within ourselves a set of rules about gift-giving. Seldom acknowledged and rarely discussed, these rules determine what we give, how much we give, and to whom we give. Despite living only in our minds and expectations, the unwritten rules of gift-giving govern everything from the office Secret Santa exchange to the family's morning under the Christmas tree.
Welcome to Gifts and Giving Week! It's the time we focus on gift lists, gift buying and gift wrapping.
A recent poll at our site showed that gift-buying wins out as the "biggest holiday organization challenge". During Gifts and Giving Week, we'll give you the tools to get on top of the gift list. Hint: more lists!
American Thanksgiving reminds us to be grateful for our bounty--and in most homes, that blessing is most clearly seen in the larder. This week in the House and Holidays Plan, we'll declutter, organize and clean food storage areas.
In our homes, refrigerator, freezer and pantry hold a wealth of foodstuffs--and with holidays ahead, these food storage areas will be called into front-row service.
Work gloves ready? It's time to tackle garage storage areas, this week in the Holiday Grand Plan!
The waning days of Autumn are a good time to rout out household storage areas, so we're ready to access extra tables, chairs and seasonal decorations. Cooler--but not yet cold--weather eases the job, and we'll feel good knowing that storage areas are clean and prepared for winter cold.
In holiday prep, we look ahead to the Thanksgiving meal, and see to the family's holiday clothing.
We should all have a friend like my friend Joyce. No matter what the occasion, she comes up with the perfect gift--even at short notice.
Her wrapped packages are lavish and lovely, her cards are sweet and well-chosen--and she does it on a budget and without last-minute dashes to the shopping mall. Her secret?
A gift closet.
It's a concept we love here at Organized Christmas: a dedicated space in the household to store gift items, gift wrap and cards. A gift closet holds a stockpile of gift items and everything needed to wrap and present them.
For many families, the Christmas season causes more than usual chaos on the home front.
Do you shove stacks of mail and magazines into dark closets to hide them from drop-in visitors? Does your dinnertime schedule fall off the rails when faced with multiple evening rehearsals? Does Mount Washmore raise itself to new heights in the laundry room, only to be scaled in panic an hour before the Nativity play?
Autumn's here and it's time to Fall Back: Time Change Sunday is coming!
On the first Sunday in November, we come to the end of Daylight Saving Time in most of the United States. With an extra hour in the day--and winter on the way--it's a good time for a seasonal home preparedness check
As you circle the house, resetting clocks to Standard Time, make time for this short safety checklist. It'll see you into the winter from a safe--and organized--home:
