Prepare Your Home for the Holidays: 4 Tasks You Can Do Now To Ease The Stress Later

Home Week

Previously, I talked about how it was important to prepare you heart for the Holidays. This month I'm touching on how you can prepare you home. Planning ahead and getting your home in shape before the heart of the busy Holiday season arrives can help to reduce some of the stress. I cover four areas that can be tackled early on.

Declutter
Take time before you put up your holiday decorations to spend time decluttering your living spaces. Grab a box and walk through one room at a time. Gather items that belong elsewhere and return those items to their homes. Use another box or container to gather items that can be donated. Have a trash bag close by to toss the unwanted stuff. It's much easier and more enjoyable to decorate a space that has been decluttered.

Cleaning
Make a list of cleaning tasks you would like done. Perhaps you can list them for each room of the house. Don't forget to give yourself a deadline. Do a little each day or week. Remember the refrigerator and oven. It's also a good idea to schedule the carpet cleaning or cleaning services. Read more on Holiday cleaning HERE.

Linens and Bedding
If you are going to be hosting dinners, gatherings or houseguests, take care of the linens and bedding ahead of time. Are the table clothes, napkins, guest towels and bedding all laundered and in good shape? Don't leave these for last minute surprises and last minute stress.

Stock the Pantry
Why not make sure your have all the necessities and basics on hand now? What baking supplies, beverages and nonperishable food items do you need? Take some time to make a shopping list before you go to the store to avoid multiple time-wasting trips.

Don't wait until the last minute to do everything. Start now and do a little as you go. Too often holiday stress is caused by doing so much in a small window of time. Stick to those tasks that support the focus and spirit of your family's Holiday season.

For more Works-For-Me Ideas, visit We Are THAT Family.

Check out more Countdown to Christmas organizing tips and ideas.

Countdown to Christmas: Home Week

This is my third week of Countdown To Christmas and it's Home Week and I'll be focusing my organizing tips around decluttering, cleaning and decorating.

I like to plan ahead and getting our home into shape before the heart of the busy Holiday season arrives. This allows me to get many tasks around the house out of the way early on. This helps to reduce some of the stress because I'm not rushed trying to get everything done at the last minute. I'm able to focus my energies on those things that are important to me and my family, like reflecting on the gift of Jesus, enjoying time with friends and watching a few Christmas movies.

The first task for me this week is to make a list of the cleaning tasks that need to be done by Friday before our guests arrive on Saturday. Then, I'll decide when I'll do each task. It does no good to make a to-do list without determining the when. I'll also be sure to enlist the help of family members.

I'm going to break my cleaning tasks down by room. Here's my Simple Household Cleaning Checklist. You can also organizing your cleaning by tasks (vacuum, dust, windows, etc).

So this week I'll do the Big Clean and maintain that throughout the month.

What Cleaning Routine Works for You?

Cleaning the house. It's one of those jobs that is never done. NEVER. Just like laundry.

Are you looking for some ideas and tools to help you stay on top of this never-ending chore? There are so many different approaches to take. What will work for you will depend on your preferences, schedule and family.

Here some ideas that come to mind:

1. Routines: Create a schedule to tackle the various house cleaning chores. Do a little each day or all of it in one marathon cleaning spree.


2. Daily Maintenance: The clean-as-you go approach.


3. Get the Family Involved: Each member of the household is responsible for specific tasks. Here's a sample of a Simple Chore Chart for Kids - It's what I'm currently using.


4. Make it "Fun!": Here's an idea my mom used when I was growing up. She would make a list of chores, cut the list into strips of papers and each family member randomly picked a task from a hat. Of course my brother and I didn't think it was that fun. Put on some fun music and have a reward for the family when everything is done.

The theme for today over at We Are THAT Family is Cleaning Tips. Check out the other great ideas today!