Frugal ideas for holiday decorating

Save on Decor: Frugal Holiday Decorating Tips

Nothing says "Christmas!" like a beautifully decorated home. Fragrant greens, twinkling lights, holiday centerpieces all set the stage for a merry holiday season.

But at what cost? 

If you believe catalog vendors, department stores and florists, be prepared to lay down a bundle to create that holiday home. Each year sees a set of new colors, new images, new trends, all designed to part you from your holiday dollars.

November 22, 2021
Add these last-minute items

Holiday Survival Kit: Six Last-Minute Additions to the Shopping List

The holidays are here, with wall-to-wall shoppers at the supermarket. Who wants to have to join them?

Instead, assemble a holiday survival kit. Before you shop for the holiday meal, check supplies of these often-forgotten items for your holiday gathering. 

Pencil these items into your regular shopping list--and save a last-minute trip. They'll keep the fun in the festivities!

November 17, 2021
organize holiday gifts and crafts

No More UFOs! Get-Em-Done Strategies for Handmade Holiday Gifts

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? 

Give in to the impulse to overload on holiday crafts projects, and you're likely to find yourself drowning in UFOs: Un-Finished Objects. Try these ideas to keep your holiday crafting within bounds--and budget and timeframe, too.

November 10, 2021
Gift wrap and mailing checklist

It's A Wrap: Set Up A Gift Wrap And Mail Center

Wrapping gifts for the holidays? Repeat after me: "This year, I won't be wrapping gifts at midnight on Christmas Eve!"

If there's a single most-underestimated holiday chore, it's gift wrapping. Supplies lie scattered throughout the house, while space and privacy are hard to come by. Translation: late-night Christmas Eve wrapping sessions, grumbling your way through the job.

November 9, 2021
Understand the rules underneath holiday giving

Gifting Guidelines: Understand the Unwritten Rules of Gift-Giving

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.

November 8, 2021
Gift closet for an organized Christmas

Gift Closet Guide: Get Organized for Christmas Giving

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.

November 4, 2021
Make a plan for housework at the holidays

Christmas Chaos? Make A Plan For Holiday Housework

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?

November 3, 2021
Safety Checklist for Time Change Sunday

Fall Back: Safety Checklist for Time Change Sunday

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:

November 1, 2021
Autumn Calendar Check

Autumn Calendar Check: Schedule Now for an Organized Christmas

When you think about Christmas from a few weeks away, there’s a luxurious feeling of “plenty of time”, but as December draws near, the season’s pace quickens exponentially. Where did the time go?  

Take major action against the seasonal time crunch with a pre-season scheduling session. The goal: to arrange for all those little appointments that slip the mind so easily.

With the Christmas calendar as a guide, consider scheduling these important pre-season tasks:

September 30, 2021