Clutterbug - Real-Life Hacks and Tips to Declutter, Organize and Clean your Home Fast - Gift Yourself an Organized Home for the Holidays | Clutterbug Podcast # 28

Episode Date: December 4, 2017

The holidays are crazy busy, so give yourself the best gift you can receive: A Clean and Organized Home! Here are some quick and easy tips to help get organize and kick that extra Christmas Clutter to the curb! Give yourself the gift of a clean and organized home for the holidays...you deserve it!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, no, de, ding, dom, gulterbug podcast. Today I want to talk about getting organized specifically for the holidays, because, let's be honest, we only have a couple of weeks left. I have to start by saying I'm a little bit of a hypocrite here, because the truth be told, I have not even started Christmas shopping. I think we've got, you know, three or four things purchased so far. So don't totally, like, think that. I'm an expert here when it comes to getting organized for the holidays. What I'm really talking about,

I guess, is making sure that your home isn't overrun during this time of year. And this used to happen to me all the time. Before I really started getting organized, not only was I sort of a disaster, my house was a disaster, but come December it was magnified because I'm bringing in gifts to give to friends and family. I'm worrying about wrapping paper and I'm trying to keep track of receipts and and everything became a complete disaster for the entire month. And unfortunately, this is the time of year when yes, we're bringing in more stuff than ever. We're busier than ever. We're just hectic. There's more parties. There's places to go. There's things to do. There's shopping. And this is the most likely time that you're going to have unexpected guests stop by. So it's

important, you know, if you're like me and you have anxiety about people stopping by in your house being a disaster, that you try to somewhat keep on top of things. And not only for company, but for yourself as well. You've taken all this time to set up your tree. Maybe you've put out holiday decorations. It's hard to really enjoy this time of year when all of our services are filled with clutter and we're feeling disorganized and like we can't stay on top of things. So today, I'm going to share some tips with you for holiday organization, but for your home. Specifically to just, well, there's a few things that aren't for your home, but really just to make sure that your house is going to stay under control during the holidays. So the first thing I want to talk about is having a, like a gift corner, a gift closet, a gift spot in your home where you put all the gifts that you buy.

And you may have a small space and you're like, well, you know, I just shove here, there, and everywhere, because I don't have a dedicated spot. But let me tell you, this is a recipe for disaster. I remember moving from our old house that was 900 square feet to this house. And when I was packing, I found hidden Christmas gifts that were years old that I had shoved places, completely forgot about, couldn't find them. And now I'm stuck with clothing that was too small or gifts that kids had outgrown. because I was putting them here, there, and everywhere.

So the other thing is you're, the other thing that you risk is, I guess, leaving them out. So you don't have a specific spot to put them. So you put them in like a pile somewhere, you know, hopefully not on your kitchen table, but a pile somewhere. And then what you've done is you've taken away valuable space from you and your family that time a year where you need it the most during the holidays. So what I'm really going to suggest is that you clear out a spot in your home, whether it be a closet that you hardly use, a spot in your basement, under your bed,

this is a huge one for me. I love using under your bed to store gifts during the holidays. For me, it's actually in my downstairs bathroom closet, which is sort of absurd, I know, but we weren't using that closet. It was storing random junk and so I cleared it out. I donated a bunch of things we weren't using. I rearranged a little bit and I free up a space in my home where that's just where gifts go now. I call it the gift closet and it's in the bathroom, which is super weird, I know, but things now have a home. Not only Christmas gifts, but birthday gifts or things that I collect throughout the year have a place where they can go that aren't creating clutter. It's not creating clutter in my home and I'm not going to forget

about things. My mom, I love my mom. I'm sure she's not listening. But let me tell you, she has things hidden all over her house and she's always like, I know I bought this for this person and I can't find it anywhere. And it makes the holidays more stressful. I mean, let's be honest, Christmas is stressful enough without having to ransack your entire house like you're robbing the joint, trying to look for that gift that you know you bought, but you cannot remember where you put it. So taking a few minutes to really make a designated gift corner, gift closet, gift area, whether it's under your bed, wherever it is in your home is going to really help you stay organized and relieve some stress. The next thing I definitely recommend is having a gift giving planner.

And this can be a scrap piece of paper, but what I want you to do is write down everybody's name that you have to buy for and then some gift ideas and then a budget. And really rack your brain. Make sure that every single person, even if it's, you know, your kids' teachers, your neighbors, the bus driver, who knows, all the hair dresser, everybody buys for different things, but every single little tiny person that you want to buy for, I want you to make a list and then give yourself some ideas for all of those people. And here's why. Going Christmas shopping without a list like this is the equivalent of going to the grocery store without making a grocery

list. I mean, you're wandering around. You're probably going to forget some people. You're going to forget some things. You're going to, you know, run out of ideas. I'm not saying that you have to stick to a list so, you know, you're like, I'm going to get my dad golf balls and that's all you can buy. While you're out, you might see something that inspires you and you're like, he would love this. But having that list is going to really streamline your shopping and make sure you're not forgetting people. So what I used to do in the past, you know, I would have to buy gift cards for maybe 10 different people in my life. And I'd forget a few of them. And I'd pick up gift cards while I was out. And then I'd have to go back out a couple of days later for the people that I forgot. So it's frustrating.

And having a gift, like a gift giving planner or a gift giving guide, basically let's call it a list. It's a shopping list is really going to be key for staying organized for the holidays. I have one that I'm going to be offering on my website. It's a free download. It's in Microsoft Excel. if you want to do it on your computer or you can just print it out and write on it. But honestly, a scrap piece of paper really works too. I suggest having two copies of it, one that you carry in your purse. So if you are just you happen to be out, you always have a copy in your purse. And then have another copy that you leave at home on your fridge or on your counter or in your office that you can really check when you're doing online shopping or just to have in two spots. So having two copies

of a gift-giving planner on the go. Let's talk about something else that can really make a mess during the holidays. And that is like wrapping paper and cards and bows and tape and scissors. And, you know, we go to the dollar store, we stock up on it. And then we shove it in a corner when we get home. And then when we go to wrap, you know, it's like, where's that tape or where's the scissors or what's, where's the leftovers you had last year? So I really recommend having a wrapping organizer. And I've tried a bunch. I've tried ones from like special, you know, organizing stores and hanging ones and it's all been crazy. The best thing that I've ever done is I got an under-the-bed roll cart.

Like it's a tote. It's a tote. Let's call it a tote. It's a plain old boring tote from Walmart. But it has wheels and it rolls under the bed and I roll it out. And here's why I love it. Rapping, rolls of wrapping people fit amazing in it. It's big enough that I can put gift bags and bows and roll. ribbons and scissors and tape and everything I need to make wrap beautiful gifts. But it's also really portable. So I can, you know, if I'm wrapping for the kids and I have to hide, I can do it in my bedroom. But if we're wrapping for grandmas and grandpas and I want the kids involved,

we can do it in the living room and put on Christmas music and do you know what I'm saying? Or like, it's just, I love having a portable little wrapping station with everything I need. So it makes wrapping easier, fast, really efficient, and it cuts down on clutter in my home. having all those wrapping supplies all over the place. The other thing that's really important is to have a receipt organizer. I use a makeup bag. It's a makeup bag. And it's in my purse.

And when I, you know, buy a gift for people and I have the receipt, I immediately shove it in this makeup bag. And that's where they go. All the Christmas receipts, I'm not organizing them. I'm shoving them. But at least they're not being like shoved in my bottomless abyss of a purse in with

grocery receipts and all the other things. You know what? There's a spot. I have a spot for Christmas receipts. And I like having it in my purse because I used to have a folder in my house for Christmas receipts. And I had the best intentions of taking them out of my wallet or out of the bag or, you know, and when I got home putting them in this folder, it never happened. So having it in my purse and just as soon as I get that receipt, I put it inside this little makeup zip up container thing. It's worked for me. It's like a lazy girl's receipt organizer. I really recommend doing this because there are sometimes those receipts that people want to take something back or you're wrapping the gift and you're like, where's that gift receipt again? If it's clothing, the other thing that I do is I carry a little

tiny stapler in my purse too. It's like a little baby keychain stapler and I will staple the gift receipt like to the tag if it's clothing for a person because just, just, just because I'm stapling that sucker on, or you can take the receipt and shove it in the box if you're getting somebody a box of something. But having some sort of method to keeping track of your receipts is really, really important. Okay, you guys, so that's what I wanted to really talk to you about today, is keeping organized for the holidays. So my final tip is to make sure that you're doing your nightly cleaning routine. now. Let me tell you, of all the things that I've done to try to stay on top of things like my home

and try not to fall back in my super slob ways, or the thing that's had the biggest impact on my home is having a nightly cleaning routine. Every night before I get to watch TV, I'm like, I'm momming myself. I'm like, before you get to watch Netflix or TV or YouTube, you have to do your chores. I have a 15 to 20 minute nightly cleaning routine. And this doesn't count. like cleaning up the dinner dishes. That's just part of dinner. I group that in with like feeding my family type unfortunately. That's the chore. What I'm talking about is doing those last minute tidy ups of the kitchen, wiping down the counters, quickly wiping the bathrooms, but the biggest thing is going around and picking up clutter and putting it back in its home

or having a basket somewhere in your home where homeless clutter can go. The things are is clutter breeds clutter. So if we're leaving things out on our kitchen counter or our kitchen table, it's way more likely that we're just going to keep adding to that pile. But when we make it a point of every single night trying to keep our surfaces pretty clutter-free and picking up, we're way less likely to drop and pile. And so is the rest of our family. We're more likely to take those few minutes to put things away when we're maintaining. a perpetually clutter-free space. So it's important that you don't have to make that mad rush if someone's coming over. It's important if clutter stresses you out and you just want to enjoy your

beautifully decorated holiday home to not have piles all over the place. So taking those few minutes every single night is going to add to a, it's going to add up to a perpetually clean and organized home for the holidays. And you deserve that. You deserve to have a beautiful, relaxing, clutter-free space and it doesn't take a lot to get there. If you're feeling out of control right now, if you're feeling like your house is already like 15 minutes isn't going to cut it. You're like Cass 15 minutes is not going to, it's not even going to put a dent in it. So here's what you do. You schedule a Saturday or a Sunday and you work your freaking butt off and you try to get as on top of things as you possibly can. Work really hard and then Monday is your fresh

start. That's your fresh start to then just continue maintenance mode, 15 minutes a day to keep up on the clutter. So come Christmas in these couple of weeks, you're going to get to enjoy that clean clutter-free home. Maybe you'll have guests unexpectedly stop by. You're not going to be stressed. It's going to be the greatest gift that you can give yourself. And it all comes from just 15 to 20 minutes a day having a cleaning routine, picking up the clutter, wiping down the kitchen and the bathroom really, really quickly, and perhaps putting away a load of laundry every single day. That's all it takes, my friends. I promise you, you can have a clean and clutter-free Christmas with a little organization. So thank you guys so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed and I will see you next time.