Donna's Place For Everything

With the holidays over, you need not “HO HO HO” or “JINGLE JINGLE JINGLE” another minute!  But, if you still feel the holiday chill in the air, here are a few tips to bring closure to the season and pre-plan for next year.

1. Write/mail all holiday thank-you notes NOW (if not already done).
2. As you take down holiday decorations, donate anything you do not absolutely LOVE.  Make a list of what you need or want to enhance your decorations next year and file in your 2014 calendar. (you do have your new 2014 calendar, don’t  you??)
3. Purchase red or clear bins to store holiday decorations.  Sort like items together and label contents on bin.  Ensure items are clean/laundered before storing.  Bins should be stored together in one location i.e. basement, attic or spare bedroom.
4. DONATE!  DONATE! DONATE!  As you pack away new toys/clothing/gifts, try to swap out one item for every new item you add (if you have not already done the pre-holiday purge).
5. Sort through holiday gift wrap, ribbons, tags and bags.  Great deals can be found now in stores depleting holiday inventory.  Stock up on what you need and pack in a “gift wrap organizer” labeled “holiday wrap” and store with decorations.
6. Have you accumulated recipes over the holidays of dishes/desserts you savored and swore to one day make?  Sort recipes and file with cookbooks immediately before they are lost forever.  If possible, make a holiday tab within your cookbook so they are easy to retrieve next holiday.

Good job tackling these simple tasks.  Another successful holiday chapter closed.  But, as you look back, were you a tad overwhelmed and disorganized?  Were your holiday cards mailed late?  Did you misplace the receipt for the jingle-bells sweater your in-laws gave you?  Do you have a handle on what you spent on gifts?  For more information on how to master holiday simplification, please email me at aplaceforeverything@aol.com.