5 Tips To Keep Your Holidays Organized
It’s that time of year again - the holidays! With your parents coming in and your sister arriving with her hubby and tots in tow, you’re probably already wondering how everyone is going to fit. Don’t worry! We can help you find ample space for your guests and their belongings with these simple organizing and decluttering tips. Your home will be holiday-prepped and ready in no time.
#1: Keep Ornaments And Decorations Organized
The quickest way to keep stress out of your holiday celebrations is to organize your decorations. Getting into the habit of efficiently storing your ornaments, wreaths, and everything else makes decorating easier and cleanup faster when you’re ready to drop from all that good food and cheer.
Store it: We’ve all thrown our Christmas lights into a cardboard box and forgotten them in the back of our closet before, but this year, pick up some specialized storage for your lights and ornaments.
Label everything: If you can’t see it, you don’t know what it is! Labeling containers makes finding what you’re looking for easier, and takes away the stress of going through every single box.
We mean everything: Don’t just label your boxes, label the shelves too! That way, you’ll know what’s hiding in the back without having to move a thing.
Keep it all together: Store all of your decorations in the same area of your home or storage space so you know right where they are when it’s time to use them.
#2: Prepare Your Guest Room
A guest room is only a guest room for part of the year, and it’s typical that we will use that extra space for our own things when the room is not being used. The best way to make room for your guests is to prepare their room ahead of time.
Purge: Make sure that everything that does not need to be in your guest room is taken out. Once you pull all the items you want to move, put them into two piles: purge and keep. The things you want to purge you can label and store in your garage or storage space until you’re ready to donate or throw them out, while the things you want to keep can be added to other rooms.
Declutter: Make sure that your guests can use the storage in the room as efficiently as possible. With space to hang their hat, your guests will feel right at home.
Help your guests stay organized: Include a dirty laundry hamper, closet hangers, shoe rack, easy luggage storage, and other amenities if they’re staying more than a week.
#3: Prepare Your Kitchen In Advance
No matter what you’re celebrating this holiday season, one thing is for sure: you’ll be cooking up a storm. Before your guests arrive, check that your holiday serving dishes, flatware, and specialty items that you’re going to be cooking and serving with are clean and easily accessible. Doing this in advance will minimize stress and allow you to spend more time with your guests instead of frantically hunting around in the kitchen for the right items.
#4: Clear Space In Your Front Closet
Your closet is already filled with your family’s coats and boots, but your guests will be bringing their own outerwear items as well! Make sure there’s some extra space in your coat closet for their items. If space is at a premium, you can purchase space saving hangers to free up some room.
#5: Overwhelmed? Enlist The Help Of A Professional Organizer
We always say that organization is a monumental task, and it’s totally normal to not have the bandwidth to tackle it all on your own. Professional organizers are experienced and fast — they can be doing most of the heavy lifting, while you focus on making memories with your family and friends. And if you’re in Brooklyn or the rest of NYC? Get in touch with us at Urban Clarity!