A very peaceful and joyful Thanksgiving to all our American readers.
Archive for Holiday Organizing – Page 4
This is a follow up from my earlier post on Organizing with Depression. Holiday time can be, for many, many people far from a joyful celebration of anything. For many people it becomes an overwhelming time of year that they learn to dread and fear. Celebrating holidays both and home and in the business environment comes with many expectations that some people simply can not meet. Does this sound familiar and contribute to your feelings of overwhelm? Hlidays come with:
- extra food that maybe you have been trying to avoid all year to loose weight
- expectations of gift giving that maybe you can’t afford or don’t have the energy to arrange
- visits with family that perhaps aren’t your favourite friends
- multiple distractions (lunch/parties/people collecting for gifts) at the office interrupting attempts to put together projections for next year
Whatever contributes to your blue mood and feelings of overwhelm, the first step is to acknowledge the problem. Next take a good look at what you can control and what you can’t. Can’t avoid the office party? Can you control the length of time you are there or whether or not you nap before hand to ward off fatigue and frustration. With the downturn in the global economy, gift giving is going to be a very serious financial trial for many, many people. Can you pear down your list? Consider making a contribution to a charity in lieu of sending gifts to clients – then send them a card that discribes your gift on their behalf.
Take back control of what you can. It will help that blue be a little more rosy.
I’ll be you thought this would be another Time Tamer, right? My apologies if I have disappointed you. As the mother of 14 and 7 year old children, the scarey experience of sugar-saturated costume-laddened monsters coming home from Hallowe’en festivities is all too familiar at our house.
The better you can feed your children before they go out Trick or Treating, the less likely they will fill up on candy and come home with bouncing-off-the-walls horrors of behaviour.
For many of us the time between return from work and Trick or Treating is very, very short. Meal time on October 31 for young families can be a horrifying experience at the best of times – who needs the costumes?
Try this: see if you can prepare as much of tomorrow’s supper as possible tonight or tomorrow morning. Have the kids set the table. Defrost the meat, casserole or whatever they will eat. If sandwiches are the best you can muster – prepare them ahead of time. For those of us north of the 49th, sandwiches and soup will at least make sure the children are fed and warm; they are thus more likely to enjoy the evening and consume less candy.
Good luck with your goblins!
I first published this tip 11 months ago. As I see more and more pre-Hallowe’en evidence of the holiday season blasting forward about as fast as the stock market is falling downward, I decided it wasn’t too early to republish. This 2nd edition focuses on the simplification of the consumable gift and less expensive options.
Once again, let’s redefine the word consumable. The Encarta Dictionary defines consumable goods as “goods that have to be bought regularly because they wear out or are used up, such as food and clothing”. For the purposes of gift-giving, I have defined the word as follows:
A consumable gift is one which by its inherent nature has a best before date or natural expiry date, wears out or is used up and permits the recipient an opportunity to enjoy for a limited time and then dispose of, without guilt.
If this is a definition that appeals to you for individuals on your gift list, here are some suggestions to get your shopping started.
- Baskets of food, home made preserves, including perhaps candles and some decorative paper napkins related to a a personal interest or characteristic of the recipient e.g. gardener!
- A tribute donation to a charity which is already supported by the recipient or otherwise meaningful to them e.g. The Toronto Humane Society, The Cancer Society.
- A sponsorship donation to a charity which has designed annual sponsorship or gift campaigns e.g. The Toronto Zoo has set up an animal adoption program. In the adoption package you receive a picture and information about your animal. World Vision has a gift catalogue from which you can pick an item that can be supported by your donation e.g. 2 rabbits to a family ($35), a harvest pack for 4 families ($35), a backpack with school supplies for a child ($25), help a family start a business ($100) or fill up a whole stable ($1200). My daughter (13) and son (6) love this catalogue and had fun doing the “shopping” for me for their cousins in Hong Kong and Italy, some neighbours and friends.
- Gift certificates especially for a clothing store or movie passes. These gifts are great for the teenagers on your list. How about IKEA so your niece can redecorate her room? A manicure for your workaholic sister? Then book the appointment and enjoy together!
- Candles, decorative paper napkins, coffee
- Prepackage the dry ingredients for your favourite muffin recipe in a jar and include the recipe on the label.
- Offer to babysit your sister’s children for a day so that she and her husband can take a day out together.
- A music lesson for someone who always wanted to play the ______(you fill in the instrument).
You get the idea. Now let your imagination have some fun and enjoy the shopping experience knowing that you are helping to keep clutter at bay in someone else’s life.
Can you remember where the holiday decorations are?
Do you have to search for them everytime you want to use them?
Are all your Christmas decorations stored in the same room?
Are they stored in the house or in the garage?
If they are stored in the garage, are they in waterproof boxes or bags?
Are they stored in containers?
Can you easily identify the containers from the other storage boxes/containers you store in the same place – like a red lid for example?
Are the containers labeled?
Are similar items stored together i.e. are the Christmas tree decorations together in one /boxcontainer?
Are the linens stored in dust proof containers or will you have to wash them again before you can use them?
Are the heavy containers stored low so that they can’t fall on you when you take them off a top shelf?
