Last weekend my sister showed me a few spaces in her home that she recently re-organized in preparation for Christmas. As we walked around taking in the pantry, closets and bathroom cabinets (yes, we tour each other’s homes for fun!), I realized that a couple of my basic organization principles applied well to our calendars this time of year.
If you’ve been following along in this series, you’ve hopefully decluttered a few spaces, designated a place to store your Christmas gifts as they arrive and you’ve created a system to track what you’re buying, how much you’re spending and how much you have left to do. Here’s where those basic organization principles come in!
COMMUNICATE: Once a space has been organized, it’s helpful to communicate the organization system to your family (usually through labeled bins so people know where things belong). Once you’ve planned out certain things for Christmas, you can do the same thing to ensure success!
Talk through your plans with your family and cover all the important areas – your strategy for buying gifts, the parties you need/want to attend, the things you’ll need for work events or gift exchanges, your budget for gifts and entertaining, travel plans and expectations.
Paul and I use shared Google calendars on our phones to keep each other in the loop with plans and activities, but we still confirm availability with the other before making plans. On Sunday nights we talk through the upcoming week and help each other work through any potentially over-scheduled days.
LEAVE ROOM TO GROW: When my sister showed me her reorganized pantry, I noticed that she left half of one shelf completely empty. It’s so smart to leave room to grow, so that the next time she brings groceries home there is actually room for them in her freshly organized space.
This principle certainly applies to our calendars as well. It can be really hard to accomplish, but I think that a key part of being organized is leaving a little breathing room in your schedule! This means you’ll probably have to say no to some things. For example, I try not to schedule anything for the evening before we travel somewhere, so that I have plenty of time to pack and prepare for our trip.
Leaving room to grow will look different for everyone, but I hope you’ll consider the benefits of this principle as you strive to keep things organized this Christmas!
Of course there will be last minute things to take care of, unplanned delays and things that slip up on you – but applying the three strategies I’ve shared throughout this series will make those things much less stressful and much easier to handle! Here’s to an organized Christmas! 🙂
Three Weeks To An Organized Christmas: Week 1 || Three Weeks To An Organized Christmas: Week 2
Come Home For Comfort 
Leaving room is so wise! Room left in your pantry and room in your calendar will be something I’ll be considering! Great tips!
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It’s easier to leave room in the pantry than the schedule, isn’t it?!
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Nice advice! Communication helps things to go so much smoother. We try to talk through holiday events – which ones are most important? which ones do we all need to go to vs me & the kids? when will we travel? etc. I love that advice to leave room to grow. I’m trying to purge/sell toys we’ve outgrown now with the anticipation of new Christmas toys arriving in our home.
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That’s so smart to purge your toys – it’s always a little overwhelming to come home with luggage, laundry, plus all the new stuff you received and have to put it all away!
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