It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving is over, though personally, I don’t think the holiday is officially over until all the leftovers have been gobbled up. (Yes, the once-a-year turkey pun was absolutely intentional.) But in terms of the overall holiday season, Thanksgiving is just the beginning. Are you prepared for what’s to come?
The idea of getting organized for the holidays can feel overwhelming. For starters, you have to handle the entire gift process (the shopping, buying, and wrapping), the decorations, and the holiday cards, whether you send them electronically or via e-mail. And I haven’t mentioned the fun that comes with planning a holiday gathering or two. (For purposes of this blog, we’ll save organizing tips for gatherings for another time).
Thankfully, getting organized for the holidays can be as joyful as the holidays themselves. I’ll share some tips that will make your gift experience gleeful, your decoration storage delightful, and your card process cheerful.
GIFTING
The first mistake people make when it comes to buying holiday gifts is that they wait until the holiday season to buy them. Sure, Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales generate some healthy discounts for shoppers, but the smarter shoppers will look to buy gifts all year long. You don’t have to rely just on Amazon Prime Day, either. You can find great online and in-store sales all throughout the year.
You might be saying, “But my family and friends don’t give me their wish lists until the holidays start, if I’m lucky!” That may be true, but so is this: You don’t need a wish list to buy (or make) a meaningful gift for someone.
One of the joys of gift-giving is coming up with ideas for potential gifts. Try this: Take some time to brainstorm ideas for each of the people for whom you typically buy gifts. Specifically, think about their passions, their interests, their jobs, their hobbies, etc. Think about past gifts you’ve given as well. Write it all down and keep it close, either in a notepad or (my preference) in the Notes section of your phone. List the person’s name and the results of your brainstorming and refer to it whenever you’re out running errands or browsing online. You’re likely to get a decent number of gifts purchased.
Getting back to idea creation, you may not have realized it, but it’s very likely that your loved ones unintentionally gave you plenty of gift ideas for them throughout the year. How? Through your regular conversations with them – except you didn’t realize it because you weren’t actively seeking gift ideas.
Let’s take your Aunt Josie, for example. In one of your conversations with her, she tells you about her friend’s recent weekend scrapbook retreat … and you know that Aunt Josie likes scrapbooking too. You could research upcoming retreats and then buy her a gift certificate so that she could enjoy a similar experience. You could ask her what scrapbook materials or accessories she wishes she had. Just like that, you have potential gift ideas. Just remember to write them down if you’re not ready to make a purchase – and to listen attentively to all your future gift recipients for clues and gift ideas well before the holidays arrive.
Here's one caveat about buying gifts well before the holidays: Be sure to check the return policy of the store from which you would normally buy something. Most places give anywhere between a 30- to 60-day window to return an item for a full refund with receipt. If you’re not sure whether the person will like the item you bought or, in the case of clothing, whether it will fit the recipient, consider waiting on that purchase until closer to the time you plan to give it to them.
DECORATIONS
You head down to your basement, perhaps after you’ve enjoyed your first glass of egg nog for the season, to begin bringing up the holiday decorations … only to realize that you have never really organized them by holidays. Christmas stuff is mixed with Halloween, Hanukkah with Easter … you get the idea. If this scenario is familiar to you, then now is a great time to organize your decorations accordingly.
And whatever you do, organize your decorations in totes. Basements, if not climate-controlled, are great places for mold and mildew to grow on almost anything you have down there. Invest in some quality, air-tight totes to preserve your decorations – at least the ones you plan to keep – for years to come.
I’ve found that over time people accumulate so many decorations that there isn’t enough space to put them all out. The ideal solution in this case is to weed out those decorations you enjoy putting out from those you decide each year to wait until next year …. but never put out. Donate the latter to Goodwill or your local thrift store – provided those decorations are in good condition; otherwise, throw them out – and let someone else get proper use of them.
Back to the totes: Be sure to label them by the season, but make sure you use the right kinds of labels since many won’t remain stuck for long. I’ve used Avery 5450 labels since you can remove and reapply them if needed, and you can print on them with an inkjet printer. If you own a label maker, you can make your own fancy-looking labels as well.
Totes also will protect your other holiday items, such as gift wrapping, tissue paper, and various-sized gift bags. Totes go on sale throughout the year – I find that the “spring cleaning” months of March and April, in particular, tend to generate sales on these products – so look for the sales and invest in your stuff.
The next items related to decorations can be sensitive to some – namely, holiday decorations made by kids. You may never want to throw out anything that your child made; that’s understandable. However, as I have learned through my own children, they often have no recollection of making what you hold so dear. Plus, if you forgot to label which child made it and when, it’s likely that you won’t remember who made it either. Sentimentality goes out the window at that point.
Compounding matters is that if you’re like many parents (or uncles, aunts, and grandparents), you have so many “kid decorations” that you don’t have enough room to place anything. To help you minimize your collection of kindergarten crafts and the like, simply save the few that hold special meaning to you, then take photos of the rest.
Remember, it’s not the actual decoration that typically holds meaning; it’s the thought that the child had in making it for you. Get your phone or camera out, separate each item, and take photos of each piece before recycling or disposing of the unkept items. That way, you still have the item in some form to look back on fondly.
And if you want to make a scrapbook out of these pictures, companies like Shutterfly can help you turn them into an album. Or you can turn to certified Photo Managers who can create a special album for you as well.
HOLIDAY CARDS
In my family, my wife handles creating our holiday cards. She goes through all the digital photos we took from the past year, finds the best ones (with input from me and the kids, the latter being the toughest critics), then uses an online service to design and print them.
As for me, I’m old fashioned with cards. I’d prefer to write out little individualized notes to each would-be recipient using the boxes of cards we’d purchase the previous year on the day after Christmas when those boxes are marked off 50 percent or more. They’re special and economical!
I haven’t bought cards in a long time, thanks to my wife’s preference for making them. I do, however, have a glut of holiday cards – not to mention notepads and labels from nonprofit organizations who send them out as part of their end-of-year holiday appeal. (Full disclosure: I never mailed any freebies in my appeal letters when I served as a Development Director, but I understand the rationale behind giving away items in the hopes of securing a donation.)
What do you do with all these extra holiday cards? If you’re old fashioned like me, save them in a box that you keep in your office or with your other stationery, then break them out at the start of the holiday season for this year’s mailing. As one caller yelled at me during one holiday appeal season – again, I never sent anything out, but she called me to vent about holiday giveaways by nonprofits – “I’m neither morally nor ethically obliged to give money because someone sends me something free. I can keep it and do with it as I want.”
So can you. Repurpose the cards you get, since many are blank inside, and use them for your holiday mailing. If you got holiday labels from appeals, use them for the return address on the outer envelope.
I should interject a quick tip for couples: Use these labels only if they list both your names. Sending envelopes with address labels featuring just one of you can lead the recipient to wonder if John and Lisa are no longer together. That’s awkward. Instead, use those one-name labels for bills and other similar mailings.
As for your card recipients, here’s a tip to keep organized. Use a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or the like as your address book. Update it throughout the year when you learn of address changes (both physical and e-mail addresses), someone’s passing, and other new information that impacts the list.
Using a spreadsheet to keep your address list organized and current is so much better than a physical address book. Moreover, when you’re ready to address envelopes, you can mail merge addresses into a formatted document for labels. (Quick note: In case you feel obligated to handwrite everything, consider that no one saves the envelopes. Use printed labels for the envelopes and save the handwriting for the card; the message matters most). I prefer to use Avery 5160 labels when printing out mailing addresses as well as our return address. There are plenty of options available for the latter (Amazon, Vistaprint, Etsy, etc.) if you decide you want unique labels.
One last suggestion for using a spreadsheet: Print out a hard copy to have just in case your computer decides to call it a career. Having a backup file will prove invaluable.
‘Tis the season – and every season – to get and stay organized. I hope these tips helped, and if you have any great organizing tips you’d like to share, please e-mail me at tomsorganizing@gmail.com and they may be used in a future blog (with proper credit, of course.)
Thanks, and Happy Holidays!
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Tom Harper is owner of Tom’s Organizing Made Simple LLC, a Bethlehem-based company dedicated to helping people declutter and organize their space, stuff, time, and/or tasks. Follow TOM’S on Facebook or Instagram.