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Last week, my partner Naomi, and I traveled to New England to visit family. It was her brother’s 50th birthday and there was a surprise party for him. I also have family in Massachusetts and looked forward to seeing folks I have not seen in too long. It was going to be a short trip by car… only 5 days (including the two days of travel time).

Now, I need to confess, I do not usually travel lightly – especially when we
have a station wagon with a large cargo area in it but since it was such a short trip, we decided that we would not need much. And so the packing began.

What I already knew (and actually followed this time)…

• I really do spend most of my time in one or two comfortable pairs of pants (no need to bring more).
• Pack items that you can mix and match. Sometimes you wake up and just don’t like what you had planned to wear. It is nice to have a choice without bringing extra stuff.
• Check to see if there are laundry facilities in the place you are staying (or a nearby Laundromat) so that if you do spill something on an article of clothing you wanted to wear again, you can launder it quickly.

Things I should have known but just learned…

• Bring a flashlight for each person to have by their bedside. Our hotel had a power outage and finding the bathroom in the middle of the night without bumping into the furniture was a challenge (especially since the one flashlight we brought was still packed in the suitcase and the batteries died after 3 minutes of use!) The flashlights can be small and fit on a keychain (or most cell phone screens light up when turned on or have an app for a free flashlight).
• Before leaving home, check all batteries to make sure they are charged and working. This applies not only to flashlights (see above) but also cameras, phones, tablets and any other gadgets you bring.
• Before packing all those gadgets, ask yourself whether you truly need to take your laptop, a tablet, cell phone, portable dvd player, gps, and… or will one or two items do the job of many?  Besides, if you are on vacation, shouldn’t you leave the work at the office?
• If your phone or tablet does not have an alarm clock feature, bring a small battery-operated travel one with you (especially if you have to wake up at a certain hour).

Traveling lightly can be a challenge for some people (ok, I include myself in that category) but one of the most important things I learned is that it is an incredibly long way to carry multiple (heavy) bags up or down four flights of stairs when the elevators don’t work. Plus, unless you are visiting the wilds of Labrador or the back trails of the Appalachian Mountains, most places have stores where you can buy almost anything you left behind and can’t live without… like flashlights or batteries!

The holiday season means decoration time. Pulling out boxes, bags and containers of all kinds of special treasures you’ve saved   for embellishing your home every year and they are all marked “holiday”.   Where to begin, but to open them all and start dragging items out until you find what you are looking for at that moment.  Eventually you make your way through it all in time to enjoy the holidays for the family gatherings and entertaining of the season, only to be quickly followed by the dreaded post-holiday season of taking down those decorations and putting them away for another year.  But did you know the post-holiday season is the best time to organize all those decorations?

Here are some organizing tips for making this a really productive organizing season too!

1. This is the most perfect time to take stock of your exterior and interior décor. Has anything served its time well and is no longer useful, looks dated or worn, or anything you would ever use again? Now is the time to purge those items. If you are not going to use them next year, certainly do not take precious space and time to pack them up again. Donate what may be reusable to someone else that you won’t use again. Throw away anything that no longer is of use to anyone.
2. Sort your items, keeping in mind you want to keep like and similar items together.  Here are some examples of how to sort depending upon what you have; exterior décor from interior décor,  exterior lights from Interior lights, wreaths, garlands, holiday linens, centerpieces, collections of holiday items should be grouped together, ornaments,  candles, etc.  You should now have everything sorted into categories so that all like items are grouped together.
3. Now is the time to visually see the amount of the items you have and the size and shape of the containers you will need to store them in. There are many assorted storage containers available during this season for just this organizing event.
4. When you pack your items away remember to use a little packaging paper or bubble wrap for any breakables so they are not just loose in a container.
5. Label each container from the categories you made when sorting the items. Put the items in the corresponding containers. You may have multiple categories in one container. That’s ok. Just label what is in there.
6. Now you are ready to store all your containers in their designated area until next year and you will now know exactly where everything is!
7. There is another sorting option and that is to sort all the décor for each room into its own category, for example; Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen, Family Room, etc.  This is not advised for everyone but works for some folks that don’t like to think about where they are placing their decorations every year, so a designated container for each room works well for them.

When next year comes around you won’t be opening 10+ containers at once looking for certain items as you are trying to decorate.  By sorting all of your holiday décor into categories and packing the décor into labeled containers will keep your décor organized and easy to access for the next season.  You’ll look forward to knowing where everything is when you’re ready to decorate and knowing where everything belongs when you’re ready to put it away.

Did you ever wonder how Santa gets so much done?  The secret to his success is making lists and checking them twice.

Why are lists beneficial?

–       Getting the ideas out of your head helps you to think more clearly

–       Writing (or typing) encourages a commitment to follow through

–       Reviewing lists makes prioritizing tasks easier

–       Categorizing tasks and listing baby steps help to prevent overwhelm

There’s much to be done during the holidays and lists can be a lifesaver.  The information is valuable for the current year and a great reference for holidays to come.  Create a holiday journal or use software, such as Excel spreadsheets, to stay on top of your tasks.  If others you live with use your computer, set up a password for the electronic document to keep gift-giving ideas a secret.

What to keep track of:

–       A timeline, by week, with what you plan on accomplishing, and when

–       A holiday card or eCard list – noting which style card you sent

–       Decorating – themes, details, etc.

–       Gifts – people and charities and what you plan to give

–       A shopping list – include stores, eRetailers and what you hope to purchase

–       Party planning  – menus, guests, grocery lists, etc.

–       Post-holiday review – note what worked and what didn’t

May this be a low-stress holiday season filled with high joy; and may you accomplish your goals with clarity and ease.

Brought to you by the Professional Organizers of NAPO-GPC

1. Have a plan to get you through the season.  At least four weeks prior to the holiday,  schedule a few tasks to be completed each week on your calendar.  For instance: week 1 – interior/exterior decorating, week 2 and 3 – shopping, week 3 – sending greeting cards, week 4 – baking and wrapping.  A few days in advance of the holiday, shop for the holiday meal.
2. Keep a holiday notebook to write down gifts as they are purchased throughout the year.  Include where you have stashed them for safekeeping, and have an envelope for holding the receipts.  Create a gift-giving budget, and use the notebook to keep track of your expenses.
3. Label all your room decorations with the location – such as “kitchen window sill” for a candle or “front door” for a wreath on the back or bottom, where they can’t be seen.
4. After you have all your holiday decorations out take a picture of each section and store it with your decorations. It will be even easier to decorate next year and others can help!
5. Use command strips and hooks for all kinds of decorations from wreaths to inside lights. They don’t damage walls or paint so you can put decorations in unlikely places.
6. If you mail out holiday cards, keep the addresses on your computer and print out sheets of labels.  Be sure to stop by the post office for stamps or order them online.
7. For holiday photo cards, use pictures that you have taken during the year to make a card.  Enlist the help of family to sign, address and stamp the cards in one night.
8. Once you have finished setting out your decorations, consider donating the rest to a thrift shop so that needy families can benefit from your surplus.
9. For holiday entertaining, keep your beverage and food menu simple.   Pull out the serving dishes and utensils that you will need and label what food will be placed in it.
10. If an old tradition isn’t working for you, start a new one.  For example, instead of letting the number of gifts escalate each year, set a limit on the number.
11. Try to do your shopping during the non-peak hours or try shopping online.
12. Photo albums that you can create on-line make great gifts for grandparents or relatives out of town. You can share all your family’s special moments throughout the year in one 20 page book for about $30.
13. Write yourself a list of what changes you want to make next holiday season. Put it with decorations, card list or have it remind you electronically next Thanksgiving.
14. Plan your holiday wardrobe for everyone in your household.  Determine if you need to purchase items, etc.
15. Be kind to yourself.  Schedule downtime to relax and enjoy the holiday.
16. Delegate tasks where you can.

(NAPO-GPC) is the resource for organizing professionals in Eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Central and Southern New Jersey. Visit our website at www.napo-gpc.org and use the online “Find an Organizer” search tool to find a Professional Organizer in your area.

When I was a child, my parents used to have these huge picnics on 4^th of July. Everyone was invited. My parents spent weeks prior to the party cleaning, shopping and preparing enough food to fill our two refrigerators. My father worked the grill all day and my mother worked in the kitchen sending food out to the backyard and cleaning the platters that were coming in. It took a least a week to clean up the house and put it back to normal.

Now- a- days my sisters and I don’t seem to have the time for a huge BBQ nor do we wish to work that hard, but I missed those holiday picnics, so I decided to start my own holiday tradition for the 4^th of July. Equipped with some organizing skills and a good imagination, I have planned a party that takes a lot less hard work. Here’s how:

I’m lucky. I live on a public park and every year on the 3^rd of July our borough plans a wonderful fireworks display. So we invite everyone over for our “Ice Cream & Fireworks Party” which starts at 7pm. The invitations go out one month prior to the party. The preparations begin by defrosting and eating all the contents from the freezer. This is also a good time to scrub the freezer. Shopping is done over the course of the next few weeks by watching for coupons on popsicles, ice cream sandwiches, water ice as well as other ice cream novelties. Every week I check for sales on the five gallons of ice cream I will need. The week prior to the party my family and I form an assembly line in the kitchen. We collect all of our drinking glasses, the juice glasses are the perfect size. We create delicious ice cream sundaes such as traditional, caramel, cookie crumbles and blondie sundaes. We cover them with plastic wrap and label them. They are then layered with small pieces of cardboard in the freezer.

On the day of the party I set up the drink station with iced tea, lemonade, soda, an ice bucket and cups. I put a cute red bucket of spoons and a cute red bucket of napkins on the dining room table. Helpful hint: buy all your paper products in red. Red can be used for your New Year’s party, birthdays, Valentine ’s Day, Christmas, memorial day, labor day and of course 4^th of July. I put a huge teak bowl on the table for the ice cream novelties, the toys go outside, the pets go in the garage, the music gets turned on and we are ready!

Around 8:30 my helpers and I huddle in the kitchen. We top each sundae off with whipped cream, cherries, jimmies and a mint leaf. I carry them into the dining room on trays and place them around the big bowl of novelties. Now is the time to try not to get run over by the mad rush to the ice cream. After ice cream our guests are adorned with the neon jewelry that my husband loves to purchase for our guest, and we take our places on the deck with blankets and chairs that our guests know to bring.

After the fireworks the children usually raid the freezer for one more sundae.  While I say goodbye to our fifty guests and direct traffic off our tiny street, my friends help me out by tossing the trash for me. A quick wipe down on the table and a wet swift of the floors and this party is over until next year.

Don’t think of the holidays as being so daunting with all the shopping, cooking and cleaning. Keep it simple. Start early, create your own traditions. You too can entertain without wearing yourself out or putting a big dent in your budget.

Happy summer!

Ok, so you missed Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  You can still give great gifts!

Here are some ideas for gifts that you can pick up this week. Lately there are a lot of gift certificates that you can buy online, and then print! Instantaneous.

Service Gifts

• Cleaning services – everyone could use this one!
• Car wash tickets or car detailing gift certificate – great gift to use during the sloppy winter months.
• Spa services – nails, hair, skin & massages.
• Personal chef package – I love having all that wonderful food in my freezer!
• Photography sitting
• Professional organizing services

Entertainment

• iTunes gift card
• ebooks – ebooks.com,  Amazon,  Google ebooks,  Barnes & Noble
• Balloon rides
• Tickets – Plays, movies, the symphony, concerts, sporting events – unlimited opportunity here!
• Movie tickets
• Netflix or Amazon Prime (this is on my list)

Memberships

• Museums
• …of the Month Clubs – they have everything from perfume to cigars to dog treats and peanut butter!

Consumables

• Restaurant gift certificates
• Coffee cards from your favorite local shop
• Homemade cookies – you can never go wrong here!
• Fancy chocolates – come on, everyone loves chocolate.
• Coffee or tea – create a nice basket with these.
• Jams, jellies, chutneys
• Williams-Sonoma
• Zingerman’s

Classes

• Cooking classes – great for the beginner and the gourmet cook.
• Art lessons
• Yoga
• Personal trainer

Financial

• Charitable donation in someone’s name – are they interested in art, the environment, education?  Just look at all the requests that you are getting on the mail for ideas. Check them out here before you make your purchase.
• Gift Cards – available pretty much in every grocery or drug store.

Hopefully this list will give you some last minute gift ideas that will make your life easier and your gift recipient happy! The extra bonus is that these gifts will not create or increase the clutter in one’s life.

If you have any other ideas, please let us know… we are always looking for new ideas.