Table of Contents

-Introduction
-Did you know?
-Monthly Mission – Tidying Up and Thinking Ahead
-What’s New on Plan-and-Organize-Life.com – Recent site additions
-Family Wall Calendar
-Travel Packing List

Introduction

I actually got out of Thanksgiving planning this year because we went on vacation. However, planning a vacation for the family is an organizing task in itself! It all went very smoothly and we had a wonderful time visiting family and our friends Mickey and Minnie.

Now that we’re home there’s only a little time left to get the rest of the holiday errands done. Luckily, I got a lot of it done or planned out before we left in November. My main focus now is cleaning and tidying up to make room for the tree and decorations and new toys!

Hopefully you’re well into your holiday planning and ahead of the game. If you haven’t started, you still have plenty of time, but don’t delay. Find tips and checklists for holiday planning on the November monthly mission page.

That according to the United States Postal Service, Monday December 20th is expected to be the busiest postal mailing day of the year this year with more than 800 million cards, letters and packages being mailed on that day alone, compared to 559 million on a typical day. Wednesday December 22nd will be the busiest delivery day.

Source: USPS.com/news November 29, 2010

So be sure and get your packages and cards ready to mail sooner rather than later and avoid that busiest day at the post office!

You’re most likely very busy enjoying the holidays and not thinking too much about organizing. That’s ok! In December, we should do our best to keep our new organizing skills and routines going in order to keep our homes in basic order. It’s also a time to take note of what areas you’d like to focus on next year as we kick off a new cycle of monthly missions. To read more about December’s monthly mission, click here.

If you’re just joining us and you still need to plan and organize your holiday activities, food, gift giving, etc., you may want to look at November’s monthly mission to plan for the holidays by clicking here.

Here are some of the more recently added pages to the website you may have missed.

Garage Makeover - before and after photos of my personal garage makeover. See how we tackled the problems and ended up with a functional garage.

Streamline Your Morning Routine - Ideas to help you get out the door in the morning and be on time for work or school.

Storage Shed Organization - Before and after photos of my storage shed reorganization project.

Toy Organizing Project - After Christmas I had to do some toy re-organizing. Here is a before and after of my little toy organizing project.

Bathroom Drawer Make Over - How to organize a bathroom drawer, an example with before and after photos.

Stop Clutter - Quick simple tips on how to stop the clutter from coming into your home in the first place.

Organizing Your Magazines - Suggestions to help you downsize your piles of magazines and how to store them neatly.

Organize Your Junk Drawer - take control of that drawer you toss stray items into. Give it purpose with a few minutes and a little organization.

If you haven’t gotten a new family wall calendar for 2011 yet, you might want to consider 2011 Amy Knapp's Big Grid Family Organizer Wall Calendar This is the calendar I currently use. I LOVE it because it has lots of space to write down all the family’s activities, dinner menus and more. It really helps me keep my family and our appointments organized. To see how I use my calendar, click here.

As I mentioned above, my family just took a big trip across the country for our Thanksgiving vacation. Despite all the TSA travel controversy, we only met pleasant agents and airline personnel and our travels went very smoothly.

Anyone who has traveled before knows that it takes some planning and lists to get ready and make sure you don’t forget anything, especially if you’re packing for the whole family.

My biggest asset when it comes to packing is my standard packing list that I keep updated on my computer so I can print it out whenever I need it. My list has definitely changed over the years as the kids have grown and we’ve dropped diapers and strollers and added video games to the list. But the basic list is always there and ready to go.

My list contains three main sections. Section one includes things to do before we leave like print out hotel and rental car confirmations/receipts, get maps, and checking current airline travel guidelines, stopping the mail and getting someone to take care of our garbage cans.

Section two is a short list of things to do right as we’re walking out the door such as turn down the heat, turn on the light timer and water the plants.

The third section is the main section of things to pack such as clothes, toiletries and medications. I also have warm weather items on my list since that’s where I prefer to travel! But I do have an extra page of winter weather items that I can print out if I need it.

I try to keep this list updated and ready to go. When I print it out for a trip I can cross off anything I don’t need and write in anything missing and then quickly update it in my computer.

One last thing about this travel packing list…be sure to check off the items you’ve packed as you go along and then do a final re-check before you leave! Then try to relax and have a good trip!

To read travel packing tips and look at a sample travel packing list, click here.


Until next time, happy organizing!

Sincerely,

Tracy Greene
Plan-and-Organize-Life.com

P.S. Sometimes links to website pages get broken. If a link doesn't work, you may need to copy and paste the entire link into your browser.